Typology Photography

タイポロジー写真 / 1959– / Style / Photography Movements

The Bechers' method of shooting one kind of structure under identical conditions and hanging the results in a grid. Repetition under overcast light, dead-on and without people, turns individuals into types, and by way of the Düsseldorf school it became a grammar of contemporary photography.

Typology Photography — AI-generated interpretation 1 — AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work

Typology Photography — Bernd & Hilla Becher, Typology (Winding Towers) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Vidar00 — Bernd & Hilla Becher, Typology (Winding Towers) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Vidar00

Typology Photography — Jason Vanderhill《自動車のCピラーのタイポロジー》2005 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 · © Jason_Vanderhill ( talk ) ( Uploads ) — Jason Vanderhill《自動車のCピラーのタイポロジー》2005 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 · CC BY 3.0 · © Jason_Vanderhill ( talk ) ( Uploads )

At a glance

Visual cues

Grid presentation
Even overcast light
Strict frontality
Typification through repetition

Best used for

Surveys recording one class of facility or equipment so they can be compared
Laying out a collection or product range so only the differences show

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Dictionary entry

Type: Lettering kept outside the frame, place and date in one format throughout
Composition: An even grid with the subject held at the same size in every frame
Material: Frontal shooting under flat overcast light, focal length and height fixed
Caution: Hanging pictures made under different light and angles turns those differences into the subject, and the variation between objects disappears.
Further study: the Bechers' water towers / the Düsseldorf academy / Gursky, Struth and Ruff

Related entries

New Topographics (ニュー・トポグラフィックス)Same Photography Movements lineage.Compare Typology Photography and New Topographics
New Objectivity Photography (新即物主義写真)Same Photography Movements lineage.Compare Typology Photography and New Objectivity Photography

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