Todd hido

Todd Hido: These images depict houses in desolate areas, surrounded by almost nothing, these desolate areas have little to no memory, they are abandoned and out of the way, only inhabited by a small amount of people. I want to experiment with that by photographing places in mountainside villages, completely out of the way of the majority of civilisation.

Todd Hido was born on the 25th August 1968 in Ohio, United States. He is a very prolific photographer who depicts urban and suburban areas which have frequently been depicted in galleries. He received a BFA in 1991 from Tufts University in Massachusetts. Hido’s photographs transcend art and have been used in many mainstream publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Face, and Vanity Fair.

Image Analysis:

This image depicts a desolate house, surrounded by lights and nothing else. The image has been specifically framed as though it invades the space of the house, showing nearly nothing surrounding it, this creates the element of isolation as though the house was in the middle of nowhere. The formal element of colour has also been manipulated as it appears almost alien-like with a bright green tint, further highlighting this effect of a place that is filled with mystery as we have no factual knowledge of such anomalies. The sky has also been included in the frame, presenting this glow, which counteracts this mystery with an element of tranquility. This overall creates a quiet atmosphere as there are many silent lights which are the only elements of lifeform. I want to take inspiration from this by documenting areas that are in desolate, quiet locations where life-form is barely present, with an absence of memory.

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/1000, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/400, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/320, f stop 5.0

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/160, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/400, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/200, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/250, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/320, f stop 4.5

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/320, f stop 5.0

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/320, f stop 4.5

Editing Process:

For this image I wanted the ground to appear darker, so I first lowered the exposure and increased the contrast. Following that, I created a layer mask of the sky and individually reduced the exposure and increased the contrast to create a darker sky, the reason I did this is that the house has vibrant colours with the telephone box directly in front of it, and I wanted to allow these colours to be more apparent, so I could also manipulate the formal element of colour. Finally, I inversed the layer of the sky and increased the exposure of the house allowing for the phone box to be visibly bright.

Original Image:

Developed Image:

canon EOS 850D, iso 400, shutter speed 1/1250, f stop 4.5