1. Read two texts above (John Szarkowski’s introduction and review by Jed Pearl) and select 3 quotes form each that is relevant to your essay.
2. Select two images, one that represent a mirror and another that represents a window as examples to use in your essay.
3. Use some of the key words that you listed above to describe what the mirrors and windows suggest.

My three chosen quotes:

1. ‘In metaphorical terms, the photograph is seen either as a mirror- a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself onto things and sights of the world; or as a window- through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality.’ ¹
2. ‘Is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?’²
3. ‘Frank and White are similar in their turning away from the large, public concerns of war and calamity, ethnography and history, yet opposed in the direction they take: White, toward an idealist, “romantic” goal of “self-expression,” a “mirror” that primarily describes the self; Frank, toward an introverted “realism,” involved with the “exploration” of a private “window” on the world. Out of this thesis are both the “mirrors” and “windows” of the title, the division of the picture book into two parts and the walls of the Museum’s galleries into white and grey —white for the “windows,” grey for the “mirrors.”³

Essay plan
Introduction (250 words): Reflect on the origin of photography and describe in your own words the difference between the two photographic processes, Daguerreotype and Calotype. Consider how they could be viewed as either a mirror or a window of the world according to John Szarkowski’s thesis. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s text and comment if you agree or disagree.

My Essay Introduction

The origin of photography started back in 1822, when Nicephore Niepce created the Niece Heliograph, which is the earliest photograph produced with the aid of the camera obscura. In 1829 Niepce partnered up with Louis Daguerre, who continued to experiment and improve the heliograph after Niepce’s death in 1833 and he went on to create the Daguerreotype. To create a daguerreotype image a daguerreotypist polished a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish, then he would use an air gun, so that there was no dust on this plate, that would ruin the photograph. Then it is exposed in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting. Next, he torches it, with mercury vapour, so that the image is visible. Then, he removed its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment, which was rinsing it with cool water to cool the hot metal plate down and dried it and then sealed the easily marred result behind glass in a protective enclosure.

The images produced by a daguerreotype tend to represent a mirror in photography, because the image is on a mirror-like silver surface, so light was reflected back through the image. The image was also on the edge of being present, as it was on the surface of the metal mirror, instead of like paper, where the image sinks into it. This meant that the metal one could be wiped away with a finger. These images were also described as, ‘a mirror with a memory.’ This images were often also portraits of people, which has a very personal element to them. They were also often tableaux images that were taken, as the image was staged and manipulated, instead of a candid shot. The daguerreotype also took a lot of time and effort to use to create the images, so the images taken by it also are also very personal to the photographer, because of the time taken and the effort they put in to produce these images. This makes it represent a mirror also, because of how personal the images now become to the photographer due to the daguerreotype.

In 1841, Henry Fox Talbot created another photographic process, which was called the calotype. Talbot first began with a piece of high-quality writing paper, which was first washed with a solution of sodium chloride (table salt), left to dry, then evenly coated in the dark with a solution of silver nitrate, and left to dry once more. When objects such as lace or ferns were placed on the sensitized side of the paper and exposed to sunlight, a negative silhouette would be created. Exposure times were fairly long, and areas not protected from the sun gradually darkened. Since the silver deposits on the paper reacted and changed tones during exposure, this was called a “printing-out” process. The print would then be washed in another solution of sodium chloride, which stabilized the image and reduced its sensitivity to light. Overall, calotypes were extremely better than Daguerreotypes due to it being easily distributed, reproduced and were much cheaper. Whilst they both used light sensitive silver salts, the Daguerreotypes required a lot more tools and metal plates which had high monetary value.

The images produced by a calotype tend to represent a window, because they were most commonly used for taking pictures of the external world. These images were documentary images, because they were candid images and not staged, but instead truthful. These images have a level of realism to them, as they are objective. Henry Fox Talbot also tended to take images of the external world, such as ferns and trees etc. which are window images, as the lens is like the window that you are looking through onto the world. Compared to the daguerreotype these images could be produced quicker and didn’t take as much time and effort for the photographers to create the photos, so this also takes away that deep personal element of the images, because they didn’t have to work as hard or put as much time into creating these images. This represents a window even more so now, because there is even less of a personal element to the images now.

Paragraph 1 (250 words): Choose an image that in your view is a mirror and analyse how it is a subjective expression and staged approach to image-making. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s thesis and another from Jed Pearl’s review which either supports of opposes Szarkowski’s original point of view. Make sure you comment to advance argumentation in providing a critical perspective.

My Essay Para 1

Paragraph 2 (250 words): Choose an image that in your view is a window and analyse how it is an objective expression rooted in the notion of realism. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s thesis and another from Jed Pearl’s review and follow similar procedure as above ie. two opposing points of view and commentary to provide a critical perspective.

My Essay Para 2

Conclusion (250 words): Refer back to the essay question and write a conclusion where you summarise Szarkowski’s theory and Pearl’s review of his thesis. Describe differences and similarities between the two images above and their opposing concepts of objectivity and subjectivity, realism and romanticism, factual and fiction, public and private.

My Essay Conclusion

1. Szarkowski John. (1978). Mirrors and windows. New York; Museum of Modern Art ↩︎
2. Szarkowski John. (1978). Mirrors and windows. New York; Museum of Modern Art ↩︎
3.  Jed Pearl. Review published in the photography magazine, Aperture in spring 1978. ↩︎