From its beginning, photography has been intertwined within the representation of landscape. It’s hard not to think of classic black and white vistas by photographers like Ansel Adams, but photographic artists also ushered in entirely new ways of looking at our environments. No longer just pristine wildernesses and perfect sunsets, these different kinds of landscapes turn a closer eye to the relationships, impacts, and human stories embedded within our surroundings.

With roots in a monumental 1975 museum exhibition entitled New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape, these ideas around landscape are still evolving, and here are some ways you can start exploring them yourself.

Landscapes are not just ‘nature.’ Although it may be tempting to crop out that building in the corner of your composition, leaving it in forces the viewer to confront it and question why it is there. By bringing together varied subjects - natural and unnatural, beautiful and overlooked - you can move beyond pure aesthetics and began investigating more complex relationships within your frame. Create tension between contrasting subjects, like cracking concrete and grassy hills.

Traditional landscapes sweep viewers into dramatic scenes, unique perspectives, and unimaginable beauty. By stripping away these creative techniques, you arrive at compositions that do not rely on established visual conventions. Instead, they seek to come closer to unadulterated human sight – the world as it is. It may seem boring or sterile on the surface, but this deadpan look can just as easily invite a critical eye or conversation around an image. Try centered, eye-level compositions that utilize empty space and distinct subjects.

A lot has changed since the 70s when new kinds of landscape photography started redefining the genre. We now experience the world through digital screens and virtual reality. This opens up new ways of exploring altered landscapes through digital manipulation. Get creative with techniques that blur the line between physical and digital realms. Panoramas are synonymous with traditional landscape photography, but the built-in tools on our phones are easy to glitch by jolting around scenes, rather than slowly and seamlessly across them.