Sunday, October 1, 2017

(Photographically) Channeling Hido and Baltz

Professor of Photography Brett Schenning visited our class to discuss photographic composition, and gave us this provocative exercise...

First assignment - appreciate and recreate Todd Hido's shot from "Excerpts from Silver Meadows"
Copyright Todd Hido
 Todd Hido discusses the "Excerpts from Silver Meadows" photos:


My attempt at recreating Hido's Photo:
without filter
with Instagram Filter
See also: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BzFt7W8uK9qW6Q2r1 

Like Todd Hido, I drove around in my car, waiting to see the right sun at the right angle for the composition. I took a couple that worked - one from my moving car through the dirty driver's side window - and then this one, from the parking lot of a closed business. This allowed me to "frame" the shot with the windshield of my car. I splashed water on the window and shot with different focal points to vary the bokeh effect. Then, to imitate Hido, I used Instagram's Mayfair filter.

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Next assignment: appreciate and recreate Lewis Baltz' shot from "The New Industrial Parks near Irvine, California 1974"
Copyright Lewis Baltz

Lewis Baltz talks about his work in a video interview produced by the Tate:

My attempt to recreate the Baltz photo:

I drove around to several industrial buildings before settling on this shot - the side entrance to the massive delivery area of Hamrick Outlets in Gaffney. The vent lines echo (perpendicularly) the lines of the blinds in the Blatz photo, and the shadow play from the awning imitates Baltz use of the plants' shadows.

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