Photography: Houses on hills cleverly photographed to look lopsided

I must say, I’ve never thought of architectural photography as the most humorous of pastimes, but Cameron Wittig’s Duluth Typologies project has done a lot to change my mind! Documenting homes built on steep hills in Duluth, Minnesota, Cameron tilted his camera to square the pavement off with the bottom of the picture frame, creating the baffling illusion that these typical Midwestern houses are sinking sideways into the ground.

The title of the series is a playful reference to Bernd and Hilla Becher’s infamous typologies of industrial German architecture, and reminds us that photography can often be the greatest art of illusion. As Cameron notes, “my personal work plays with perception and how photography is often presumed to be 100% honest when in reality it can be easily manipulated to lie. If you use it correctly, it is just as good as telling untruths as it is truths.”