Photography: Josef Schulz catalogues abandoned checkpoints across Europe

Polish-born photographer Josef Schulz has an extraordinary body of work to his name. The 48-year-old’s imagery deals predominantly with mundane man-made objects iconicised by his lens. But his images aren’t quite as simple as they first seem. Using digital manipulation Josef transforms his originals into familiar yet otherworldly scenes, removing the typography from commercial signage and transplanting urban architecture from its cluttered surroundings into bare backgrounds. His Übergang series saw him traipsing across Europe documenting abandoned military and national checkpoints, subtly blurring their backgrounds in post-production to remove them from their original context – which gives them the appearance of being captured in a different era entirely.