When I first picked up an early digital camera I had little of the patience, technique or courage needed for decent street photography. At the same time I was desperate to make interesting images on the street. I was drawn towards shooting shop-window reflections because they often provided ready-made artistic window dressing and complex arrangements. I no longer pay quite so much attention to these type of opportunities when I’m out and about but over the years I’ve built up a large set of window shots, some of which appear in the albums on the website menu. I’ve chosen a further ten such photos for this blog post, with a few words to say a bit about them and where they were taken.
This is an early example, taken in 2009 in Torquay. The setting is the window of one of those department stores that have more recently hit hard times. The window dressers entered through a door in the backdrop and seemed to be amused by something or other…..I’m pleased that they were enjoying their work just as I passed by.
Another early photo for me from 2009, again taken in Torbay but this time from Brixham. The saturated evening light in the harbour and the brightly coloured ice cream cone drew me to this shop window, and the screen provided by the glass gave me uncharacteristic confidence to foreground the woman with the stripey top. This shot reminds me how a set of unique circumstances have to combine to create a worthwhile image….I can walk past this spot now and everything seems quite mundane.
A different type of shop window image, this one. Shot in Plymouth in the same year it relies on juxtaposition rather than on reflection or dynamic light (although I think the low evening light and colours do add an extra element). You might imagine that the elderly lady in the photo could teach the little man a thing or two, but we’ll never know who said what to whom.
These two are both taken in Penzance during the annual Golowan Festival. Golowan is a contemporary re-staging of the traditional mid-summer community festival with processions, stalls, fair, fireworks, music, dancing and general revelry. The first picture is 2016 and the second 2015. I love attending the event regardless of the photographic opportunities and plan to return in future years when hopefully the festivities will again be in full swing.
Another annual event that I’ve photographed over a number of years is the wonderful Christmas Market in my hometown of Totnes. Low light photography is much more difficult without an expensive camera but my little X10 manages some grainy images if I use the available light and avoid having the burning-bright street lamps in shot. This one is the window of Cranch’s, the traditional sweet shop on a rainy night in 2014……I liked how the snowflakes in the shop created an interesting variation between the man in blue and his reflection.
A well populated image of a shop window in Salamanca, Spain taken during a visit there in 2014. In the province of Castile & Leon the old city is a beautiful world heritage site with the third oldest university in the western world. Summer is normal times is chock full of festivals and culture and the cathedral (or two cathedrals joined into one) offers rooftop access for great views of the city.
Here is a different window perspective taken in Casablanca, Morocco in 2016. The photograph is shot from the balcony of the Petit Poucet cafe in the city centre. We didn’t visit the famous Rick’s cafe (a recreation of the bar from the Casablanca film) but the atmospheric Petit Poucet is known for having been frequented in the past by Edith Piaf and Albert Camus. There’s plenty of art deco architecture and design to be seen in this fascinating city and the simple yet elegant chairs here inspired me to take this shot.
This window image from Granada, Spain in 2016 shows the ‘Vagabundeos’ (wanderings) exhibition by the Chilean Magnum photographer Sergio Larrain as well as a reflection of yours truly looking longingly inside. (The exhibition was an unexpected joy to discover but was closed at the time. I did of course make sure to return the following day).
Finally a more recent photograph taken on my mobile phone in December 2019. We were wandering the west end of London, there as tourists to see the Christmas lights, when we came upon this sight in the window of a department store. The image comes with its own customised joke which I’m foolish enough to think worth sharing: ‘How many window-dressers does it take to put up a ‘Sale’ sign in a shop window? Answer: Seven (its usually fourteen but there was a fifty percent reduction at the time :-)