Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow New Topographics: Hold the horizon near the middle and shoot subjects square on at equal distance.
- Type
- Set in New Topographics's manner (Captions carry place and date only, in one fixed form, with no comment.), and let Street Photography's lettering (Use the signs already in the street as elements, adding none later) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in New Topographics's material (Even overcast light, deep focus, processing that never lifts saturation.); bring in exactly one thing from Street Photography (Light gear, fast film speed, focus distance decided before raising the camera).
- Colour
- Build on #d8d4c8, #8b897b, #4c4a44 and admit one accent from #ddd9cf, #8a5c45, #252422.
Where they fight
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- New Topographics Posing as neutral while choosing light and framing too carefully produces scenic photography in documentary clothes, and the change goes unread.
- Street Photography 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.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from New Topographics (Style, 1975–) and its accent from Street Photography (Style, late-1800s–). Structural cues: Empty suburbs; Frontality; Dry color; Man-altered landscape. Accent cues, used sparingly: Public space; The decisive moment; Chance arrangement; Everyday figures. Composition: Hold the horizon near the middle and shoot subjects square on at equal distance.. Type and lettering: Captions carry place and date only, in one fixed form, with no comment.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Light gear, fast film speed, focus distance decided before raising the camera. Mood: Calm, Rebellion, Trust, Intimacy, Exhilaration. Color: build on #d8d4c8, #8b897b, #4c4a44 with a single accent drawn from #ddd9cf, #8a5c45, #252422. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- New Topographics 1975– / Style / Photography Movements
Turns from grand natural scenery to the landscapes people have altered, recording suburbs, graded building sites and industrial zones without heat.
- Street Photography late-1800s– / Style / Photographic Genres
Catches accident, gesture and the city's relations on the fly, in streets and public space.
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