New Topographics vs Street Photography

ニュー・トポグラフィックス / ストリート写真

New Topographics comes from Photography Movements and Street Photography from Photographic Genres. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

New Topographics

New Topographics — 『New Topographics』展カタログ 撮影: PHOTO/arts Magazine（CC BY 2.0）New Topographics — 「New Topographics」展の図版（SFMOMAより引用）

Turns from grand natural scenery to the landscapes people have altered, recording suburbs, graded building sites and industrial zones without heat.

Street Photography

Street Photography — アジェ『ストラスブール大通り（コルセット店）』1912 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStreet Photography — アジェ『ストラスブール大通り』1926 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStreet Photography — スティーグリッツ『冬の五番街』1893 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Catches accident, gesture and the city's relations on the fly, in streets and public space.

New TopographicsStreet Photography
Era1975–late-1800s–
FamilyPhotography MovementsPhotographic Genres
KindStyleStyle
CuesEmpty suburbs / Frontality / Dry color / Man-altered landscapePublic space / The decisive moment / Chance arrangement / Everyday figures
Best used forRecording how a city edge or a graded site changes, year after year, under identical conditions. · Reports and exhibitions that present development as it is, without staging.Recording the daily life of a city over time without staging it · Editing a series about a place out of chance arrangements
TypeCaptions carry place and date only, in one fixed form, with no comment.Use the signs already in the street as elements, adding none later
CompositionHold the horizon near the middle and shoot subjects square on at equal distance.Go wide and close, keeping two separate events in one frame
MaterialEven overcast light, deep focus, processing that never lifts saturation.Light gear, fast film speed, focus distance decided before raising the camera
CautionPosing as neutral while choosing light and framing too carefully produces scenic photography in documentary clothes, and the change goes unread.Hunting for unusual looking people turns the work into spectacle and leaves the photographer's gaze rather than the city's relations. Weigh the ethics, the place and your distance from the subject.

Put these two together

Photography Movements ／ Photographic Genres

IndexStyle