Theaters

 

            Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer. In 2000, he published a book of a series that I find fascinating. It's called Theaters, and I learned of it from my Photography professor. In this series. Sugimoto decided to photograph a variety of theaters, using only the light from the film being projected. This means that he would leave the shutter open for hours and sometimes this would not only mean a sharp image despite the limited light source, but some other cool features that couldn't be created any other way. 

        For instance, some of the theaters he shot were outside, drive in theaters like this one. He shot the Union City Drive-in in 1993, and you can see the passage of time with the shutter speed open from the trails that airplanes left throughout the duration. 

    Theaters are a thing that a lot of us utilize all of the time and often possess a lot of beauty. I think this series allows people to appreciate their architecture, purpose, and style more than a photo with more standard lighting and color. The lighting from the films seem to capture the experience of the theaters more than just the appearance. 

    Like when watching a movie, my eyes seem to adjust to the light the more I look at the images. The more my eyes adjust, the more detail and beauty I can see in the theater.

         Abandoned theaters were another focus of his, like this one above, the Franklin Park Theater. 

Sugimoto is able to make even decrepit, destroyed theaters beautiful, and bring new life and eyes into places where no one will watch films again.

        Theaters are designed to draw the eye to the subject front and center, so I think it was genius for Sugimoto to photograph them from this perspective, and even more genius to use this technique.