TYPOLOGY:

• A classification according to general type, especially in archaeology, psychology, or the social sciences. (Oxford Dictionary)
• Study or analysis using a classification according to a general type.(Oxford Dictionary)

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their extensive series of photographic images, or typologies, of industrial buildings and structures, often organised in grids. Also well known as the founders of what has come to be known as the ‘Becher school’ influencing generations of documentary photographers and artists. The Couple met as students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1957 and first collaborated on photographing and documenting the disappearing German industrial architecture in 1959. Bernd Becher studied painting at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart from 1953 to 1956, then typography under Karl Rössing at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1959 to 1961. Hilla Becher also studied photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1958 to 1961 but prior to this she had completed an apprenticeship as a photographer where she lived in Potsdam. After their education they both began working as freelance photographers for the Troost Advertising Agency in Düsseldorf, concentrating on product photography.

This contact sheet of photographs by the Becher’s shows typology
photographs which document the similarities between the different
industrial structures. The photographs compare the similarities to the
point where they almost appear as though they are almost photographing
the same structure in each photo as each photo is taken exactly the same
way with the same angle and distance. Also the time of day and weather
must have been taken into account as the sky colour is the same in all of
the photographs.

For my work on Consumerism this would be interesting as i could produce work in a typological format that would represent how all of the products are similar but also to highlight the details of the everyday items. Although this type of documentary photography is of the landscape i would want to produce it in a studio shot photoshoot which would become much more focused on the products themselves.