Recollection (2010) Walter Niedermayr (born 1952) is among Europe’s finest contemporary photographers, a virtuoso in the portrayal of contemporary architecture and Alpine landscapes, whose subtle handling of scale, diffuse light effects and desaturated color has been much imitated in recent years. Between 2005 and 2008, Niedermayr traveled in Iran, visiting Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd, Shiraz and other smaller cities and historical sites. His travels spurred the undertaking of a new series examining Iranian architecture in its cultural and historical context, revealing its mingling of east and west as older buildings jostle with colorful billboards, beltways and apartment blocks that look as if they could be located anywhere in the world. Like the photographer’s previous monographs (which include Titlis and Civil Operations), Recollection was developed by Niedermayr in close collaboration with its designers and publisher, and will prove to be a highlight of photobook-making. Raumaneignungen Lech 2015/2016 (2017) The mountains around Lech am Arlberg are the focus of Walter Niedermayr’s latest photo series, realized over a period of two years. Every winter blankets of snow unify the landscape, making vegetation and topographical details disappear; the only structures left are those that create the ideal conditions for winter sports. In contrast, summer brings a completely different landscape to light. Over the course of each year Niedermayr took his camera to the same places in order to express the atmosphere and the changes in landscape. The aesthetic of these minimalist, yet vivid images draws the viewer’s attention, but it’s only upon closer observation that one notices disruptions and shifts, even a certain kind of irony, all of which perhaps challenge one to contemplate the possible different perspectives of nature, and of how landscape is dealt with.