Tom Blachford’s Midnight Modern
If there’s one place to visit for some of the best of modern architecture in a dramatic setting, it’s Palm Springs. Famous for its high concentration of mid-century houses surrounded by mountains in the middle of the Coachella Valley, there are graphic, clean lines at every turn, with unique style that was at the forefront of innovation at the time – and is still very much celebrated today.
It’s no surprise, then, that this is a city that has been heavily photographed over the years – but no images capture Palm Springs quite like Tom Blachford’s Midnight Modern series. Taken after dark - after that bright sun has set and the day trippers have cleared the streets - the photographs have a calm stillness to them, lit up only by the moonlight and odd street lamp, showing the houses in their full glory.
Although taken in 2013 and ’14, Blachford chose houses that had no modern additions to the outside, and often had an impressive vintage car in the driveway. With the addition of the cinematic aesthetic that the light creates, the images look like they could have been taken 60 years ago.
To see more of Tom Blachford’s work, go to his
