Axel Hütte, born in Essen in 1951, studied with Bernd Becher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He caught first attention in the art market with large-size color photographs of European cities and unusual "natures." Since 1979 he has exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe.

After midnight, as America's cities gradually fall asleep, Axel Hütte comes alive. From the window of his hotel room on the upper floors of high-rises, he surveys the nighttime cityscapes of Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston: the black silhouettes of buildings in front of a dark sky, rows of street lights, dots of color from neon signs, here and there a bright window. Big cities never sleep, there is no such thing as utter darkness, and stars only rarely have a chance to gain the upper hand against neon and nightlife.

Axel Hütte, known as the "landscape painter" among contemporary photographers, is an experienced nighttime photographer. In As Dark as Light, published by Schirmer/Mosel in 2001, he explored the non-urban nocturnal landscape, which, in its peacefulness under a starry sky à la Elsheimer or Caspar David Friedrich, becomes a counterpart to the restless sleep of major American cities.