Making a Fire Hydrant Seem Strange
Celebrating World Photography Day!
There are some who believe the essence of an art form—including photography—is to make familiar things seem strange.
What could be more familiar than a fire hydrant? On any given day we pass dozens, if not hundreds, of them, but they seldom register in our conscious minds. Their familiarity results in invisibility.
Can a camera defamiliarize such a familiar object? How about if the photographer puts the camera on the ground to create a low-angle perspective? And what if the lens aperture, shutter speed, and focal length are manipulated to create extremely shallow focus?
I dare say Victor Shklovsky, who coined the term “defamiliarization” (ostranenie, in the original Russian), might approve of my attempt to make strange this common hydrant.
As I was out dodging fire ants and seeking photogenic hydrants, I was drawn to another one of a slightly different design, which was in direct sunlight—resulting in much deeper focus.
In my attempts to alter my “ways of seeing” (apologies to John Berger) through photography, I join a long line of photographers that can be traced to the 1820s-1830s—including the medium’s primary inventors: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (and his invention, the Daguerrotype). The latter is honored on World Photography Day. As James Artaius explains, Daguerre created his camera in 1837 and
then effectively sold [it] to the French Academy of Sciences, which subsequently gifted the process to the world on 19 August 1839.
While the Daguerreotype marked the dawn of photography as a practical, publicly accessible process, the first photograph ever taken predates it by more than a decade. 2026 will mark the 200th anniversary of View from the Window at Le Gras, created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 using a process called heliography.
My attempt at ostranenie responds to Aminus3 Photography ‘s low prompt this week.
Photo (EXIF) Deets
Hydrant #1:
Camera Model - Fujifilm GFX100S
Date Time Original: Aug 16, 2025 at 8:46:05 AM
Exposure Time: 1/80
FNumber: 1.7
Focal Length: 55
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 44
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
Lens Make: FUJIFILM
Lens Model: GF55mmF1.7 R WR
GPS: 33°13'40.783" N 87°34'43.08" W
Hydrant #2:
Camera Model - Fujifilm GFX100S
Date Time Original: Aug 16, 2025 at 8:52:29 AM
Exposure Time: 1/80
FNumber: 11
Focal Length: 55
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 44
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
Lens Make: FUJIFILM
Lens Model: GF55mmF1.7 R WR
Copyright © 2025 Jeremy Butler
Amazing article 👏🏼
Pretty cool Jeremy!