Assessment 1: A series of banal and quotidian spaces that have some common abstract quality

3 min readMar 29, 2018

The photographers I was inspired by and chose to study were Bernd and Hilla Becher. The Becher couples work is one that reflects functional buildings that are banal and overlooked such as their water tower and Winding Tower pieces (Respini, 2010). Their pieces were often similar in function or site, but when placed together used to juxtapose the images to highlight differences in characteristics such as form, size, shape and materials used. Another important aspect in regards to the Water Tower piece was the use of black and white images in a typographic form (Lange 2007). This was purposely structured to look almost like a documentation of all the different water towers and used as a form of intensifying banal aspect of the structure. Another reason for the technique was to allow for the viewer to identify the similarities and differences more clearly and the strategic center page placement used to lure the audiences focus to the water towers intricate details and differences that might often be missed when viewing them individually on a page.

To follow the Becher couples photography style, I chose to focus on the various seating benches across the UTS building area. The reason behind choosing seating bench’s was because they are one of the most functional objects that exist in public spaces yet are overlooked due to similarity in designs. Further inspiration was drawn from the fact that the action of sitting is a crucial part of day-to-day life, which people underappreciate and never realize. Quintessentially, they are all in essence ‘places to sit’ and are generally the same length seating 3 to 4 people in public spaces. However, individually their design construct is different in terms of shape, material and design depending on where a person goes in the City. The use of a front facing black and white shot was used to mimic the technique used by the Becher’s and to force the viewers eyes to engage with the seating benches individual details. Lighting also played a big influence on the structure of the photography as the shots were predominantly taken during cloudy dull weather to eliminate any shadow that may be present due to sunlight. This dull, cloudy weather effect was used as a means to make enhance the theme of banal and quotidian, much like the one used in the Winding Towers piece by the Bechers. By organising these photographs in the form of a typology, it also allows for the viewer to easily highlight subtle differences between each seating design. The work as a whole is to encourage the viewer to see the seating benches in a different light, and notice the intricacies that make each one special and unique.