business parks – berlin

My exploration of business parks and commercial estates continues. My last trips have taken me to the edges of Berlin; next week, I will visit some ZACs around Montpellier again.

Essentially, this is new terrain for me, a mix of landscape and architectural photography, which I have only on a few occasions approached in a very systematic way. I am interested in these areas for reasons I have outlined previously, but in practice, many questions emerge.

Do I focus on the near abstract formality of the architecture with its stark geometry of straight lines and right angles and reduced colour palette, or do I take a step back and take in the surroundings? In some of the above examples, I have done that, gone closer and stepped back, and on balance, I prefer the wider perspective, placing the buildings in their context, which includes their position on the outskirts of the city, in proximity to residential developments, pastures or neglected/undeveloped brownfield sites.

How do I handle the weather and the seasons with their changing light situations and states of vegetation? So far, most of my pictures were taken in sunlit conditions, the dramatic light highlighting structures and textures and providing depth. Overcast skies emphasize shapes and create a flatter, less dramatic look. Until this point, I have not taken any nighttime photographs, which would render the landscape surrounding the buildings near invisible, but would reveal another view, also of their activity, which may or may not continue  through the night.

Do I focus on  the near universal design language, which is largely dictated by the utilitarian efficiency of the architecture and the landscaping, or do I allow the specifics and possibly the history of a place to emerge? There are a few pictures of a used car dealership in Hoppegarten – the ones with the mauve flowering trees, the pavilions with the roofed car parks – that show an area, which has likely served a very different purpose in the GDR. Remnants of old water fountains and features found in public parks are visible, or the safety railings running along busy roads, which no longer serve any purpose. Showing these features may change the meaning of the series from being about such business parks as a global phenomenon to being about specific places. While it may be difficult to exclude references to specific locations and local history altogether, it is a question of emphasis.

In the end, the series of images should be carried by a certain coherence, intellectually, aesthetically, thematically. Yet, I would hesitate to simply impose a particular vision, which I formulate at the beginning of this project, on to this project from the start. That would leave me in essence illustrating a point of view I have already formed or might feel obliged to form. At this point certainly, I would rather explore these areas with an open mind, see what I find, and allow myself to be surprised and have my preconceptions challenged. That will, for the moment, mean taking a wider range of pictures, in varying light conditions, different times of day and night, moving in closer and stepping back. I would hope that through a process of review, reflection and selection, a thread will emerge with time. For a long while, I will be seen a lone walker amongst a landscape dominated by roads, transport infrastructure, and parking lots, carrying a tripod and my camera gear, drawing suspicious or curious looks from men (these spaces appear to be populated almost exclusively by men) driving past or working nearby.