Bernd and Hilla Becher are a duo of German photographers and professors.  They first started their collaboration by photographing and documenting the disappearing German industrial architecture in 1959. Their  body of work, which spans over decades and depicts the functionalist architecture in many different countries not only have rich documentary and analytical values but also had a major impact on movements such as Minimalism and Conceptual Art. From 1976 to 1996, Bernd Becher teached at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Notable formers students included Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth and Candida Hofer. All of their respective work are or were closely related to the Becher’s aesthetic and approach to photography, which is mostly influenced by  the 1920s German tradition of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) .