I created these edits in Lightroom, using a range of different editing techniques as well as applying different filters for different effects.

Hilla and Bernd Becher are a German couple that changed the course of twentieth century photography working as a couple they took photos of the disappearing industrial building and areas around western Europe and northern America
in 1976 Bernd Becher started teaching photography at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

when the Becher’s where talking there photos they didn’t want anything that wasn’t the the subject of the photo so sometimes they had to wait for clouds to go by to take a photo or wait for winter. and that’s why every photo you see of there’s kind of has the same feel as the last one and that’s why there work is seen as art.

here’s some photos that Hilla and Bernd Becher. as you can see there style kind of looks like passport photos and most of them are in a collection of the same type of equipment such as waters towers, warehouses, gas containers, etc.
Hilla Becher died on October 10 2015 and Bernd Becher died in June 22 2007

PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:

I’m going to aim to take pictures of different doors, windows, estate areas in general as there are usually similar characteristics however differences too. I also want to explore all the petrol stations/ garages in jersey as I think it will be interesting to see them all next to each other in a grid to compare and analyse. Apartment blocks too as their structures are very similar. Cars in a carpark or along the side of the road on a pavement for example.

Theses are some photos which have inspired me for my typologies photoshoot i am planning on doing. I plan on going to the high street and taking photos of window shops when its dark outside, i am also going to take photos in town of house window i will do this on a cloudy day so i wouldn’t get the reflection of the sun in the window,

A photographic typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency.

The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their “typologies”—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure.

The term ‘Typology’ was first used to describe a style of photography when Bernd and Hilla Becher began documenting dilapidated German industrial architecture in 1959. The couple described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’.

WHAT WAS THEIR LEGACY?

Bernd and Hilla Becher

They were often labelled as conceptual artists and influenced minimalist and conceptual artists like Ed Ruscha, Carl Andre and Douglas Huebler.

As professors of The Dusseldorf School of Photography, they influenced a generation of German photographers who were their students (including Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.)

WHAT WERE THE COMMON THEMES?

Overlooked beauty and the relationship between form and function. Both subjects addressed the effect of industry on economy and the environment.

In my opinion typologies is an interesting topic due to you being able to see different versions of the same thing and how one thing can be interpreted differently but they are still so similar in their ways from their looks to the functions they do, they all do the same thing but the architecture is different.

‘By placing several cooling towers side by side something happened, something like tonal music; you don’t see what makes the objects different until you bring them together, so subtle are their differences.’
Hilla Becher obituary, the Guardian

What are typologies in photography?

A photographic typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency. This consistency is usually found within the subjects, environment, photographic process, and presentation or direction of the subject.

How are Bernd and Hilla Becher involved in this?

The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their “typologies”—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure. To create these works, the artists travelled to large mines and steel mills, and systematically photographed the major structures, such as the winding towers that haul coal and iron ore to the surface and the blast furnaces that transform the ore into metal. Capturing a record of all these landscapes as they were changing before they disappear was meaningful and important to the couple as they grew up in Germany surrounded by these structures; its a part of their childhood and life.

Examples of their photography:

Was it even photography in the first place?

Well technically yes, but their work has also been referred to as sculpture. The Bechers called the subjects of their photographs ‘anonymous sculptures’, and they produced a successful photobook of the same title in 1970.

In 1990, they received an award at the Venice Biennale not for photography, but sculpture, due to their ability to illustrate the sculptural properties of architecture.

What were the common themes?

Overlooked beauty and the relationship between form and function. Both subjects addressed the effect of industry on economy and the environment.

These photos were all taken at Havre Des pas and La Collet the photos were inspired by Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz.

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About Typology

A typology is a single photograph or more commonly a body of photographic work, that shares a high level of consistency which involves subjects such as the environment and photographic process.

Typology was first used to describe a style of photography when Bernd and Hilla Becher who are a rare artist couple, began documenting dilapidated German industrial architecture in 1959. The couple described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’.

The Becher’s had worked in the steel and mining industries which was their initial focus. They were fascinated by the similar shapes in which certain buildings were designed. After collecting thousands of pictures of different structures, they noticed that they often shared multiple distinctive qualities. Together, they went out with a their camera and photographed these buildings from a number of different angles, but always with a straightforward and objective point of view. They shot only on overcast days to avoid shadows, and early in the morning during the seasons of spring and fall. If they went out on a bright day they would usually wait for a cloud to block out the light to exclude any necessary light.

A mood board of their work.