What Are Typologies?
Typologies in photography are series of images that show a group of similar objects, buildings, or scenes in a consistent, repetitive way. Each photo follows the same style or setup, helping viewers easily compare the similarities and differences between subjects. It’s all about noticing the small details you might usually overlook.
Typologies make everyday things feel unique. By photographing similar subjects side-by-side, photographers show patterns, differences, and stories we might not see otherwise. Typologies can highlight social, cultural, or environmental themes too. They encourage viewers to slow down and really look.
Typologies became famous through German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. Starting in the 1950s, they photographed industrial structures like water towers, coal bunkers, and gas tanks. They used a very deadpan style: plain backgrounds, even lighting, and no fancy angles. Their work inspired a whole new way of thinking about photography.
Artist reference:
Bernd and Hilla Becher are considered pioneers of typological photography. They met at art school and started working together in the late 1950s. Their goal was to document disappearing industrial architecture across Europe and North America. They photographed structures like water towers, blast furnaces, and silos with a strict, consistent style. Every image was black and white, taken from a similar angle, and presented in grids to highlight small variations. Their influence can still be seen today in modern documentary and conceptual photography.
Typology plan:
I will have to choose something repeatable like doors, shop fronts, trees, or street signs. This will allow me to accurately represent the main idea of typologies.
To recreate these photos shown, i will have to use the same framing, lighting, and angles for every photo. This will give it an effect that the photos do have similarity in them whilst also being unique in the process.
I will then edit these photos and crop them to allow assortment into grids that make up the typologies. I could even go out of my way to make them black and white to better represent my work in the way of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
Typology Photos:
These photos are only one of the small photoshoots i’m going to be doing for typologies, this photoshoot focuses on windows, with there being a difference in photos but also a type of similarity between them.
In the grid format:
