Through a Window

Doorways have intrigued me for years.  What's behind a closed door?  Who goes through this door?  What stories could this door tell?  I have taken photos of doors ever since I owned my first camera.  

Windows began to creep into my consciousness, too, because they give rise to similar questions and stories.  But they posed a problem.  Usually I was standing outside looking at a building with special windows and the sunlight would be bouncing off the glass.  Taking a photograph of that window with all that reflected light stumped me.   

Recently I started appreciated windows from the inside.  Oh, I know.  We all like windows and appreciate the views from them; there's nothing special in that.  What I have fallen for is the frame the window makes of the view.  Like a good frame on a painting, it adds to the picture.  It becomes an integral part of the painting or the scene.

So here are a couple of photographs that I took today, and I hope they help illustrate what I mean.  These are taken from my studio of our backyard and part of our neighbor's yard.  The angle is slightly different in each, and I've cropped the second to cut down on the muntins (aka sash bars, and I hope it's the right term!) that you see.  I prefer the second because it seems a more private, personal view.  Is that because it is a close-up or because I reduced the muntins?

The next I love.  The light on the trees, the glimpse of sky, the almost-black off-center sash bars that focus on the branches of the evergreen and sky behind . . . That view might get lost because of the glory of the sun-spangled leaves without the cross-hairs of the sashes.

And finally, a bit of romance.  Through a voile curtain you are looking at the over-the-rail planter on my front porch . . . soft draperies, rigid framing muntins, beautiful color from the coleus.

 This one has a different orientation and a house and sky beyond the planter.  Which of the two do you like best?  or neither?  which of all the photos appeals most to you?  Do you like the idea of through the window from the inside of the house photographs?

Well, it did give me a break today and was fun to do!