Typologies came about in 1959 when a German couple Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing old and derelict, run down, industrial buildings or towers which were being taken down. They had an aim to capture a number of different landscapes before they were all completely gone, and produced some clear black and white images containing lots of depth. They took multiple image of similar buildings making sure the weather and angle was as close to the other images as possible. They took each images from the same distance away from the building so that they would be uniformed ad symmetrical. The Becher’s were also lecturers and influenced many young people through their photography at The Dusseldorf School of Photography. Some key photographic topologists consisted of: Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Demand and Gillian Wearing.
Bernd and Hilla Becher:
This image is by Bernd and Hilla Becher, it captures an industrial building back in the 1960’s as a way for people to see what was being taken down.
Many people have been inspired by typology photography, and have taken their own spin on it using different objects as opposed to industrial buildings as seen bellow.
