Bernd & Hilla Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher are a married couple from Germany who travel around and take pictures, some of their projects lasting for years at a time. There projects consist of various photos of the same objects, all from different places and sometimes eras.

This particular series of photos (above) was taken from 1983 - 92; although the subjects are slightly different, they are all of the same general objects (gas tanks), and they are taken using the same lighting and composition.

The Becher's style of photography has inspired many modern day photographers, one significant person being Idris Khan. Khan is a British photographer who has done many projects inspired by a diverse assortment of cultural sources (art, literature, previous photographers, etc.).

The photo below was done in the same style of the Becher's gas tank photos, but with a twist; Khan took multiple exposures of different gas tanks and made sure that every layer could be seen, creating one photo.

I think that Idris Khan's approach to this photo was really interesting. He expanded on the style of the Becher's contact sheets and created one photo more unique to himself.