Much like Andreas Gursky, Bernd and Hilla Becher were German photographers, the three actually studied photography together which is why in certain cases their work interlinks, showing their working together has influence one another. The composition of Bernd and Hilla's work definitely interlinks with the work of Gursky in terms of having a head on framing of structures. Using a documentary style they are most famous for capturing images of industrial buildings. I have chosen to use Bernd and Hilla to research because I believe their work will help influence my work massively in terms of the shoots I hope to take of shops and ruins- using the same composition. Another aspect of their work which I find appeal is the way they have chosen to present their work, sometimes they present them as standing alone images, other times they place images together, in almost a contact sheet format, of the same buildings just different angles.
This is the first example which I wanted to show because as mentioned above it is one of the ways they decided to display their work. It is a photo of very similar buildings in terms of shape and size yet are different in the terms of windows that are in the wall, the are of one of the front of the house one of the back of the house. I think this is really interesting because much like the work by Gursky that has already been analysed, you are able to personify the buildings through the symbolism which has been created in this photo. For example showing the saying of "everybody has the same structure (a skeleton) but are different on the outside". In relation to buildings, the differences could represent wealth/ social class. for example, the more windows could symbolism a high social standing with more money as there would either be more rooms or the rooms would be more "open". Whereas the top row of housing has very little windows which could imply they are of a lower social class as when the houses were being built they couldn't afford as many windows suggesting inside these houses it would be more close in/ claustrophobic.
Much like the image above, these images are presented in the same way, they are of different buildings in very similar sizes but all have different effects on the audience which are transitioned across the final image. Therefore, as this has a very similar effect as the one above, it shows how the symbolism of personification is very similar as well. Thus showing how the main aspects of Bernd and Hilla's work is creating symbolism through only the use of structures, which personally I think is such a good and interesting idea because instead of having images purely of a building with no more insight not meaning anything else, it is much more interesting for the audience to read into the symbolism. Therefore influence my ideas for this project- perhaps I could take photos of different houses and compare them in similar ways.
I personally find this image interesting because it shows a really old and run down looking building. Even though my camera wouldn't be able to take photos wide enough to get the whole building like this without distorting the final image- it would create a fish eye distortion unlike this final image. An aspect of this image which I do find quite interesting is the composition of the building in the frame, they have been able to position the building very central in this photo having very similar distance between the edge of the building and the end of the frame. When looking at this image originally, it doesn't look very special, although when you look harder at this image, you can see the difference in the location, implying the saying of " rich land surrounding in seas of poverty". In the background in the left top hand corner, you can see a building which appears to be either higher up because it is on a raised bit of land up a hill or it is a taller building its self, however the building in the background appears to be a much more wealthy building contrasting the main standing building we see in this image. I therefore find this image very symbolic because it shows not to judge something at first sight, someone may see this image and automatically be lead to believe that this is a low income "slum-like" area with building where people have to share homes, however, this is not the case because in the background reveals that it is not all housing which looks like this.
This is the final image which I wanted to include in the research for Bernd and Hilla because I really find the "barn" style of building really interesting. The main aspect of this image much like all the images above which I think stands out is the composition of this image because it is clear that they did not go to this building quickly take a picture and then walk away, it appears to be carefully framed. This would have been with a tripod- thus showing me when I come to shooting this project, I need to carefully frame the aspect I want to frame, make sure it is neat with the lines appearing to be parallel to each other. This way I believe it makes a much more interesting and intriguing image for my audience to look at. Even though as already mentioned my camera would be unable to frame a building like this especially where I am focusing my project on as all the housing are very close together, I wouldn't be able to go back far enough.
Influence and summary;
Much like Gursky, Bernd and Hilla have massively helped influence my shoots. When looking at the composition they used when taking photos of buildings massively helped influence my work because it showed me that if I focus on a side of a building, an audience are able to work out/ build a personality for the building. In my case in the image above, I used the composition of head on the front of a post office centralising the post box. Also, the style of photography also helped influence my shoots, even though the images of Bernd and Hilla are very likely to be black and white due to the times of them being taken, I still liked the idea of making my images black and white following the theme.
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