What are the differences between photographs that are WINDOWS and MIRRORS?

“Mirrors” are photographs through which a photographer is trying to tell us how he feels about himself. “Windows” are those in which he is trying to tell us how he feels about the world. Although both are expressive, they can be subjective due to the fact a photo can be both. “Mirrors” were images meant to mirror the photographer’s own sensibility. “Windows” were photos meant to act as a window for the viewer to see something that is primarily factual and external to the photographer’s own sensibility. Keep in mind that Szarkowski stressed this was not a very strict dichotomy.

In metaphorical terms, the photograph is seen either as a mirror – a romantic expression of the photographer’s 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.”

The exhibition Mirrors and Windows, an exhibition of American photography since 1960, opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in July of 1978. The curator John Szarkowski’s attempted to categorise photographers whose work largely reflected the subjectivity of the artist in comparison with those whose work largely sought to see outside themselves. Szarkowski wrote in the catalogue essay that accompanied the exhibition:

 “The distance between them is to be measured not in terms of the relative force or originality of their work, but in terms of their conceptions of what a photograph is: 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, 1978

This quote explains the difference between mirrors and windows, but also states that there is a range of where they can be within mirrors and windows. In fact, an image can be both and it is not a strict dichotomy.

Eugene Atget 1898

Nan Goldin – Nan and Brian in bed, NYC. 1983

I would personally place this images within this range;

For the ‘ window’ image, I personally would say it fits more of a window, as the image is of street musicians in 1898. This image does not link to the photographer, instead the photographer is making the image about what he can see, rather than what is behind the camera. I would say it documents, is real, public and objective. However, for the ‘ Mirrors’ image, I would personally say it fits more of the mirrors side, as it is an image of the artist himself, and another. Its very personal due to them being in bed and shows who they are through expressions such as smoking and lying in bed. It is very subjective as it is showing a lifestyle, and everyone’s life style is different. Whereas, in contrast to windows which is very objective and documentary.

What is the difference between photographs that are mirrors or windows?

Mirrors tends to classed as quite subjective and romantic. It has denotations of a photographers sensibility of view which is a projection of self. Windows is objective, it explored the exterior region and illustrates reality and presence

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.

John:

“The pictures included here are arranged in two
sections,”

Szarkowski suggests that there is a,
“fundamental dichotomy today between photographers
who believe that all art is concerned with self-expression
and those who see it as a means of exploration”

“Art is a mirror, reflecting a
portrait of the artist who made it, and those who see it as a
window, through which one may better know the world”

Jed:

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.

“the general movement in American photography in the past quarter-century has been from public to private concerns”

 Now, in Mirrors and Windows, he presents a binary theory of photography as art: an evolution from public to private concerns

RE-DO this

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.

Mirrors: subjective, personal, romantic, sensibility, private, expression, projection and complex,

Windows: objective, exterior, documentary, tableux, public, escape, landscape, still life, explore, world and elements

Windows and mirrors is an exhibition ‘Mirrors and Windows’ an exhibition of American photography since 1960, opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in July of 1978. This was John Szarkowski’s attempt at categorising photographers, whether their photos were mirrors or windows.

What is a Mirror Photo?

A mirror photo is a photo that is subjective to yourself, one that you can design or create before hand or see as a reflection of yourself through photography. Another way of thinking of it is, does it capture/represent you as an artist, either through an abstract or planned scene? This is often an editorial style of photography or a personal project for a photographer.

What is a Window Photo?

A window photo is the opposite of a mirror, instead capturing the world true to life. A version of this being documentary photography or journalism photography. By reflecting the truth a photographer has little to no personal influence or output onto the photo as it is as others would see the scene.

Do Mirror and Window Photography Cross Over?

Szarkowski – ‘is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it or a window, though which one might better know the world.’

