Chelsey Tatum 
Hannah Henderson 
Shawn Ogden 
Nil Santana 
Sara Beth Almquist 
Ashlee Justice Bernd & Hilla Becher
Bernd and Hilla Becher were a German photographer team and a married couple, best- known for their collection of industrial building images examining the similarities and differences in structure and appearance.
Bernd (1931 – 2007) and Hilla (b. 1934) Becher first met at the Düsseldorf Academy. Both were studying painting at the time and in 1961, the two were married. They first collaborated on photographing and documenting the disappearing German industrial architecture in 1959, and had their first Gallery exhibition in 1963 at the Galerie Ruth Nohl in Siegen. They were fascinated by the similar shapes in which certain buildings were designed. In addition, they were intrigued by the fact that so many of these industrial buildings seemed to have been built with a great deal of attention toward design. Together, the Bechers went out with a large format camera and photographed these buildings from a number of different angles, but always with a straightforward “objective” point of view. The images of structures with similar functions were then displayed side by side to invite viewers to compare their forms and designs. These structures included barns, water towers, storage silos, and warehouses.
The Bechers also photographed outside of Germany, including buildings from the United States and other areas of Europe. Bernd taught at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and influenced students that later made a name for themselves in the photography industry. Former students of Bernd’s included Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, and Candida Höfer.
Hannah Henderson
11:49 pm, 09.14.11
I really like the photographs of this couple! I like the simplicity of the photographs, yet something strong about them draws you in. They are talented because they are able to take normal shapes and buildings and photograph them in such a way that they become interesting works of art. I like that they took pictures of every day things like barns and warehouses and made them special; I love when people take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. I also really like the straightforward objective view all their photographs have, it makes the buildings the most interesting parts of the photographs.
Lee Anna McGee
5:32 pm, 09.15.11
I really like the simplicity of these photographs. I think the team did really well incorporating negative space around the focal points (in this case the buildings,barns, etc). I typically don’t like center focused pictures but I find these appealing. I also think it is pleasing to the eye on how they did multiple pictures and put them all together for the series. I think they did very well with the lighting. Nothing shows up except for their focus point. I could see this being printed on about 18×24 and made into a poster.
Kelcie Broom
11:28 pm, 09.25.11
The composition of these common buildings makes them, as Hannah wonderfully put it, ordinary into extraordinary. Although buildings and structures aren’t my favorite thing to photograph and to look at, I think because of the arrangement, it makes them much more interesting to look at.
Chelsea Pattillo
9:31 am, 09.26.11
I am very intrigued by the lines and symmetry of these photographs. It’s something that the eye first notices when looking at the picture. I love how the couple captures such a simple object and makes it look interesting to look at. It makes you do a double take on what the object is. I also really like how they make most of their photography into series compressed into one photo especially since they didn’t have photoshop then. :)
Chelsey Tatum
2:03 pm, 12.09.11
I enjoy line and shape… and these definitely play off of both. I like the way they presented their pieces as a series all here together, comparable and able to give us a look at the variety of design for this particular structure.