After Lewis, Built By David, Allington

Today's image was inspired  by learning about the New Topographics. It was a term coined by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers whose photographs had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape. They were inspired by the man-made, selecting subjects like parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses with a beautiful stark austerity. Also, they revealed a growing unease about the natural landscape being eroded by both industrial and housing developments. 
My favourite of this group is Lewis Baltz - his images are brilliantly precise or precisely brilliant, or maybe both at the same time!. When I first saw his images I was convinced he must have shot them on a large format camera (either a 5 x 4 or 10 x 8) but apparently he used a Leica, a 50mm lens, a tripod and low ISO film which makes them even more remarkable. In some ways he also referred back to the likes of Walker Evans who also tended to photograph building and urban structures straight on but I find Baltz's have a melancholic, other worldly feel all of their own, almost post acolyptic and strangely febrile.
The David in the title refers to David Wilson Homes who are building this huge new housing estate near where we live. It's one of many springing up around here so I've learnt that the "growing unease" is not a new thing at all. I found this half built house weirdly sinister but maybe that's just me! It looked like it was lost within its' own fortress, humming with a kind of unsettling darkness. The high fence certainly didn't help.
There'a really good You Tube video about Lewis Baltz  (and others in the New Topographics group):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3zImLqBIBM