Australian photographer Tom Blachford (Tom Blachford) photographed three series of images of Palm Springs, California, at night. Losko has previously written about this photographer and his series Havana, shot in Cuba's sun-drenched capital.
The Midnight Modern series was shot over five full moons — including a supermoon — in Palm Springs across three years. The photographer used long exposures to compensate for the absence of light at night, giving the images the look of a sunny day viewed through dark glasses. Yet on closer inspection the viewer notices stars in the sky, leaving no doubt that these are night scenes — and suddenly the photographs begin to breathe with the cool freshness of southern nights.
Blachford aimed to shoot his series so that they looked as though they had been made in the 1970s. 'Palm Springs appears in a huge number of photographs, but almost always in bright sunshine. When shooting the series, I wanted to create a cinematic aesthetic so that the houses would look not merely like buildings, but like structures that hold within them the potential for countless events and stories,' says Blachford.
According to Blachford, the series came about almost by chance. In 2013, returning from Cuba and Mexico, the photographer decided to try taking a few night shots. The very first image stopped him in his tracks: the house glowed against a clear blue sky and the mountains looked like painted stage scenery. Back in Australia, Blachford realised he did not have enough material for a full series and resolved to return to Palm Springs — this time during the supermoon of July 2014.
'I had to make sure there were no lights on inside the house or in the nearby houses. With a long exposure, even the smallest bulb indoors would have created a huge flare and ruined the shot'
At first he photographed only those houses that were not enclosed by fences or barriers. He drove around the neighbourhood with his headlights off, looking for dark patches on the streets: 'I had to make sure there were no lights on inside the house or in the nearby houses. With a long exposure, even the smallest bulb indoors would have created a huge flare and ruined the shot.' Later, Blachford began collaborating with Modernism Week, homeowners, car collectors and others. This gave him access to the Kaufmann House, Frey House II and other properties enclosed by fences. When editing the photographs, Blachford added sharpness and contrast to bring out shadow detail. As a final step, he shifted the blue tones towards cyan to prevent them from reading as purple.
For the Midnight Modern series, Tom Blachford created a dedicated account on Instagram, where he accompanies each image with information about the house pictured or a brief account of the shoot.
If you are curious about the photographer's work, we invite you to explore his photographs of Havana, which we featured some time ago. Another intriguing series of city photography, this time by Matthias Heiderich.
