Windows or Mirrors

Soft shores - Isle of Harris, Scotland
Some time ago I attended an exhibition at the Hermitage Museum of Lausanne, Switzerland.  Under the enticing title of "Windows", a great number of paintings from artists like Matisse, Rothko and Magritte among others entranced visitors with the symbolic and metaphorical meanings of windows in the arts. In painting after painting, windows appeared in many different ways, unveiling a myriad of connotations: Mystery or transparency, freedom or reclusion, joy or sadness, loneliness or openness, order or chaos...
Walking around the museum, I could not avoid making certain connections with the world of photography, and how this very same concept of the window has always haunted the expectations of our field to be considered as a valuable medium of artistic expression.
Burning Peak - Matterhorn, Switzerland
When photography was first introduced to society, it was presented as a technological feat able to reproduce reality with a degree of exactitude neve...