Mirrors and windows often cross over, for example recreating a crime scene. This is posed and being directed by someone but it is also a capture of what supposedly happened at the time. In many mediums there is a cross over of mirrors and windows, but in particular photography is guilty of this. Many photographers will use mirror photos to get a point across and have ‘perfect’ photos or said better, an accurate representation of what they imagined, however this also occurs in ‘window’ photos. While a true window photo will be snapped completely candidly sometimes photographers have an idea that cannot be completed just using candid work but want the style to remain similar to a window photo. Photographers might also start with a window photo, snapped at chance and then find it inspires them to get a particular planned shot (a mirror photo) the next time they come across a similar situation or even planning a whole shoot around that one window photo.

Photo Analysis

This is a photo from ‘Mirrors and Windows’ the book but I think it accurately shows the blend between mirrors and windows at times, this could be a candid portrait as the subject is just in their home preparing to go out, but it also has elements of a mirror photo as it is planned and a thought out image. I find that may times when mirrors and windows cross over it is because they want to tell a personal story or capture something that just isn’t regularly captured without planning but the photographer wants to do so in a documentary style. This is a very successful photo when it comes to be able to break it down and pick interesting elements from a very basic photo, it is also quite impactful as it is something not normally seen, normally curlers aren’t normally seen anywhere but the comfort of the subjects home and not a normal subject in a photo as he is just ready for a night in rather than composed, formal portraits.

This is the template for my zine and where the images that I have chosen will go. I’m going to have some of the images on full pages and some that are going to have a blank page of the other side.

This is my first page of the zine and it shows that the zine is about his life and what he did as a harbour master and throughout his life as a captain.

This is one of the full page layouts and I have extended the image to the edge of the page so that there is no white border around the image.

These two images contrast really well against each other because its the one big boat contrasted against the three boats. It compares them as one being in great detail and the other picture shows the three boats in not as much detail.

This is my final layout for my zine and it starts with similar images at the beginning and at the end to show the start and end of his life as captain and a harbour master.

During 1928, it was the invention of photography, and was described as ‘fixing the shadows.’ In terms of ‘shadows’ this could imply whatever the subject could have been, and what we see. As the camera was invented the image or shadows we see, were then fixed in terms of they weren’t just there when you looked to see them, instead they were brought to life through the image produced on the camera.

It was the frame around the image that was important, and what was further told beyond, through intuition. Photography turned the ordinary in the extra ordinary, displaying secrets beyond the world from what the people saw giving away specific moments, while keeping secrets from people.

This process created one off images which was described as mirror of the memory. The light operates differently as its being reflected. The images produced where best described as not alive but on edge of being present, taking hours if not days to be produced.

A plate was added to the camera that was polished , print was scratched and later poured with water.

• Camera Obscura & Pinhole photography

It began by using camera obscura, which is essentially a small camera box with a small whole in, which is how the image was created. The small whole is a tight beam of light that pours into the camera box. Light was reflected off of objects in the natural world entering the box through a lens of the small hole, and projected an upside down image on the opposing side. The pinhole was the lens, so if made smaller it achieved s sharper but dimmer image,, however if made too small there would be no image due to diffraction. Later on in practice , a lens was used rather than a pinhole, as this gives a larger aperture, so gives a correct brightness and stable focus.

Camera Obscura has been used since the 16th century, being a popular method used to help with drawings and paintings. The technology was further developed during the 19th century, as the camera box was later used to expose light sensitive objects and materials projecting the image. This method was effectively used to capture solar eclipses, as you weren’t at risk of directly looking at the sun. It produced highly accurate images which could later be used and studied.

• Joseph Nicephore Niepce & Heliography

The photographic process began in France named after Nicephore Niepce. Niepce is well known for making the earliest known photograph by nature that survived.

He new that by using Bitumen de Judea which is an acid resistant natural tar, would harden with exposure to light. So in experiments he use this to coat particular metals such as plates of glass, zinc, copper/ silver surfaced copper plus many more, which resulted in the surface that was exposed to the most light produced lavender oil and petroleum, leaving the uncoated shadow to be revealed through acid etching (acid cut into the metal revealing a design) as well as aquatint (revealed lines and tones, otherwise known for how colour was made).

