Ernesto Alcaraz
Hiroshi Sugimoto "Radio City Music Hall"
1978, Gelatin silver print
"Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? " In 1976, Sugimoto experimented on what it would look like to do just that and the results were spectacular. The process of how these images are made adds to their beauty. The long exposure causes the screen to look completely white and in most of the other theater photos the people watching the movie will not appear in the photo. The light blooming through the rows keeps your eyes moving through the image. Although there are many other photos by Sugimoto of theaters, this one intrigues me and stands out from all the rest because of the architecture of the hall and how the people are still visible watching the movie as if they were watching a blank white screen the entire time. This provides an underlying mystery to whomever is viewing the photo and allows them to create their own narrative.
