Hilla Becher, born on September 2, 1934, and passed away October 10, 2015, Hilla was a conceptual photographer born in Potsdam, East Germany.

Hilla was well known for her industrial photographs, with longtime collaborator Bernd Becher.

Hilla Becher was exposed to photography early in life.

Her mother attended Lette-Haus, a photography school for women, and occasionally worked in a studio, retouching photographs.

Her father was a high school language teacher, later drafted to World War II.

During that war the Hilla family moved throughout Germany, eventually settling in Potsdam in 1945.

Hilla began photographing at the age of twelve with a 9×12cm plate-camera.

Hilla photographed her teachers in high school, printed and sold them at postcard size for the teachers.

She was expelled from high school and became an intern for Walter Eichgrun, a working studio and commissioned photographer, in 1951, while studying photography at a vocational school and finishing her high school degree in Berlin.

She spent several years working on commission with Eichgrun and did various solo assignments.

She was offered a job, in Düsseldorf, Germany as an advertising photographer and around 1958 she enrolled into the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Walter Breker studying graphic and printing techniques.

While enrolled in the academy she met future husband and collaborator, Bernd Becher.

In 1963 Hilla and Bernd Becher had their first solo exhibition in Galerie Ruth Nohl in Siegen, Germany.

Hilla is credited for aiding in the start and structuring of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf’s Photography department.

Hilla Becher died in Düsseldorf on 10 October 2015.