Photographers and documentary filmmakers have been exploring the theme of manufactured landscapes from nearly the beginning of these art forms. Some of my earliest photographic influences include the work of Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Weston (of Armco Steel fame), and others who were hired by the Roosevelt administration to document the country’s recovery activities during the 1930s. However Bernd and Hilla Becher stand out as the recognized masters among past and contemporary photographers who explore the typologies of industrial shapes and their place on the landscape. These German-born photographers, who came of age after World War II, spent decades perfecting their craft and revealing the essence of human industrial design rendered into photographic form. The scenes below document landscapes I encounter regularly in my urban environment and the places I have lived in and visited over the past four decades in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest.
Keywords: Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Weston, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher, Typology, Typologies, Typology Photographs, Industrial Landscapes, Photographs of Industrial Design, Urban Photography, Industrial Photographs, St. Louis, Tacoma, Portland, Lansing, Abilene, Duwamish, Duwamish River, Detroit, Factory Photographs, Midwest Photographs