Kimberly Hahn, A Complete Fiction comprised of White Balance Backdrop (Tungsten), 2012, Archival photographic print on canvas, 111 x 43 in., Courtesy the Artist. and from left to right, top to bottom: White Balance Color Checker Card (Fluorescent), (In Direct Sunlight), (Flash), (LED), (Shade), (Blue Sky), (Tungsten), (Cloudy), and (Candle), 2012, Epson Archival Photographic print mounted on matboard, wood, 10 x 5.69 x 1 in. ea., Courtesy the Artist.
Inspired by a discussion about truth and in consideration of its opposite, the White Balance series addresses the idealistic assumption that there are *unrealistic* color casts in photographic reproduction as well as a universally recognized white that can be clearly discerned and tuned to though none exists. These photographs show a range of digital camera color temperature settings laid out like a spectrum showing gradations of 31 incremental adjustments. By printing on canvas and hanging a repeating spectrum from a rod that drapes to the floor, references to another unrealistic photographic situation—the photographic backdrop—are made. The complimentary works, entitled White Balance Color Checker Card(s), reproduce the spectrum as useless color correction cards, again undermining attempts to create firm rules with regard to color temperatures and photography. As a whole, the works spotlight the fiction inherent in the medium and its tools for all to see.