Todd Hido is an American photographer known for his pictures of suburban landscapes taken during solitary, long drives. He also produced interior photos and portraits using a wide range of pros and amateur cameras. His style is summed up in one of his famous quotes “I shoot like a documentarian, but I print like a painter.”His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Getty, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, New York amongst many more. We’ll discuss here about his creative process in general and under the lockdown as well as his experience with the situation. Moreover he Todd Hido will talk about his vision of photography and today’s society using the examples of Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange.
Todd Hido poursuit sur l’enseignement de son mentor Larry Sultan et sur la manière dont peu à peu il s’est affranchi pour définir sa propre voie. Il explique l’importance de cette liberté lorsqu’on est un jeune artiste et à quel point l’art peut être une série de décisions importantes.
Todd Hido continues on the teaching of his mentor Larry Sultan and how gradually he has freed himself to set his own path. He explains the importance of this freedom when we are a young artist and how art can be a series of important decisions.
Todd Hidodit souvent qu’il photographie comme un documentariste mais qu’il développe comme un peintre. Il explique dans cette vidéo tout le processus qui l’a mené à construire son style unique et sa manière de travailler. Il le doit notamment à plusieurs photographes : Roy DeCarava, John Goodman ainsi qu’à son mentor Larry Sultan.
Todd Hidooften says that he photographs like a documentarian but that he develops like a painter. He explains in this video the whole process that led to build his unique style and way of working. He owes it to several photographers: Roy DeCarava, John Goodman and his mentor Larry Sultan.
Todd Hido est un des photographes américains les plus respectés de sa génération. Après la publication d’un livre retraçant ses 25 ans de carrière, il revient sur son parcours et explique comment tout a commencé. Né dans l’Ohio, adolescent turbulent, il trouve un premier échappatoire dans la compétition de BMX dont il devient champion d’Etat plusieurs fois de suite. Il explique ce que ce sport lui apporte aujourd’hui dans son travail et enfin comment, faisant l’école buissonnière, il en est venu à la photographie.
“Je faisais des courses de BMX. Et comme n’importe qui faisant quelque chose d’éphémère comme une figure, on a besoin de le capturer sinon on n’a pas de preuve. Donc tous nos amis et moi nous avions des appareils photo. Et donc on se photographiait en plein saut ou en train de faire des figures.”
”Le BMX m’a été très bénéfique. Je suis devenu le champion d’Etat quatre fois de suite. Cette période a été extrêmement importante dans ma jeunesse. Soudain j’avais accompli quelque chose et je n’étais plus ce geek que personne ne choisissait dans l’équipe de baseball.”
“J’ai atteint un certain succès dans mon travail mais jamais je ne me relâche. Je ne lève le pied en aucune façon. Je creuse toujours pour aller plus loin. Et je travaille toujours aussi du que lorsque j’étais un étudiant de 20 ans.”
“Je me suis inscrit en classe de photo car c’était le dernier cours de la journée. Et tout le monde savait que si on entrait en cours suffisamment tôt en signant la feuille de présence, on pouvait aller en chambre noire avant que la lumière soit éteinte et s’échapper par la sortie de secours. Mais j’ai fini par aimer ce que je faisais et j’ai arrêter de sécher. C’est là que tout a commencé pour moi”
Todd Hido is one of the most respected American photographers of his generation. After the publication of his mid career book, he looks back to his youth and explains how it all began. Born in Ohio, a misbehaving teenager, he found a first escape in the BMX competition winning the State championship several times in a row. He explains how this sport taught him rules that he still applies today in his work and finally how, playing hooky, he came to photography.
“I used to race BMX. And like anybody that is doing something that’s temporal like a trick, you need to record it or it doesn’t exist. So all of my friends and I, we had cameras and we would photograph each other, jumping and doing our tricks.”
“The BMX was something really good for me. I became the State champion four times in a raw. So it was a huge part of my life growing up. I had all the sudden accomplish something instead of being this geek and this kid that nobody would pick on the baseball team.”
“I’ve reached a certain level of success with my work but I don’t relax at all and I’m not kicking back in any way. I’m sort of like plowing forward more I would say. And I work just as hard as when I was a 20 years old student.”
“I took the photography class because it was the last class of the day. It was commonly known that if you went in, got in there early and signed in, you could go into the dark room before they shut the lights off and open the backdoor, the fire exit, and leave. But eventually I liked what I was doing and started to stay. That’s where things began for me.”
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