Having limited success using light sensitive paper and a handmade camera obscura, didn’t however reveal a permanent image. So he adapted the process using low sensitivity estimating the exposure time would be 8 hours.

Below, the photograph is a View from the Window at Le Gras by Nicéphore Niépce, it is a heliographic image also know the oldest surviving image made by a camera.

https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/niepce-heliograph

• Louis Daguerre & Daguerreotype

Invented by Louis Daguerre during1940s and 1950s, ‘Daguerreotype,’ the name of the process and what the end image is called, was the most commonly used photographic process. During this period it was one of the first publicly available process used to make photographs, which is what made it so popular.

This process was created with a very detailed image on a copper plated sheet, then with another thin layer of silver. This was all without the use of a negative, making it only a positive process. To make the image the  daguerreotypist would polish a sheet of silver plated copper until a mirror finish was displayed, treating it with fumes that made it light sensitive, then was highly exposed for as long as it was necessary until a latent image was produced, only visible by fuming it with mercury liquid vapor.

Source

• Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype

Between 1800 – 1877, Talbot developed three primary stages of photography , developing, fixing and printing. He found that exposing light onto photographic paper, would actually produce an image, however this process required a long time to create an image. Soon after, he accidently discovered there was an image produced after a very short exposure – although this was only seen when chemically developed. The image was fixed with a chemical solution, which removed the light-sensitive silver enabling the picture to be viewed in bright lights. Talbot realised he could repeat the process of printing from the negative , allowing this process to make any number of positive prints called ‘calotype.’

• Richard Maddox

During 1871, Richard Maddox was an English photographer who invented ‘the lightweight dry gelatine plate’ process used for photography. Exposure happened while the emulsion was still wet and was further processed immediately, after exposure in the camera.

However his health started to become effected by the wet collodions ether vapour so he started to look for a substitute. So he suggested that chemical such as cadmium bromide and silver nitrate should be coated in a glass process of gelatine. Gelatine became useful when examining things under the microscope, with its specific use of holding and preserving things on a slide under a microscope. So he would trail a number of plates, exposing them through contact printing, by using other negatives and different exposure trials.

An advantage of this was that photographer could use commercial dry plates, which saved them making and preparing their own emulsions in a hand made darkroom. Cameras were later made to be hand held , had fast exposure times leading to snapshot photography leading to cinematography.

Source

• George Eastman

Eastman was an American Entrepreneur founded the Eastman Kodak company. After spending lots of time experimenting in photography he sold a roll film camera which meant that amateur photography was now available to the general public for the first time.

Originally he had worked at a bank, before becoming interested in photography and later became the founder of Eastman Dry plate company which sold plates. In 1885, he experimented on creating flexible film rolls that could replace plates altogether and later given a license allowing him to sell the film roll. Then he switched his focus onto creating a camera where he could use it. In 1888 he was allowed to release, which was called the Kodak camera. Having film which could cover up as many as 100 exposures. After it had been used the camera was then sent back to Eastman Kodak company, where the company would process the film, make a print of each exposure, load another film, then send the camera back to the photographer.

Eastman became aware that most of his revenue came from the camera rolls rather than actual camera. So he primarily focused on selling this making it good quality and affordable to all. He also sold his camera rolls to other manufacturers.

Source

• Kodak (Brownie)

Kodak otherwise known as brownie was a series of camera models made by George Eastman which was first released in the 1900s. Introducing snapshot photography, meant that it was very expensive costing families their wage for that whole month. A basic cardboard box camera with a very simple convex-concave lens (disperses a light beam by diffraction). It was invented for the Eastman Kodak Company, initially it was aimed at children, aiming for them to popularise photography. However the very simple design and operation meant it could produce very good results under the right conditions, therefore making it popular for all audiences.

Many iconic shot were taken on the Brownie. Bernice Palmer used Kodak Brownie 2A model A to photograph the iceberg that sunk the titanic, the survivors, the ship Palmer travelled on. Also they were taken to war used by soldiers.

