I am drawn to the work of Bernd and Hilla Becker, who made an impact on the contemporary art world particularly after the 1990 series of exhibitions and publication of Typologies. Their use of “documentary photography” (Romain, L. 1990) to catalogue a wide range of structures in industrial / post industrial, rural and urban landscapes is a fascinating record of changes in our landscapes, offering a unique and fresh set of perspectives linked to industrial archaeology and architecture. I am intrigued by their precise methodology, only photographing on cloudy days, in black and white, mostly with a direct, front-on view, mostly “portrait” page layout….. I need to consider far more consistently a methodology in my landscape photography that aims to capture changes, details and palimpsest observations (Hoskins 1970 – see below) in the 21st century landscape.

See:

Becher, B. & H. (1990) Typologies. München, Schirmer/Mosel

Romain, (1990) quoted in Typologies, Bernd and Hilla Becher (see above)

Hoskins, W.G. (1970) The Making of the English Landscape. London. Penguin (Pelican edition)