According to Roland Barthes in the book Camera Lucida, a picture can spark an "enthusiastic commitment" for the viewer brought on by an interest in the photo's content or statement. This particular interest in a photo that draws you in is referred to as studium. He also explains another element of the photo, one that shoots out of the photo and changes you, or changes the way you feel based on what you are seeing. This element he calls, punctum. These reactions to photography are not something someone can control because they are shaped by the things that are true in that moment, such as a persons culture, knowledge, or understanding of the world. The element of puntum in a photograph is based on that persons general interests. So naturally, the distinctions of puntum and studium in a particular photo, and the reaction one has to them, are not the same for all. For Barthes, these themes in photography help him understand why certain photos strike him differently than others, or why some he may not have interest in over others.
For me, punctum and studium were harder to grasp in Barthes' language than in real life experience. The terms were much clearer to me when using this assignment to look through my family's photo archive to understand these themes in photography, and in the reaction to photography. Many pictures struck me. Those with me as a child in moments I wish to remember better, and those of my family in a culture that looked so different from my own. After looking through many pictures I had never seen, and some I had many times, I chose a picture to better understand punctium and studium with one I had seem many times growing up, as it hung on the wall in my house. It is a picture of my grandmother's (mother's mother) parents. The picture is dated in the 1920's and is a posed picture of the couple together.
For me, punctum and studium were harder to grasp in Barthes' language than in real life experience. The terms were much clearer to me when using this assignment to look through my family's photo archive to understand these themes in photography, and in the reaction to photography. Many pictures struck me. Those with me as a child in moments I wish to remember better, and those of my family in a culture that looked so different from my own. After looking through many pictures I had never seen, and some I had many times, I chose a picture to better understand punctium and studium with one I had seem many times growing up, as it hung on the wall in my house. It is a picture of my grandmother's (mother's mother) parents. The picture is dated in the 1920's and is a posed picture of the couple together.
For me, this picture is simple and elegant. Over the many times I've seen it, I've always loved it and thought of it to be a part of how I've come to be. But, I had not yet before examined why I loved it so much, or truly how connected I was to it. When I read Photography: The whole story I understood the process it has taken to capture the moments we wish to see again and agin, or for those to see who live long after us. I appreciate that my great grandparents took the initiative to have this picture taken to live on. The stadium of this picture that has drawn me in is the glance between my great grandparents, the familiar daze they seem to be while looking in one another's eyes. This pulls me in to try to understand what is going on beyond their faces, in their mind and spirit. The punctium is surely my great-grandfathers paralyzed fingers, crippled to WWI, their identical styled shoes, and the pose which has the husband sitting and the woman standing.
Examining this photo is showing me its unique themes that draw me in and create interest in understanding a glimpse of the past. Through this project I hope to grow an even better understanding to the history of this photo and what was going on with my family in this moment. My grandmother and mother both look so similar to my great-grandmother, Angelina. This is striking to me in it's own way and relates me to this photo more than I can imagine. Although I've seen this photo almost everyday for my entire life, I already see it so differently. It is so perfect to me.
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. Print.
Hacking, Juliet. Photography: The whole Story. New York: Prestel, 2012. Print.
Examining this photo is showing me its unique themes that draw me in and create interest in understanding a glimpse of the past. Through this project I hope to grow an even better understanding to the history of this photo and what was going on with my family in this moment. My grandmother and mother both look so similar to my great-grandmother, Angelina. This is striking to me in it's own way and relates me to this photo more than I can imagine. Although I've seen this photo almost everyday for my entire life, I already see it so differently. It is so perfect to me.
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. Print.
Hacking, Juliet. Photography: The whole Story. New York: Prestel, 2012. Print.