What are the difference’s between photograph’s that are mirrors or windows?
Mirrors have an element of candid and naturalistic.
Mirrors:
- Subjective (open to interpretation)
- Reflects artist
- Reflections
- View into your own life
- Manipulated
- Synthetic
- Personal
“A mirror – a romantic expression of the photographers sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world; or as a window- through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality” – JOHN SZARKOSKI 1978 “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 SZARKOSKI 1978. This is essentially saying that mirrors reflect the society we are in and can reflect a lot about us and how we do things. “Mirrors” are photographs through which a photographer is trying to tell us how he feels about himself. The study of texts that reflect their own identities, experiences and motivations. They also provide insight into the identities, experiences and motivations of others
Windows protect us (public). They have elements of reality, subjectivity and there’s this element between objectivity vs subjectivity when it comes to mirrors and windows. “Windows” are those in which he is trying to tell us how he feels about the world. For the former, only sincerity will do.
Windows:
- Objective (not open to interpretation)
- Outside world
- Documents
- Real
- Public
Binary Opposites
Inside / Outside
Subject / Object
Staged / Candid
Fiction / Non-Fiction
Image Analysis
These are all elements within photography and how exactly you could frame a window and mirror shoot. Inside and outside to show life and what people can do in their day to day life. (objectivity and subjectivity) which focuses on one pin point or multiple things which could be anything to outside world or just one person in a room. Staged such as Cindy Sherman pictures, staged female to allude to a stereotypical women with kids cleaning, whereas a mirror image is much more candid and natural such as capturing the beauty of the nature which also follows along the lines of fictional or non fiction which you could factor in for both mirrors and windows, it could be fake or real (stage or candid). Last but not least, imagery analysis is the extraction of meaningful information from images. How and why you go to were you are – could you elaborate on this? That is all about image analysis.
The idea of photographs functioning like windows makes total sense. Like the camera viewfinder, windows frame our view of the world. We see through them and light enters the window so that we can see beyond. Photographs present us with a view of something. However, it might also be possible to think of photographs as mirrors, reflecting our particular view of the world, one we have shaped with our personalities, our subconscious motivations, so that it represents how our minds work as well as our eyes. The photograph’s glossy surface reflects as much as it frames. Of course, some photographs might be both mirrors and windows.
A window is a resource that offers you a view into someone else’s experience. A sliding door allows the viewer to enter the story and become a part of the world. A mirror is a story that reflects your own culture and helps you build your identity.
Photo-historian, Gerry Badger who was part of the editorial team producing the television series The Genius of Photography wrote in the introduction of the book of the same name that John Szarkowski’s distinction of photographs as ‘mirrors’ or ‘windows’ is useful, but only to a point, ‘because most photographs are both mirrors and windows.’ (Badger 2007:8)