by Yvette Depaepe 
Published the 5th of March 2020

'Windows of the Forest' by Jacqueline Hammer

There is something about windows.

Windows tell us so much about the streets, about history, about culture—and they’re everywhere.
Windows are big, small, plain, colourful, old, new, modern, antique, they come in all shapes and forms. Sometimes you will find open windows, sometimes closed, with or without people, and sometimes the windows are gone, but you know where they used to be.

They protect against cold and heat - provided that you have closed the curtains or shutters. They keep the rain out, let the light and the sun in.

They give you an outlook into your surroundings, feed your curiosity - from the inside into the outside or from the outside into the inside.

They are transparent, they are blind. They mirror reflections, give us a glimpse of the inhabitants of a home and tell us stories about cosiness, happiness, creativity, melancholy, exuberance, solitude, loneliness and so on.

Moreover, windows can embellish a church, a facade an apartment building, a house. They can be secretive when dirt, curtains or reflections are blocking its functional transparency.

They are with so many and each window looks different.

Addemdum by Editor Peter Davidson

Thanks Yvette! 

While any window is a physical barrier against the elements, a window might also be viewed as a portal into another world. Being photographers, we are sometimes viewed negatively as intrusive 'peeping toms' into the private lives of others, with the term newspaper 'paps' springing unfortunately to mind. But let's leave that particular photographic aspect aside and move onto a slightly higher plane and ask why windows are such an attractive photographic compositional element.

It's obvious that a window frame is a visual counterpoint to the picture frame, the simple visual trick of framing people in life. And yes, that's true, but I suspect it's more than that. When you chance upon someone gazing from behind window glass, I'm guessing that they are feeling comfortable, safe and secure. We've all been in this position at some time or other, gazing alone in our thoughts out of a window somewhere. Somehow we forget the window is but a transparent barrier, and this relaxation perhaps allows a lowering of our defensive facade. That face we put on against the world. And it's that unguarded moment, that small insight written upon an expression, a look or body language, that gives a glimpse into hidden feelings and thoughts, that attracts my photographic interest.

That's my fascination for windows, based purely on a hunch and cod psychology. I'd be interested in the thoughts of members who might be far better qualified to offer a better explanation for why people framed in windows are fascinating. Over to you!

Get inspired and enjoy this selection showing different aspects of windows, taken by excellent 1x photographers.

'The bench' by Marc Apers

'what's up in the sky' by Ayatullah R. Hiba

'Going home' by Peter Davidson

'Musing through my Window...' by Yvette Depaepe

'A way of life' by Susanne Stoop

'rain' by Ümmü Nisan Kandilcioglu

'A smile to the unknown photographer...' by Antionio Grambone

'Empty Space' by Peter Davidson

'Fun ride' by Marc Apers

'Insight' by Paulo Abrantes

room with a view' by ambra

'Speed versus reflections' by Yvette Depaepe

'Tai-Pan' by Peter Davidson

'Passing by' by Greetje van Son

'Golden window' by Susanne Stoop

'Little Boxes' by Anne Worner

'The Truman Show' by Jure Kravanja

'Curvilinear' by Luc Vangindertael (laGrange)

'Uplift' by Andreas Agazzi

'Greenpoint Lighthouse' by Hans-Wolfgang Hawerkamp

'seesaw windows' by Gilbert Claes

'Windows Overflow' by minimalist

'Reflected offices' by Susanne Stoop

'Walking on the sky' by Jesús Rubio

'Symbiosis' by Gerard Jonkman

'Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera' by Nora De Angelli