Hiroshi Sugimoto

After we visited the site in Ballard, we were assigned photographers to present in studio. The purpose of this assignment was to inform and inspire (it worked!). We now know the building program of our site, a photography collective workspace and gallery.

I presented on Hiroshi Sugimoto, a Japanese photographer interested in capturing time within a two-dimensional image. In the series Theaters, he sets the exposure time on his camera to the length of the movie being shown (averaging two hours). The result is this blank image where all the color and movement has overlapped to create this almost blinding block of white.

The long exposure records the planes flying 

These are from his series, Seascapes, also an extended exposure time which produces a calm and euphoric view of the sky and water. He keeps the horizon line at the same level in his photographs, creating a consistency within the composition. These images are so simple at first glance, but when I see them, my imagination gets to work. I see the sun setting, or the fog running across the waters surface. The images change without movement.