Robert Mapplethorpe is an American photographer known for his black and white images. He worked almost exclusively in black and white, which led to his appreciation in the subtleties between barely distinguishable shades of grays and whites and blacks. While there is more conversation around his more controversial photographic themes, like that of NYC subcultures, I chose this image, "Apartment Windows" (1977) because it is a different enough still life from the other images I've blogged about.

The image is of a facade of an apartment building. There is a 7x11 grid of windows, and each row alternates from six to five to six. There is a shadow, likely caused by another building, over the majority of the left third. This photograph focuses on those subtleties between grays that Mapplethorpe was a fan of.

The windows have curtains and blinds, but they are all organically different. Some have the shade all the way down, others up. The curtains fall straight down in most, but one window stands out by having them out of the way. Looking in, the apartment is black. It's the strongest black in the photograph. The whitest whites come from having both the blinds and curtains, the blackest black comes from the lack of both.

I can't say that I found a mood to this image. It didn't strike me from an emotional angle. What drew me in is the analytical aspect of it. By having the windows arranges in a grid across the entire image, I felt the need to count and see how symmetrical it was. I found that the arrangement is consistent. The last column on the right has the windows fully visible. The column on the far left has them bisected.

The technical arrangement of the photograph is what makes this interesting. That and how small differences between the windows change the shades, along with the creeping shadow on the left.