chasing the light: the photography of todd hido

most evenings i head out for a walk with my wife and sometimes with friends. with the late august evenings ending sooner in terms of daylight, the quality of light on the return lap (these walks range from 45 minutes to an hour) is either right at the limits of seeing clearly, or gone and replaced by streetlights. i tried my hand at some photographs of a nearby farmer’s field the other night - deliberately not using the flash - and the results were interesting to me but not worthy of anyone else’s attention! (thank me some time for not sharing them).

rather than get all disillusioned i started looking ‘round the net for examples of other people’s work and their solution to this challenge. by coincidence i came across the work of a photographer named todd hido who takes photographs after dark or in limited light conditions. here are a few examples that i think are exceptional . . .




i love the quality of light that permeates todd's pictures. i also love the simultaneous feelings of familiarity and otherness as i look at pictures that remind me of similar scenes that i have passed through myself but not really noticed because they almost seemed too mundane to bother with. in todd's hands they become worthy of consideration and reflection - at least one indicator of their quality.

here's a video overview of todd's work and thinking . . .

to learn more about todd and to see more examples of his photography then visit todd’s home page. i also came across a very good article which details a a conversation with todd hido.