What are the differences between photographs that are windows and mirrors?

‘Is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?’- John Szarkowski.

Mirror- A mirror photograph is a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself onto things and sights of the world. These images are staged/ tableaux and are subjective. They present the photographer, or a reflection of the photographer, as he reflects himself onto the images. These images are metaphorically described as mirrors, because they are a reflection of the photographer.

Window- A window photograph is when the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality, so the images are not staged/ tableaux, so they are documentary based. They are also objective. These images are metaphorically described as windows, because they look out onto the world, like you would look out through a window onto the world.

Words and other quotes associated with windows and mirrors

Windows- documentary, objective, realism, candid, public, straight, optical, views, external, truthful etc.

Mirrors-  tableaux, subjective, romanticism, fiction, staged, personal, reflective, manipulated, internal etc.

Binary opposites-

Windows- Film, subjective, fiction, staged, private, bent/ wonky, internal etc.

Mirrors- non-fiction/ documentary, objective, candid, private, external etc.

Analysis of Images

About the image- Cindy Sherman is a female photographer, who dressed up as many different stereotypes. In this image she is a generic house wife in the kitchen. This is a powerful image, because back from the 1970-1980’s, when this image was taken, the norm for women was to be very domestic and stay at home with the children and cook and clean, while the husband was out at work.

Mirror- This image is therefore a mirror, because it is a reflection of herself as a women and a reflection of her identity, because this is the stereotype she had to live through and this is what was considered to be socially acceptable of her and all other women in this time. This is also very personal and internal to her, as she is the one who has lived her life this way and being told she must live her life this way. She has also manipulated this image and staged the image, so it is a tableaux, because she has dressed up as this house wife and manipulated her setting to be the kitchen, as well as posing for the camera, so that it is not a candid shot. This image is also very subjective and can interpreted in many different ways by the viewer, because it is such a simple, yet powerful image of her stood in the kitchen, with an apron on. This image is also a mirror, because it is a self-portrait of herself, that she had taken on a timer for her camera.

About the Image- This image was taken during a road trip across Iceland with Icelandic writer Huldar Breiðfjörð, from which he made a book called, ‘In the car with R.’ He travelled across Iceland stopping at certain point to take images. This was a image he took in either a bar/ diner of a couple and their friend.

Window- This image is a window, because he travelled across Iceland taking documentary candid images of whatever he saw that interested him, and in this image it was these three people. This image is very external to him, because he does not know these people, and most likely never saw them again, but he spotted a decisive moment and acted. He is looking out onto these people for this image, instead of looking at his reflection, or onto himself. There is also an element of realism and truthfulness in this image, which is what makes it a window, because it is a documentary image, instead of a candid image, which is staged or fictional.