Jenkins described the images as "neutral" in style, "reduced to an essentially topographic state, conveying substantial amounts of visual information but eschewing entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion".
[6] For "New Topographics", William Jenkins selected eight then-young American photographers: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal,[7] Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott,[8] Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel, Jr.
[citation needed] The shift from craft or self-teaching to academia had somewhat been started by photographers such as Ansel Adams and Minor White, but the new generation was turning away from the approach of these forebears.
[citation needed] The exhibition was recreated in various locations: in 1981, six years after its original presentation, it was shown in reduced form at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK, under the auspices of Paul Graham and Jem Southam.
"New Topographics" began an international tour in 2009, with stagings at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.