Art Thinking Critically about Photography

The photograph that I have chosen to think critically about for the purposes of this assignment is "Paris, Montparnasse," by Andreas Gursky. The photograph is rectangular. The primary object in the photograph is a large building or edifice, full of homes or of offices. It is unclear from the vantage point because the picture is taken as an extra wide shot. This object takes up most of the area in the photo. There is some unused or negative space in the top fifth of the photograph. That empty space is of the sky. Toward the bottom fifth of the photograph, there are trees, plants, and what could be a parking lot or another section of the roof of the building. Again, while there is detail and sharpness to the photograph, these sorts of contextual details are ambiguous or unknown....

The side of the building that faces the photographer and the audience is littered with hundreds of windows. The windows are divided into a finite number of squares and rectangles, and these shapes are repeated. There is variation in the colors of shades or curtains covering the windows, as well as those windows that are crisp and white, as opposed to dark black. There are also gradations of reflections off of the windows from the sun or other sources of light from within the rooms of the building. It is clear that there is a whole world behind every window of every room, yet from the perspective from which the photo is taken, the windows and their colors seem to be a part of a greater, collective image, such as those posters or works of art where they are of a famous person, such as Bob Marley, and upon closer inspection, each…