Peter Zumthor

 The following is a my interpretation of Peter Zumthors book Atmosphere and how it applies to the realm of photography.  Architecture and the built environment affects more of our senses than an image can each space we enter we feel, smell, perceive temperature air pressure that all change the way that the atmosphere is interpreted.  My reading of this work focuses on the visual aspect.

Perception of atmosphere is being able to assess a safe space has been a necessary evolutionary development to ensure survival. The enclosed environment provides protections from capricious nature, a place to rest, develop, grow and not always be on one’s guard. 

“an incredible sense of place. An unbelievable feeling of concentration when we suddenly become aware of being enclosed, of something enveloping us, keeping us together holding us”  (ibid pp46)

Though modern built environments do not require a survival assessment evolution moves slower than technology, spaces are still judged for friendliness, comfort.  The enclosed space still evokes strong emotions.  The frame of a photograph is a window where we can peer into a space, to see another world. It much like looking through a shop window in the evening of a winter’s day, the warm lights contrast with the deep cool blues, the limited view is enticing, full of mystery, beckoning to come in from the cold.  

Assorted Flowers Beside Brown Concrete House a[t] Nighttime (Ciao 2012)

The emotional response to a space is the lynch pin of ‘atmosphere’.  For Zumthor the creation of atmosphere comprises of many different elements that work in harmony.  The careful curation of the elements help contributes to the overall perception, no matter how small working together in synergy conveying a message to the viewer.  Looking at the visual elements specifically these include the material qualities of the space, and the semiotics of those materials, metals cold, wood warm.  There are also elements that fill the space, objects and people, of which there can be infinite variation.  Each of these have their own stories that speak to us through their visual language evoking the history for what and when they were created for, ergo what they represent and how they feel.  There is no assurance of how each object will contribute to the overall perception as people’s association with individual pieces vary.  When it is completely successfully atmosphere is the ability to touch someone emotionally in an instant.

My reflections form the perspective of photography

The photography of atmosphere is the art of doing what others are not doings.  This is how I would define the ‘awe’ factor of and atmospheric image, creating the emotional response of intrigue: ‘I have never seen this before’. This would explain the motivation for photographers to get up at the crack of dawn and stand by themselves in the freezing cold not to take a picture of that landscape, but rather in an attempt to evoke that emotion.  Capturing such a place without a human presence in the frame creates the illusion that the viewer is the sole person who experiencing the scene adding to the emotional involvement.  The trouble is after 1000s of sunrises are they all just the same? How is the photographer doing anything different? It is not just the act of getting up and accurately capturing the scene, but how the photographer is showing a unique perspective.