This work is typical of Biermann’s working method, where a vernacular subject – the tourist view – is transformed into something altogether more demanding. The compression of everyday objects within the picture plane quietly draws our attention to the framing of the image and thus to its picture-making qualities. The belch of black smoke disappearing beyond its top edge provides release from the photograph’s dynamic tension. This is one of around 400 surviving photographs of Biermann’s that returned to the public notice in the 1980s.