Seldon,
Closing the book on Back Crescent Street
Seldon Scott took a walk down Back Crescent Street in Morecambe. It’s a short street, but a long walk. It took him seven months to complete it.
Why so long? Because he wasn’t just taking a stroll; he was doing art. Not just any art, but art in a cranky, idiosyncratic photographic approach known as the New Topographics movement. It’s grounded in the notion that the camera is a tool that does nothing more than record whatever is in front of the lens. In it’s purest form, New Topographics is about mapping surfaces with absolute disregard for beauty, aesthetics, or composition. In it’s purest form, it can be profoundly dull.
But when applied mindfully, when used with an eye toward the geometry of line and shape, when exercised with wit and practiced with a purpose, the New Topographics approach can be strangely compelling and unexpectedly beautiful.
Seldon Scott took a walk down Back Crescent Street — an alleyway, essentially — and he photographed every building. In a way, it was an heroic act. In a way, it was an act of utter madness. But the result is 70+ images that are somehow both mundane and mesmeric. How is that possible? Because the power of New Topographics comes from taking the time to see what’s actually there. And what’s actually there down Back Crescent Street is, by the grace of Seldon Scott, strangely compelling and unexpectedly beautiful.
Editorial note: You can see all the photographs here.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
