THE IMAGE BEHIND THE DOOR A Photographic Study of Conceptions of Photography (1995)
What does a person choose to photograph when they are allowed to take just one photograph – with no instructions about what the subject should be?
In 1995, as my final project for a degree in photography, I carried out a photographic study in which I visited apartment buildings and rang people's doorbells. I handed the person who opened the door a camera and asked them to take one photograph – of absolutely anything they wanted. I did not define or restrict the subject in any way.
The result was a research collection of 313 photographs taken by 313 ordinary Finnish people. The aim of the study was to explore what people considered worth photographing.
The results were surprisingly consistent. The photographs repeatedly featured loved ones, decorative objects in the home, pets and subjects considered aesthetically pleasing. In contrast, many ordinary details of everyday life – such as clutter, entrance halls, shoes and other practical aspects of the home – were almost entirely absent. The study revealed how strongly cultural conceptions of photography influence what we consider worth photographing.
The study was conducted in 1995, before digital cameras, smartphones and social media became part of everyday life. Each photograph was a deliberate choice, and taking and sharing photographs was not yet part of everyday communication in the way it is today.
More than thirty years later, the study offers an interesting opportunity to consider how our photographic culture has changed. Smartphones, selfies and social media have transformed the ways in which we photograph, see and share the world. The same study conducted today might produce very different results.
On this page, you can explore the research report and the original photographic material. The report presents the background to the study, research questions, methodology, theoretical framework and results. It is followed by the original analytical charts and the photographs taken by the participants, organised according to the subject and meaning classifications used in the study.
What would happen if the same study were conducted today? What would you photograph?
Research Material
Distribution of the 313 Photographs
The study included 313 Finnish participants. Each participant received a camera from me to take inside their home and was asked to take one photograph of a completely unrestricted subject. The chart shows the distribution of the research material according to the photographers' gender, age group and living arrangement.
Of the photographs, 67% were taken by women and 33% by men. The two largest age groups were participants under 35 (42%) and those aged 35–55 (45%). Of the participants, 69% lived with a partner or family and 31% lived alone.
The analysis was carried out in two stages. First, the photographs were examined according to what people chose to photograph (subject classification). The same photographs were then analysed in terms of their cultural meaning (meaning classification). In this way, the analysis moves from the visible subject of the photograph towards the values and conceptions of photography underlying these choices.
Subject Classification
In the first stage of the analysis, all 313 photographs were classified according to their primary subject. Nine subject categories emerged: people, pets, decorative objects, functional objects, general views of interiors, pictures of pictures, plants, views and media.
The table and chart show how these subjects were distributed across the complete material and according to the photographers' gender, age group and living arrangement. Several interesting differences emerged. For example, men photographed pets and functional objects more frequently than women, while decorative objects were more prominent in photographs taken by women. Photographs taken by people living alone included a higher proportion of views and pictures of pictures.
The subject classification formed the first level of analysis and provided the basis for the subsequent meaning classification, in which the photographs were examined in terms of their cultural and communicative meanings.
Meaning Classification
The subject of a photograph alone does not explain why it was taken. In the second stage of the analysis, all 313 photographs were therefore also classified according to their primary meaning.
The photographs were divided into seven groups: loved ones, aesthetics, objects of affection, interests, other ten-out-of-ten photographs, everyday realities and radical photographs. This classification revealed cultural meanings that could not be identified simply by examining the subjects of the photographs.
The charts show clear differences between age groups. Photographs taken by the youngest participants more frequently featured objects of affection and subjects that deviated from conventional photographic norms, while aesthetics became increasingly prominent among the older age groups. The meaning classification also suggested that subject matter alone does not explain people's photographic choices: cultural values, personal meanings and learned conceptions of photography also influence what people choose to photograph.
How to Read the Photographic Material
The following pages present all 313 photographs, grouped according to their meaning classification. Each photograph includes a code that identifies its subject and meaning classifications as well as background information about the photographer.
The code in the lower right-hand corner of each photograph indicates five things:
- the meaning category
- the subject category
- the photographer's gender
- the photographer's age group
- whether the photographer lived alone or with a partner or family
These codes allow individual photographs to be examined both independently and as part of the larger research material. They also make it possible to compare how photographic subjects and their meanings vary between different groups of participants.
