This post was written by DCist contributor Heather Goss.

How can an artist capture the passage of time in a still photograph? That's one of the questions acclaimed Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has been pursuing throughout his thirty-year career.

Sugimoto, whose retrospective exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opened last week, uses a minimalist technique in his photographs to highlight the perspective from which they are taken. His well-known "Theaters" series is a prime example. By opening the shutter of his large-format camera for the duration of a movie, he creates an image of a glowing, white screen. The resulting photograph is a single shot that has captured an entire story and all its accompanying emotions. The simple white rectangle is the summation of this passage of time.

During his artist's lecture last Thursday, Sugimoto discussed in his witty and charmingly egotistical manner how he uses photography to incorporate these questions of time and reality. The artist also gave the audience an insider peek at his workbooks, each one filled with mathematical equations and detailed drawings. Far from a point-and-shoot 'em kind of guy, he fully conceptualizes each photograph before a single photon of light hits film. Interestingly, it turns out that this “conceptualizing” may be fairly well aided by the occasional acid trip. All this leaves the viewer with a simple, but richly detailed image that evokes mind-bending questions about reality and how we view it.

Each of Sugimoto's series builds upon these philosophical questions. He began his career taking photographs of exhibits at the Natural History Museum, but his images are so life-like that it seemed Sugimoto had traveled to the Arctic and asked a polar bear standing over its kill to pose patiently while he set up his camera. The irony is that Sugimoto has made the stuffed bear look absolutely real by turning it into a still image that would have been impossible to set-up with a live animal. This altered view of reality is the precursor to his later works, such as his series of blurred-out modern buildings that strip away our everyday view, while leaving us with the strong design the architect had imagined long before construction began.

A retrospective is an excellent way to view Sugimoto's work in particular. Alone, each series explores an aspect of the way we view time and reality. Seeing the photographs all at once allows us to put the pieces of the conversation together. However, even if you don't enjoy the midnight dormroom discussions, it's easy enough just to enjoy the simply beautiful images he has created.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and is located at Independence Avenue and 7th Street SW. Hiroshi Sugimoto’s exhibit runs until May 14.