Why do people photograph windows and doors?

Ken Rockwell has a collection
Condyk has a collection...

From time to time I see a photo pop up of a window or a door.

I can understand pictures of girls... flowers... birds... old architecture... but why windows?

Blank walls with no windows or doors would be too boring to photograph.

Didn't Freud have some theory about there being a sexual inference to doors and windows that allow penetration of the secret space behind the wall?

You mean like this one.

For the same reason one would take pictures of buildings, beaches or whatever. They enjoy it.

I'v seen some pretty artsy looking doors and windows.

Do you have a special aversion to doors and windows

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most of the windows are really old and nasty...

Of course... there's an element of Oedipus complex.

It's all coming together.

So are these the guys using their barrel extending 24-70's to shoot doors?

We live in a world of multiple forms. The forms are given names by us. The value of those forms comes from us. Is a bird more worthy of noticing than a tu*d? Is a Golden Eagle more worthy of shooting than a Sparrow? Is a palace more worthy of note than a drain? If you think yes, then from my point of view you really aren't seeing. You are following convention and fashion.

Conceptualizing means drawing a distinction between this and that. Taoism tells us that once we take that first step in dividing the one into two, invariably more and more discriminations follow, resulting in 'the 10,000 things'. In the world of intellectualisation (rather than direct seeing), there are categories within categories, distinctions within distinctions, but ultimately they are all aspects of the same thing - whatever that 'thing' is.

There is no implicite hiararchy of 'things worth shooting'. Things and people are just there in our own perception and our perception of value conditions what we often choose to shoot. But what is the 'nature' of that person or object in front of us? That is what I like to capture. That 'nature' exists within a door or a glamour model.

On of the reasons I shoot doors is because there is such change where I live that most won't be here soon and they have a history and a significance, in my view, that make them worth noting. Another reason is old doors are often interesting from a textural and colour point of view. Weathering is attractive to me: everything has a unique beauty if you look. As a package, it is all part of their 'nature' in context, i.e. part art, part 'Tao', part visual balance and part social documentary.

So, speaking personally they are all just forms, colours, textures and so the same as a bird, girl, flower, etc. The best shots capture the 'nature' of those forms as a moment in time. If you want to shoot at the level of surface then go shoot the '10,000 things'. If you want to capture something deeper then open your eyes and shoot a tu*d or a door

Here are a few of my doors! Now Doc., aren't they as wonderful as any naked glamour model

They can be interesting.

Graham

Far too deep and meaningfull for me Condyk - I do like your doors (and walls) though.
Maybe I should see someone...

Nice shots! And the 1st one makes me think of a bra?!

Why not?

Why take pictures of anything?

Why do people take countless pictures of the moon? I'm pretty sure the thing isn't going anywhere, and we sure don't need a picture to know what it looks like, so why waste the time?

I take pictures of anything and everything.

Why?

Because I want to...

Good explanation condyk. I really like the blue door and the yellow one. They are really pretty and interesting to look at.

PhotosGuy wrote:
Nice shots! And the 1st one makes me think of a bra?!

Or the person who lost it when she got it caught on the door as she hastily ran outside.

And here I thought shooting doors and windows was just the photographic equivilant of abstract art.

One of the two good window shots I have I think I took for the "unusual angle" set for a photography class and the other was part of the "reflections" set for the same class.

Otherwise I tend to avoid doors and windows with my camera myself,


and I also try to avoid doors with my lens but don't always succeed, no damage yet though

I think condyk pretty much just summed it up there.

My take on it is simple: why not?

Don't be such a grump Doc. Can you really only understand why people take photographs of things you like?

Here's an idea for you to try. Think of why YOU take photos of the things you shoot. Then just figure people who shoot windows and doors do so for the same reasons.