30 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY AUGUST 13-19, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com ART Some people take photographs. Todd Hido makes pictures. The distinction surfaced during a talk in Carmel, where he arrived with the exhibition Many Small Decisions, marking the 25th anniversary of his photo book House Hunting, published by longtime Center for Photographic Art partner Nazraeli Press. Some of Hido’s most recognizable photographs are of houses, lit up at night, or completely abandoned, each offering whatever narrative is left behind. Every room tells a story, like the one with a mattress propped vertically against a wall, for whoever isn’t coming back. No wonder Hido’s photographs grace the covers of Raymond Carver’s short story collections. Carver’s spare fiction shares much with Hido’s world: unpretentious, working-class, tragic in the quietest way. “I was a classic Midwestern boy,” Hido says. “Photography saved me. It changed the way I looked at everything.” His signature technique—shooting through glass—began as a necessity, on a rainy day when he loved what he saw but couldn’t stop driving. “I took a few photographs that way and they worked,” he says. “The look it gives has a feeling that works for me.” He’s chased “imagery memories” ever since. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hido has spent three decades refining a palette now unmistakably his own, tuned to the quiet, mysterious undercurrent of suburban and rural America—tidy communities whose stable façades only hint at the instability behind the walls. He has published more than a dozen monographs, most recently Bright Black World and The End Sends Advance Warning. His compositions sometimes admit a stranger into the frame. A photograph, he says, sits between a movie and a novel, but at its best is just as narratively potent. His cinematic eye has rippled into film and television: Spike Jonze’s Her, Sam Levinson’s Euphoria, Issa López’s True Detective: Night Country, and Jason Momoa’s Chief of War all bear its traces. Hido also appears in On the Roam, Momoa’s HBO Max documentary on creative makers. “Things look strange when you’re a stranger,” wrote critic Luc Sante in his foreword to Hido’s book Outskirts, invoking The Doors. “Todd Hido finds the poetry in that strangeness.” Todd Hido, Many Small Decisions. Center for Photographic Art at Sunset Center, San Carlos and 9th, Carmel. (831) 625-5181, photography.org, toddhido.com. On view until Sept. 13. TODD HIDO Picture This Artist Todd Hido says a photograph fits somewhere between a novel and a film. By Agata Popęda The Center for Photographic Art in Carmel hosts a collection of images from Todd Hido’s photo book House Hunting and his narrative collages which inspire filmmakers. Cornucopia Community Market offers quality nutritious and environmentally safe products, free of artificial additives and preservatives. SHOP THE BEST LOCAL AND ORGANIC SELECTIONS Your Local Health Food Store OPEN MON-FRI 9AM-7PM SAT & SUN 10AM-6PM 831-625-1454 26135 Carmel Rancho Blvd, Carmel (at the mouth of Carmel Valley) Olive Oil / Vinegar / Local Honey Selection Fresh, Organic Dairy Products Monterey County Wines All-Natural Bath & Body Products Delicious, Nutritious Frozen Food Section Fresh, Organic Produce Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements Cornucopia Community Market offers quality nutritious and environmentally safe products, free of artificial additives and preservatives. Shop the beSt local and organic SelectionS Your Local Health Food Store Open MOn-Fri 9aM-7pM Sat & Sun 10aM-6pM 831-625-1454 26135 Carmel Rancho Blvd, Carmel (at the mouth of Carmel Valley) Olive Oil / Vinegar / Local Honey Selection Fresh, Organic Dairy products Monterey County Wines all-natural Bath & Body products Delicious, nutritious Frozen Food Section Fresh, Organic produce Vitamins & nutritional Supplements 484 Washington St., Downtown Monterey 11:30am Mon—Fri 10am Sat & Sun melvilletav.com (831) 643-9525 scan QR code for menu INDOOR + PATIO, DINE IN and TAKEOUT MONTEREY DINING DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY (HOUR) DAILY 4-6PM FUEL UP HERE DURING CAR WEEK DINNER, LUNCH WEEKEND BRUNCH • BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS
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