TODD HIDO (b. 1968)

In 2001 the small art-book publisher Nazraeli Press released a thin but oversized monograph with an enigmatic title, House Hunting. It was the first of many influential books by Todd Hido over the past fourteen years. Selling out instantaneously, it was quickly followed by Outskirts, Roaming, and Between the Two in the following 5 years.

Hido’s photographs are atmospheric and depict middle-class homes and small town motels mostly shot at night. There are lights shining from within, and the occasional solitary street light illuminates a dirty pile of snow, a broken down car, or a fenced in yard. The viewer is neither too close nor too far from the apparent subject.

There are no humans depicted in House Hunting. An influence on a younger generation of filmmakers, Hido has set the standard for a pseudo-cinematic style that operates within “the vicinity of narrative.”