Lewis Baltz and The New Topographics 

First, thank you very much for the great conversation. When I was studying photography at the RCA in London, Lewis Baltz was a visiting lecturer and external crit several times and it was always great talking to him. He was quite informative about his technique and said that he just used 35mm Leica because he could move more easily around with a tripod and he used mainly a 35mm Leica M lens stopped down. He tested a lot of lenses before he found his "ideal" lens for that particular task. To the subject matter: Strangely I find his early work quite "poetic" as it frees photography from all sentimentalism and sensationalism. It is like it is and that attitude gives those photographs a kind of ethereal and sculptural quality. They don't want to entertain superficially and they are what the are.

What a pleasure to watch two of my teachers / mentors discuss one of my influencers. Michael introduced me to Baltz in a 2012 workshop. The New Topographics book is one of my most referenced. Thank you all for new insights into old work.

I have thousands of negatives and files with similar subject matter, although not so elegant as the those of Lewis Balz. It was nice to learn that I'm not the only one who sees the world like the Balz. I see a shapes and tones and size relationships that resonate with each other. Just stare at it and let the eyes and mind wander. It's like getting lost in the interplay of jazz musicians just jamming after the club closes - taking turns with their riffs but still "talking" with each other. Although Balz and some curators of his work frequently had their own agenda in the presentation of his images, I never think of them that way. No politics; no social agenda; no prettiness: just capturing the nuances of that moment's feelings. I see those prints and feel a strange ache of "God, I wish I had done that." Friends, family, and even other photographers ask, "Why do you want to document ugliness?" It's not ugly. It just is.

Baltz conceived of his photographs as working in a series, and that aim gets confused somewhat when mixing them up. His major works were clinical critiques of land use and damage. I think he down-rated the low ISO film to 12 or less, used a shift-lens (to keep the buildings standing straight) and did a monumental amount of work in the darkroom to get the tonal relationships the way he wanted them. His influences were from the art world and he'd eventually get shown in the Castelli gallery. The William Jenkins 'New Topographics' show is now understood as being seminal but was barely visited or reviewed. Baltz visited us in England c. 1980 to show his 'Park City' series to students on the few higher level photography courses that existed then. He didn't seem like any other visiting photographer - if anything he seemed more like an architect. He, and his critical landscape work, was met with complete and utter indifference. It took me some time reflecting on that book (which became and still is my fave photography book) and New Industrial Parks to figure out that he was a new direction and tropes of romantic landscape had had their day. 50 years later I still think of his work often, and have remained inspired by him to always work towards finding one's own voice. In November 2014 when reading of his passing I was reminded of how important he had been to me and my life by the sudden wrench of grief and tears. There's a terrific interview by David Campany with Baltz here - davidcampany.com/lewis-baltz-david-campany-conversation/

I got myself his signed Works - Last edition, and I do not regret it. Fascinating and weirdly captivating photographs. Thank you for making this video.

I never knew about Lewis Baltz before this video but wow, beautiful work!

Loved this video, Lewis Baltz is new to me. I really love the work and the discussion. There is something melancholic about the work to me and it might be coming from my childhood, and the urbanisation of the area I grew up in . There would be industrial/ urbanised looking buildings going up in the form if shopping centres which were a new phenomenon back then and now I see these sorts of areas where I live. At the weekend these places are deserted. Makes fir good abstract photos , which I did a lot of during the pandemic. These images are quiet and deserted which I love. I’ve also realised this was the 70’s architecture which is also why it’s nostalgic fir me

Interesting program. I remember going to the National Gallery of Art in DC sometime in the mid-1980s and seeing an exhibition of the Gallery's photographic holdings, among which were several Denver images by Robert Adams. Like you, Jeff, I was non-plussed, and I totally agree with Neal's comment that appreciation of that work demands the whole Adams package - words and images. Over the next several years I collected several small volumes of Adams' essays and began to get a feeling for the man, but I still had to read through the American Silence book twice before I could go to the exhibition at the NGA and fully appreciate the work. Before seeing your discussion, I was only peripherally aware of Lewis Baltz specifically and only somewhat more aware of the New Topographics movement. During the video, I kept thinking of images (similar images!) that I have made over the years, and I now think that I need to take another walk through my archives to pull out what may be a hidden theme. Thanks for the program.

The image at 6.00 also rocked my world, it stayed with me across the decades just as it did with these gentlemen. Lewis was also a really good writer on photography and other artists. Robert Ryman and early minimalist painting is also a good school to look at in terms of space and geometry and its the location in the frame.

Fantastic video. I'm glad you mentioned you found his work beautiful.

I like his work very much. I am very found of his compositions which step in abstraction (painting). Thank you for this lecture.

Thank you for doing this, it is very valuable.

Wonderful - thank you.

Awesome discussion thanks Jeff

I wish these guys could have added historical/cultural/art history context to this presentation instead of just vague generalizations. They seem to be winging it and not adding much. Too bad, because there is a lot to say and learn about the event of this show and this photographer’s work. I feel like they didn’t answer your quite perceptive questions very well. Good for you for presenting it to a wider audience, though, and we can go and dig into it a bit more elsewhere.

This work reminds of documentary photography (e.g. Walker Evans 2 dimensional photos)

please, please... crit house masters on egggleston! he's even more difficult to wrap my mind around than baltz.

I love photographs that do not have people.

but if someone did it today they'd be out of date

😂😂😂😂😂. These photos looks like a 7 year old took.