In my world, America is moving on! eCommerce continues to replace steel and glass.
Eight years after Sears closed its doors, many of the storefronts in my local shopping mall are now shuttered. I walk the halls looking for bargains. I encounter another shopper and we recognize each other as fellow diehards. Together, we shake our heads, recognizing our mutual struggle to retain old habits in a changing world where fewer shoppers are willing to drive and walk to do their shopping, preferring to stay at home, a trend COVID-19 accelerated.
Google’s AI Overview says my iPhone photograph above, taken in June of 2026, is in the style of the New Topographics movement of the 1970s. It talks about photographers taking banal, prosaic scenes of office interiors and empty parking lots, then elevating them to art through careful composition that emphasizes repeating lines and the interplay of light and shadow, with intense, saturated colors transforming urban spaces into visually startling images.
Yes, I did grow up photographically in the 1970s. If I have been influenced by the work of William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, so much the better!
The artspeak used by Google AI is wrong on two counts.
First off, Google’s language misses the experience of revelation I had in taking the photo and, hopefully, the revelation you and others experience when looking at it. Who would expect sunlight and shadow, glass and steel, paint and linoleum could come together momentarily in such compelling geometries? I did not go looking for this juxtaposition of architectural elements, but was delighted to find it. That seems essential to me, that the scene was not something I created but something I found; I did not make it look that way, it was that way.
Secondly, Google AI is pretty far off the mark in including this image in the pantheon of works by photographers working in the New Topographics style. I look at the images by those photographers and find little similarity.
To be fair to Google AI, additional searches give different results. One result tells me, “This photograph reflects a style characterized as Minimalist Urban Abstraction or Architectural Minimalism. It focuses on the interplay of geometric shapes, clean lines, and the juxtaposition of bold primary colors found in a man-made environment.”
That is a better description of the style but, when I search for “Minimalist Urban Abstraction photos” or “Architectural Minimalism photos”, the search results are really not very much like this photo. So that is your homework assignment — what style is this photo? How would you describe it? In particular, what keywords in a search engine show you similar images? Click here to contact me.
On a side note, let me point out that abstract photos offer something abstract paintings do not because the photos are grounded in reality. Abstract form is part of the real world, not invention. Is that significant? I keep thinking it is.
Something not apparent in the photo—how could it be?—is my own continuing sense of gratitude
First off, I am grateful that I have been given eyes to see this and other scenes. Often I see what others do not. They walk by, not even noticing while I stand mesmerized. As a photographer, I have tried to see. When I do see, I do not pat myself on the back as if it was my accomplishment. I am not creating this or other scenes; I find them and am grateful I can find them.
Secondly, I am grateful that I have been given the means to share what I have seen. I am grateful to have camera, computer, software, and language so that I can share what I find inspiring. There is no guarantee I will succeed. Some readers applaud my efforts, enough of them that I continue. Click here to tell me what you think. Should I be doing something else with my time?
Photo: vacant storefront in Concord Mall, Wilmington, Delaware. Photo and text copyright 2026 by Danny Nelson Schweers.
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