Untitled # 2690, Todd Hido, 48 x 38 inches, 2000
I watched the Todd Hido lecture from the VCU resources on the photography and film webiste. This lecture was from 2007-2008 series.
Todd Hido's education was inspired as a child by using cameras to take pictures of his toys and as a teenager BMX racer he enjoyed taking picture of his friends doing stunts and such. His first photographic education after high school was at The Art Institute of Pittsburg; the education he received there was very technical and was based mostly on learning the ins and outs of the equipment before advancing to use it artistically. I feel that this is very evident in his traditional formal compositions that are seen in his work.
Todd Hido spend a lot of time on shooting houses at night. These seemingly vacant neighborhoods show evidence of human life by the one or two lights on within a house. I really like this photography because Hido uses all natural light in an amazing way. Through long exposures he captures the sterile vacant environment that is suburbia at nighttime. The only evidences of life are the glowing windows and the horizon glow that come from light pollution. We know there are people there but it seems so empty and vacant; almost emotionless. Emotionless is the wrong word. The darkness in the images is so thick and the surreal appearance becomes heavy on the viewer, making them numb to observe the evidence of life and suggested emotion.
I connect with this work because it is beautiful to look at and the colors of the images are deep and saturated when there is color in these nighttime images. They are reminiscent of sneaking out of the house as a teenager and experiencing the true silence of a suburban neighborhood completely asleep with the fear of being caught by the one person that is still awake with the light one.
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