Photo Essay: Window Shopping

I confess to being a poor shopper. When I'm traveling, the last thing I want to do is drag through stores searching for souvenirs to cram in my inevitably overpacked suitcase. I'm also a poor decision-maker when it comes to shopping, so even minor purchases send me into agonizing deliberations. I envy those who come home with gorgeous artifacts from their travels, but, alas, I am not one of them.

Photographic window shopping, on the other hand, is one of my consistent travel obsessions. I'm endlessly fascinated by the unexpected still lifes contained within shopwindows, what is termed in one of my favorite Flickr groups, "Stuff Behind Glass." While I admire fancy window displays with elaborately theatrical backdrops and glamorously clad mannequins (mannequins are another obsession, but that's a different story), I prefer the often surreal juxtapositions more common to humble stores. For me, a good window display is one I'm not likely to encounter a second time; it has a homemade quality. (The Gap, for instance, just doesn't cut it.)

The things store-owners choose to display to the street offer a literal window into a place and its people. Window displays aren't accidental. Human beings deliberately bring together selected objects in an attempt to lure buyers inside the store, but I find the collections interesting in and of themselves. Some seem carefully planned out and deliberate, while others appear haphazardly assembled, head-scratching in their oddity. They can be amusing or lonely-looking, fresh and new, sadly out of date. I like to be mystified and surprised by stuff behind glass. I like to think, "What were they thinking?!"

Reflections bring another layer of intrigue to photographing window displays. Bits of architecture and street life mingle with the merchandise, creating unexpected, ever-changing tableaux. A slight angle adjustment or change of light can alter the photograph entirely. I consider shopwindow displays the best free museum there is, and they're one of the first things I seek out whenever I explore a new city. They're democratic, too. Cities that may fall short in stellar tourist attractions can still have mesmerizing store windows.

I rarely have much to declare to customs when I return home from a journey, but my camera is always full of curious window shopping souvenirs. They're easy on the credit cards, and you don't have to worry about them breaking in the luggage on the plane ride home.

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