Source

• Film/Print photography

Film/Print photography is a strip of a transparent film base, with one side coated with gelatine emulsion with small microscopically light sensitive crystals. The sizes of the crystals determines the the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film. Each frame on the film separates each photograph.

Black and white photographic film consist of only one layer of silver halide crystals, which when exposed to light the silver halide is converted to metallic silver. This blocks the light, appearing as the black part of the film negative. Colour film has three sensitising layers, combining three sensitising dyes, the first layer is blue, followed by they yellow which stops any blue dye from mixing with the below layers. Again just like the black and white film, the silver crystals are converted to a metallic silver. The by products are combined with the chemicals which produce the coloured dyes.

Source

• Digital Photogrpahy

Digital Photography uses cameras that contain arrays of electronic photodetector which interface to an analogue converter which produces images that are focused by a lens rather than the exposure on a photographic film. Digital images are created mostly by computer, without having to process the image in chemicals. Originally chemicals were used in the process to create the image as this would develop and stabilise it.

During the early 20th century digital photography had started becoming more mainstream, with smaller developments being made.

Digital cameras were marketed in the late 1990s, where professionals slowly started to use the cameras as much of their work required using digital files as demand was high. Then digital camera’s were made on phones.

Source

• Robert Cornelius & self-portraiture

Robert Cornelius was an American photographer. His daguerreotype self-portrait was was taken in 1839 and was know for being the first accepted portrait taken in the United States. A portrait is a representation of a person in which the face is always the main focus, the person is often looking at the photographer which successfully engages the subject with the viewer. The photo isn’t a sap shot, it is a composed image of person that displays potential characteristics for the viewer such as their personality, mood, and likeness.

• Julia Margeret Cameron & Pictorialism

Inspired by illustrative images from mythology, Christianity and literature, she depicts this through her soft focus close-up images of famous Victorian men. ‘Soft Focus’ is an effect made when fine textures are blurred making sharp edges across the high contrasted areas.

With connections to pictorialism

Pictorialism is an art movement strongest between 1885 and 1915. There was no true meaning behind pictorialism, it was best described as a ‘focused on the beauty of subject matter and the perfection of composition rather than the documentation of the world as it is‘

I started with experimenting with a front cover for my zine I wanted the colour scheme of my zine to be blue and white because it reminds me of the sea

for my first page I wanted to do a comparison of the harbour a long time ago vs today I started by creating the layout with placeholder shapes.

I started by designing the layout of four images and then chose the four I wanted. I ended up swapping the top right image to the one in the screenshot above, from one I took of the new quay, as I wanted the page to look more vibrant and the original photo looked out of place.

Back cover

For the back cover I originally wanted to have an image of the old harbour, however it sadly didn’t look right, I couldn’t position it correctly so it looked good and there was too much blank space. I ended up starting again and using a different image this time a portrait image which would fit better which I also wanted to use on the zine. Overall I am much happier with how it turned out and think it looks a lot better than before.

Thankfully I could use the image more appropriately as a double page spread because I needed another two pages because I had 18 pages and I needed 20 so it would print without any blank pages. Because the image is a panorama it is wider that a standard landscape image so it was a lot better having it stretched out across two pages.

Final outcome – Zine:

Cropping down the original image, which previously had a lot of space around it this creates a much larger focal point on the tone and detail of the statue, with a blurred background this makes the sailors silhouette stand out and for that reason, was why I found it perfect for the front cover.

With the line of boats, I found this images composition creative in its sporadic array of objects within the tight frame. With the railings and rooftops of the boats, this creates a visual ladder which pulls your eyes to the top of the image. The docking and actual ladder in the top left adds some contrast to fill the negative space.

I found that this image came out really well in not only detail and composition but its ability to tell a story. Waiting for the decisive moment to snap the 2 sailors as they crossed straight through the middle of my lens, the other brighter boats around them contrasts well to their darkened silhouettes on the grey toned sea. With this candid shot, it creates a narrative to me that they are going about their daily lives living around the seaside.

I think out of the 2 shoots, these are some of the best images I took and am very happy with their outcomes. With good use of natural light, short depth of focus and positioning these created an overall good Mise En Scene.

