Do not adjust your screen. These are the true colors of Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann Desert House, the emblem of Palm Springs’s own exuberant brand of modernism, as they’re rarely captured — in the middle of the night.
Embedded in the popular imagination through sun-bleached photography, the renowned midcentury homes of Palm Springs — being celebrated at this very moment on the occasion the 10th annual Modernism Week — are typically pictured with a backdrop of bright blue sky. Australian photographer Tom Blachford takes a different approach in his “Midnight Modern” series, the latest installment of which he launched today. With exposures as long as four minutes, he takes his pictures at night, picking up details that only come out at night: The glow that radiates from the houses themselves, either from the lights on in the interior or their reflection of the moon, and the field of stars that can only be seen in the middle of the desert.
“There is definitely less light pollution here,” he explained to Architizer, “so I think the stars are much more vivid.”
Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann Desert House
An example of the then-popular “Swiss Miss” style — named for its resemblance to a Swiss chalet — from Abrigo road
Blachford began the project haphazardly in 2013 during a vacation with his girlfriend. They had simply run out of time during the day to shoot. As it happened to be a full moon, they decided to explore the suburbs at night, initially using the Palm Springs Modern Committee’s (PS-MODCOM’s) official smartphone app as their guide. Blachford has since returned to Palm Springs twice, refining his technique each time.
“Each time I came, I gained a better understanding of the moon, the areas, and the community,” he relates, noting that he gradually extended his exposures from 30 seconds to four minutes. His latest installment features a mix of architectural elements that caught his eye — the extreme gables of chalet-like “Swiss Miss” homes lining Rose Avenue, for example — along with Palm Springs’ more famous sights: E. Stewart Williams’ rocky 1954 Edris House; the folded plate roof of William Krisel and Dan Saxon Palmer’s 1957 Alexander House; the nautical elements of Earl Webster and Adrian Wilson’s 1936 “Ship of the Desert,” and of course, the Kaufmann Desert House pool.
“It’s almost cathartic making sense of a space and working with its textures and planes,” he said. “I don’t consider myself a huge architecture nerd, but have definitely fallen for the work.”
Two more “Swiss Miss” houses from Rose Avenue, where the style was particularly popular
William Krisel and Dan Saxon Palmer’s 1957 Alexander House
Earl Webster and Adrian Wilson’s 1936 “Ship of the Desert,” named so for its nautical elements
E. Stewart Williams’ 1954 Edris House