Hilla Becher was born Hilla Wobeser in Potsdam in 1934 and died in Düsseldorf in 2015. From 1951 to 1954 she trained in the photo atelier of Walter Eichgrün, Potsdam. Afterwards she worked as a photographer in Hamburg and Düsseldorf. From 1958 to 1961, she studied under Walter Breker at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, during which time she set up her first photo lab.