“21 Days of Mindful Photography” and “Fifteen Exercises in Perception” were both purchased yesterday on the opening day of 21, which was unexpected and very exciting. They share one big thing in common: they both ask the reader to photograph through their windows as a first assignment. I chose this as a first assignment because I feel that if you want to understand something, you should start at its beginnings. And at the beginning of photography there was Joseph Nicéphore Niépce photographing through his window in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France in 1827 or 1828. The photograph he took is the earliest extant photograph in the world, and it lives at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. It is called, quite simply, “View from the Window at LeGras,” LeGras being his family estate. Niépce called the work a “point de vue” rather than a photograph. He made other, earlier points-of-view that could not be made permanent.