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I’ve taken more than 120,000 digital photographs in the last couple of decades, all indexed by descriptive keywords and catalogued in the software I use to manage the massive amount of files. In a few keystrokes, I can locate photos that fit any description.
Birds? More than 50,000. One common species of bird, sparrows? About 8,500. Butterflies? More than 1,500. Tennis? More than 15,000. Sunsets? Street scenes? Fountains? Cemeteries? Hot-air balloons? Hundreds. … Continue reading
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The front door to the Major Peter Bocquet, Jr. House, 95 Broad Street, Charleston, S.C. The house was built around 1770.
A wooden door, framed in white, is surrounded by a bright green wall on Calle de San Jose (San Jose Street) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A wooden door, framed in white, is surrounded by a bright magenta wall on Calle de San Jose (San Jose Street) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
An old door provides an entry to a building on St. Michael's Street in Oxford, England.
Columns and arches surround a door at the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church on New Inn Hall Street in Oxford, England.
The yellow interior contrasts with the exterior doors to the office of the bishop near Meissen Cathedral, Meissen, Germany.
An old doorway on Na Poříčí in Prague, Czech Republic.
A large light hangs over the ancient, small back door of St. Edmund Hall Library on Queen's Lane in Oxford, England.
A view through an open door to Corpus Christi Chapel adjacent to St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.
Doorway and steps lead to the roof of Corpus Christi Chapel adjacent to St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.
Stylized woodwork frames a door in Old Town Hall, Prague, Czech Republic.
A doorway to a home on Schlossstrasse in Torgau, Germany.
An elaborate arched doorway serves as the entrance to a home across from the Church of our Lady in Meissen, Germany.
An elaborate entry separates Jahnaischer Hof (court) from Freiheit Street in Meissen, Germany.
A lion's head door knocker decorates the center of a door in the courtyard at Dresden Castle, Dresden, Germany.
Coats of arms decorate the double-door Broad Street gate to Exeter College in Oxford, England.
A doorway provides passage through a stone wall on Brasenose Lane in Oxford, England.
An ornate door serves as one of the entrances to St. Barbara's Cathedral in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. Construction began on the church in 1388.
A metal door, under a stone marker listing 1787 as the construction date, stands along Jakubská Street in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.
An entry to a shop on Calle de San Jose (San Jose Street) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is decorated with flowers.
An arched wooden door provides an entrance to Albrechtsburg Castle on top of a hill near Meissen Cathedral in Meissen, Germany.
A doorway at Lutherhaus (Luther House) in Wittenberg, Germany. Lutherhaus was built in 1504 and was the home of Martin Luther for most of his adult life.
A door at Schloss Cecilienhof (Cecilienhof Palace) in Potsdam, Germany.
A purple doorway accents a yellow home at 40 Shepherd St. in Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London.
But when I was looking through my database a few weeks ago, one subject surprised me: I have quite a few photos of doors.
I know I have a tendency to shoot arched entrances (some of which could have a door), arched walkways, and other similar scenes, but I never realized how many photos I have showing actual doors.
After looking through the photos, I realized a few common characteristics that caused me to drop what I was doing and get a photo of a door. The scenes are all colorful, or contain interesting architecture, or convey a sense of history or age. And they have compelling composition, something that captures a photographer’s attention.
I also realized something else: Almost every photo of a door was taken outside the United States. The reason, I guess, is that the United States has boring doors.
Many of the doors I’ve photographed are on buildings nearly as old as — and often older than — the United States. For instance, a number of the doors I’ve photographed in Europe are on buildings with long histories, structures that have been maintained, refurbished, and repurposed many times over the centuries. Some were more than 500 years old.
In the U.S., a federal program designed to protect and maintain historic buildings didn’t exist until 1960, and didn’t become fully operational until the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966. Until 60 years ago, there was little incentive for communities to preserve or protect buildings that had potential historic relevance. Old was bad, new was good, so the country became home to a plethora of businesses operating behind identical steel-framed glass entrances and homes with cookie-cutter doorways.
That’s not to say that there are no eye-catching or historical doors in the United States. It’s just saying that I’ve found few during my travels.
But I’ll keep looking.