Hannah Hoch (1889 – 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, in which she was one of the originators of photo-montage (a type of collage in which the pasted items are actual photographs, or photographic reproductions pulled from the press and other widely produced media).  Key themes in Hoch’s work include androgyny, political discourse, and shifting gender roles. These themes all interacted to create a feminist discourse surrounding Hoch’s work. Hoch constantly promoted the idea of women working creatively more generally in society.

Mishka Henner

Mishka Henner (born 1976) is a Belgian artist working and living in Manchester. His work has featured in several surveys of contemporary artists working with photographers in the internet age. Henner uses technologies such as Google Earth, Google Street View, and YouTube in his work.

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky (born 1955) is a Canadian photographer and artist known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. His work is kept in more than 50 museums including the Guggenheim Museum. Nature transformed through industry is a constant theme in his work.  He uses subjects that are rich in detail and scale but they are open in their meaning. The images produced are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear.

The Boyle Family

The Boyle family is a group of collaborative artists based in London. It consists of the couple Joan Hills and their children. The Boyle family work across a wide range of media (painting, photography, sculpture, film and more) but they are most known for their Earth studies. They recreate randomly chosen areas of the Earth’s surface using resin and fibreglass.

Jeff Brouws (born 1955) is a self-taught artist and photographer. He took lots of typology photographs of America’s rural, urban and suburban landscapes. He used typology photographs to document the characteristics of the nation. He takes influence from the New Topographic movement and the writings of cultural geographers. He is the author of seven books and his photographs can be found in major private and public collections including the Whitney Museum of Art.

My Favourite Photograph

In this photograph Brouws used the fluorescent lighting from the motel to illuminate his photograph. This created contrast between the bright motel sign and the dark and dramatic background. It appears that a deep depth of field was used as the whole of the photograph is in focus. The photograph is generally quite dark so a low ISO of 100 or 200 will have been used along with a slower shutter speed of around 1/25 to let enough light into the lens.

There is lots of use of colour in this photograph – the bright red in the motel sign catches the attention of the viewer and it contrasts with the dark blue of the clouds. There is a wide tonal range in this image which makes it even more dramatic and interesting to look at. The photograph has lots of texture in the clouds which makes the photograph more realistic along with the 3D effect that the motel sign in front of the clouds brings. The central position of the motel makes it clear that it is the main focus of the photograph and it gives somewhere for the eye to be led to.

This photograph is one example of Brouws typology work. He worked to show the differences in the same style objects. He showed the diversity of structures all over America and the different cultures that could be seen. This helped to open the viewer’s eyes to each others differences and respect each other more.

Bernd Becher (1931-2007) and Hilla Becher (1934 – 2015) were German conceptual artists and photographers that worked as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their typologies of industrial buildings and structures. They are the founders of the ‘Becher School’ and influenced generations of documentary photographers and artists. They have been awarded the Erasmus Prize and the Hasselblad Award.

My Favourite Photograph

In this photograph natural daylight will have been used to capture it. You can tell because of the soft tones and natural contrast within the photograph. The photograph is slightly over-exposed as can be clearly seen in the background so a slightly higher ISO such as 400 or 800 may have been used along with a potential shutter speed of 1/20-1/80. A deep depth of field has been used at the whole of the photograph is in focus.

There is no colour in the image as it is a black and white photograph. This shows that the viewer should be looking at the details of the subject instead of colours. There is a wide tonal range, ranging from the contrasting shadows of the structure to the over-exposed background. There is clear texture in the structures which makes the photograph more realistic to the viewer and gives it a slight 3D effect.  There is pattern and repetition in the beams of the structures which makes the photograph more aesthetically pleasing for the viewer.

Bernd and Hilla Becher would document architectural structures all over Germany. They took photos of similar typologies and would make compositions of them all together. This is just one example of the work that they would do. They captured the pleasing aesthetics in the buildings deemed ugly and showed the country that there is more to it if they look closely. The Becher couple documented all sorts of structures and worked to open the countries eyes to what was right in front of them.