With these images, I feel like these contribute well to the aim of creating a story/narrative within this zine. Through both a candid and non-candid shot, they work well together to show a person how they would appear in a conversation VS in their day to day environment.

I like how with this photo, although not containing much about what’s in frame, it can make you construct your own idea about the person who is shown through their belongings. With the fisherman’s waders, to me it creates a rough idea of the types of jobs they may do around the harbour.

With these 2 paired together, they have an interesting composition, which to me comes from their relatability of the harbour theme. With Captain Brian Nibs, formerly being a harbour master, it is quite fitting for him to be placed alongside this image as it shows the harbour he’s become so associated with.

As a full page spread, this image continues on the narrative of the previous with showing Captain Brian Nibs in his maritime environment. With the title of this zine ‘Docked Lives’ this is a polysemous name I chose for the overall aims of the project. To create a narrative of peoples lives around the harbour, with boats oared up this meant they have ‘Docked Lives’, being a documentative style of photography, I played off the title to match this as ‘Docked’ can be interpreted as ‘documented’.

Through some good angles, I find the overall mise-en-scene of these images, matching well into the aesthetic, with the rules of thirds applied I find that these images are well positioned to make an interesting photograph.

Like the images from the rowing club, I think this is another favourite of mine, With a captivating motion blur effect, this to me is a really detailed photograph which captures something outside the working element of the harbour and focuses on parts of its recreational usage too.

Finishing on this image, its dead centre positioning of the boat creates one final attention grab to levels of detail within the photo. with the shadow line crossing half the boat and water to the sun light waves on other side, this to me created a unique composition.

The exhibition Mirrors and Windows was created by John Szarkowaski in The museum of Modern Art. Mirrors and Windows are used to act as binary opposites. Mirrors ‘Reflect a portrait of the artist who made it’. They are:

• Subjective
• A Self-Reflection
• Tableaux
• Romanticism
• Synthetic
• Staged
• Manipulated
• Acts as a projection of the self on the world.

Windows are ‘Through which one might better know the world?’ They are:

• Objective
• Documentary
• Authentic
• Reality
• Straight
• Public
• Act as a view into the exterior world explored authentically.

Example:

This is an image taken by Robert Heinecken which I believe represents the mirror.

Robert Heinecken was an artist who created surreal sculptures based on the idea of juxtaposition with re-purposed images from magazines and product packaging. On first glance, his work could seem like conceptual art however he dubbed himself a ‘paraphotographer’ due to his work in darkrooms and alteration of images despite rarely taking the images himself.

This image is a Mirror for numerous reasons. One being that there is no clear cut meaning to this image making interpretations dependant on the person. This subjectivity makes it a mirror. Had this image been taken differently and it was simply an image of some blocks it could have been a window as it would have been a documentary image. This image however has an image printed onto the blocks which makes it a staged image. Since this image has been heavily manipulated, the photographer has projected himself onto the image also making this image a self reflection and therefore a mirror.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words
• A sentence
• A paragraph

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > New St Helier Harbour photographs
• Archives > Old photographs of St Helier Harbour from SJ photo-archive or JEP Photographic Archive
• Texts > Write a short introduction or statement about your picture story, image captions
• Typography > creative uses of words, letters, font-types, sizes

3 words

Documentation, history, Harbour

A Sentence

The photos that I have used document Brian Nibb’s life as a captain.

Paragraph

This zine is a documentation of Brian Nibb’s life as a captain and his life as a harbour master. It showcases images of the harbour and portraits of him. I kept images that were similar together like the images that have a lot of light in them to give the zine some structure. I used a couple of photos as double page spreads to break up the use of small photos on single pages and to make the zine more interesting.

Plan

My plan is to have a portrait picture of Brian Nibbs on the front of the zine and then an empty picture of the alley on the back of the zine and then I’m going to put some double page spreads in the zine of the harbour and one double page spread of an old captains log book in the middle of the zine which makes it look like a book, but also gives some history about captains life’s as sailors.