Jonathan Andrew: World War II Bunkers

Cramond Island WW2 submarine defense boom

Military Casemate Type 623, West of Koudekerke, The Netherlands

Jonathan Andrew is a photographer from Manchester, United Kingdom. For the last twenty years he has called Amsterdam home. He is landscape photographer who does features for renowned magazines such as National Geographic. When he is on his own he likes to work on landscape photography while he travels. 

Andrew started documenting bunkers he came across in Europe. Drawn to the history of the bunkers, the artist decided to photograph them. He had free time, because of the down turn of the economy at that time. He photographed his subjects at dusk, so that the buildings would look less flat. Artificial lights were used like in a technique called light painting. The photographer would leave his lens open, while running around flashing lights on architectural features. He also likes to take winter photographs, because of the light and lack of weeds near the buildings.

I like that Andrews took the photographs at night. It gives the buildings a different look than viewers would normally see. The buildings look other worldly or futuristic. They look like modern buildings from a different time period. I also like the gray of the concrete with blue and purple of the sky. The colors work very well together. In some images graffiti is clearly visible. Instead of taking the shot from a graffiti free angle, Andrews embraced the graffiti as part of the story. 

This series is very much what I am interested in. What happened to these historical buildings? They were just left behind. What an important, yet horrifying part of history lying in waste. I am impressed that Andrews had the ambition to travel all across Europe to capture these landmarks on film for eternity. There is a story that still needs to be told with the buildings. I feel like what ever they have to tell isn’t done.