On an early Saturday morning as last night’s fog is still dissipating, two young Swiss men slowly make their way to one of Berlin’s many building sites. They are carrying tool bags, a stepladder and long wooden beams. At a certain point they stop, take stock of their surroundings, and then set about doing their job. After a few hours of diligent work a wooden structure has been erected.

But something is amiss. For starters, it seems to serve no real purpose. It’s too small to become a shed, never mind a house. It’s too rickety to become a climbing rack in a playground, and it contains too many poles to be a goal on a football pitch. Passers-by walking their dogs look on bemused. What on earth could it be?

But then the men whip out their camera, position their tripod and start snapping away. Looking over their shoulders, the structure suddenly makes sense. They have raised the bar on a particular photographic gimmick.

Onorato & Krebs: Raise the Bar. RVB Books. ISBN: 979-10-90306-15-8

This short book review was first published on www.foam.org