Andreas Gursky

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Andreas Gursky (1955 - ) is a German photographer known for the highly textured feel of his enormous photographs often using a high point of view.

Gursky received a strong influence from his teachers, Hilla and Bernd Becher, who are known for their distinctive method of systematically cataloging industrial machinery. This method is similarly found in Gursky's methodical approach to his photography.

Before the mid 1990s, Gursky did not digitally manipulate his images. Today, however Gursky uses computers to edit his pictures and creates art in a larger space than the subject photographed. Gursky holds the record for the highest price paid for a photograph by a living photographer for his work 99 Cent II Diptychon which sold for USD 2.48 million in 2006. The work is also the second most expensive photographed sold.

Gursky's photograph of the Dance Valley festival in Amsterdam in 1995, depicts revellers facing a DJ stand in a large arena, with strobe lighting effects. The smoke pouring out looks like a hand holding the crowd in stasis. After producing that photo, Gursky has said that the only music he listens to is Techno music because its simple symmetry echos his own work while playing to a deeper more visceral emotion.^{[citation needed]}