Mineheads

Rating:
Summary: Evocative Photos of a Decaying Landscape
Review: Looking at these amazingly detailed Photographs I see and feel: Cold, cloudy, rainy, foggy days; lonely abandoned Mines; silence in a once noisy environment; decaying buildings; the scars that have been left on flat landscapes...

Though I also like "Industrial Facades", "Gas Tanks", "Water Towers", and especially the now out of Print "Blast Furnaces", and can recommend them all, there is something about this book I like best of the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Perhaps it is because I worked in the Dortmund area at one time, and these photos evoke memories of the past...

The Bechers offer little commentary. It is not neccessary. The photographs say it all. They speak of an active, busy past and of the transitory nature of humankind's endeavors, once the mines were exhausted or too costly to operate. The photographs are crisp and incredibly detailed. Each Minehead has its own distinct character and beauty. In Germany they used to have names...