Projects: Sodium Vapor

Sodium Vapor / Light of the Night 

In 1930s Paris, the Hungarian born photographer Gyula Halász under the pseudonym Brassaï traversed the streets of Paris creating both images beauty and discomfort. Brassaï photographed brothels, their patrons and a wide swath of the seamier side of Paris nightlife. The counterpoint to the nightlife pictures were his ethereal night landscapes of Paris lit primarily by street light, often in fog or after it rained. He used minimal equipment, one camera with a cracked lens shade and marginally functioning tripod. 

I became aware of Brassaï’s work at the age of 19 when I saw his exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1968. His work has continued to resonate throughout my career as a photojournalist.  

With image rendering improvements that digital photography and Photoshop brought, there was now an opportunity to expand on the images that had inspired me for so long. In 1970 the energy efficient sodium vapor street lights first appeared on the American landscape. Their warm rendering of streets and buildings brought a marked contrast to the bluish-green cast of their predecessor the mercury vapor lamp. Soon the country and then the world were awash with the orange glow of sodium vapor.  

Sodium Vapor is my opportunity to pay my respects to the pioneering Brassaï and with the new tools afforded me build on his vision.