CONCRETE: Photography and Architecture (Review)

Switzerland is in many ways a perfect playing ground for architecture photographers: Weaving mills with loft apartments sit next to hypermodern schoolhouses, rustic chalets next to modern day factories. The compilation CONCRETE pays tribute to this genre of photography which has officially only been around for twenty years.

An exhibit at Fotomuseum Winterthur with the same ingenious name illustrates the relationship between photography and architecture. An endless stream of images visualize that architecture can come to life thanks to photographs. It takes skill and and creativity to "condense" a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional space while still transporting feelings.

The stunning collection of images in CONCRETE has inspired this writer to explore architectural photography in more detail. While true professionals like to capture their objects on "Day 0" before they are infused with life, I believe that "living" object has much charm as well.

Scheidegger & Spiess Verlag
440 pages
German/English