“Sommerstrasse, Duesseldorf” (1980) That last quote reflects a certain obsession of mine — the idea of how place matters more than ever now, that it drives our impulses and our unconscious in ways we don’t understand. I love all of his work but the early photos he took, of empty streets in different cities, are the ones I come back to again and again. His composition is so calm, his lighting so natural (to the point of being over-bright, even), that you’re allowed to relax into the vision of an empty street in a particular place. Then all the historical layers of that place, all the sorrow and fear and hope built into the architecture that surrounds us, it all just hits you. Copyright Thomas Struth

“Sommerstrasse, Duesseldorf” (1980)

That last quote reflects a certain obsession of mine — the idea of how place matters more than ever now, that it drives our impulses and our unconscious in ways we don’t understand.

I love all of his work but the early photos he took, of empty streets in different cities, are the ones I come back to again and again. His composition is so calm, his lighting so natural (to the point of being over-bright, even), that you’re allowed to relax into the vision of an empty street in a particular place.

Then all the historical layers of that place, all the sorrow and fear and hope built into the architecture that surrounds us, it all just hits you.

Copyright Thomas Struth