Picture Windows

by John Pfahl

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821216651
• ISBN13: 9780821216651
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Picture Windows

By definition, a picture window is a large single-paned window that provides a clear, broad outside view, as if the glass were a canvas separating interior space from exterior view. It is this canvas that John Pfahl uses in this book. For Pfahl, windows are a means to make a typical landscape photograph in a non-typical way. He not only framed his view of the world with his camera, but also with the picture window. Using focus to include everything from inside the windowsill to the horizon, Pfahl set up formal relationships that the human eye would otherwise be unable to perceive. Since the heart of the photograph is the exterior scene, Pfahl leaves the surrounding room dark and out of focus and the black borders extend the darkness of the room, intensifying the vivid, sharp colors of the outside world. Pfahl meticulously planned and set up each shot, considering the weather, time, and camera position. He created extensive compositional structures of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that could be controlled by simply opening or closing a windowpane. The uniqueness of each window, stains and broken glass, became integral to his photographs as well. People tend to think extensive travel is needed to view beautiful landscapes, but "Picture Windows" proves that the grandeur can be just out the window where the normal becomes exquisite.