New Topographics

This is a photo of nowhere in particular in St Ives, Cornwall. Which is the point.

In the 1970s, a bunch of American photographers got tired of mountains and sunsets. They pointed their cameras at car parks, warehouses, bins. They called it New Topographics. Everyone else called it depressing.

But look again.

This isn’t just a rooftop. It’s a retired viewing platform, now employed as a canvas for teenage declarations and seagull meetings. The cone? Flat on its back. Possibly in therapy.

New Topographics says: the world isn’t always pretty — but it is fascinating, if you stop long enough.

Which I did. With a Leica. And a squint.

The result is sharp, slightly damp, and smells faintly of the sea.