Photos are a part of our everyday lives. We take them, we see them, we share them, we edit them, and sometimes we study them. Photo's are the closest way we can defy time and visually relive a moment that has passed. In this sense people's interest in photos, of all extremes, can be appreciated and shared by most other people.
Everyday growing up I have seen the same picture of my great-grandparents. It is a 1920's portrait of my grandmother's parents on my mothers side-- Angelina and Ciro Sarracino. When I look at the photo, I am immediately drawn in by the timeless elegance in the overall look of the portrait. The frame shows only a worn carpet, a wooden wall, and a chair, leaving all focal points to the husband and wife. The black and white effect that draws me in is referred to by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida as the element of a photo that keeps the viewer interested to continue viewing the photo. It is subjective-- you choose to keep looking. That is what this photo does for me, it keeps me wanting to look and look again. The stripes on Ciro's socks, the single stranded pearls on Angelina, even the hair styles and clothing that clearly date the picture from it's time all draw me in. The elements of studium in this photo are clear for me.
Everyday growing up I have seen the same picture of my great-grandparents. It is a 1920's portrait of my grandmother's parents on my mothers side-- Angelina and Ciro Sarracino. When I look at the photo, I am immediately drawn in by the timeless elegance in the overall look of the portrait. The frame shows only a worn carpet, a wooden wall, and a chair, leaving all focal points to the husband and wife. The black and white effect that draws me in is referred to by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida as the element of a photo that keeps the viewer interested to continue viewing the photo. It is subjective-- you choose to keep looking. That is what this photo does for me, it keeps me wanting to look and look again. The stripes on Ciro's socks, the single stranded pearls on Angelina, even the hair styles and clothing that clearly date the picture from it's time all draw me in. The elements of studium in this photo are clear for me.
"By the mark of something, the photograph is no longer 'anything whatever'" - Barthes (49)
Barthes goes on to explain the second element of the photo, punctum. This is found, or felt, when studium has drawn you in enough to see something else in the photo differently. You are seeing what is already there, but with a new feeling, a new understanding, a new emotion that is triggered for you personally by this specific element of the photo. In looking at this photo of my great-grandparents, which for me is flawless, I find these elements that pierce me. This starts with the positioning of their hands. An affect of studium is my great-grandmother's hand on her husband. Since this drew me in, I then followed my focus downward to his hands. At first the crossed positioning of his hands hid the deformation, then I knew I had found punctum as I was triggered by the realization of the crippled fingers on his right hand. As my eyes fell further down the portrait, I was again triggered--this time the identical shoes they are wearing. Their overlapping legs put the shoes directly next to each other, leaving me only to recognize the seemingly identical shiny, black shoes, with the same pointed toes and slightly platformed heels. These are examples of punctum as I can recall them in my head, even without looking at the picture. As Barthes puts it, "..the punctum should be revealed only after the fact, when the photograph is no longer in front of me and I think back on it" (53).
These were the ways I interpreted the photo with Barthes philosophies of photography. His ideas led me to see things in this photo in a way I might not have otherwise, like the wearing in parts of the rug for what seems to be a professional portrait set up. Barthes also allowed me to developed my skills of emotionally connecting with specific photos-- and how to know which photos I might personally find to pull me in and prick me. To further explore Barthes ideas, and to compare them to the photographic genre I've learned from Photography: The Whole Story by Juliet Hacking, I have interviewed the closest living relative to this photo. This is my grandmother Angelina who daughter of the couple in the photo.
These were the ways I interpreted the photo with Barthes philosophies of photography. His ideas led me to see things in this photo in a way I might not have otherwise, like the wearing in parts of the rug for what seems to be a professional portrait set up. Barthes also allowed me to developed my skills of emotionally connecting with specific photos-- and how to know which photos I might personally find to pull me in and prick me. To further explore Barthes ideas, and to compare them to the photographic genre I've learned from Photography: The Whole Story by Juliet Hacking, I have interviewed the closest living relative to this photo. This is my grandmother Angelina who daughter of the couple in the photo.
Barthes, Roland. (1980). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang.
Hacking, Juliet. (2012). Photography: The Whole Story. New York: Prestel Publishing.
Hacking, Juliet. (2012). Photography: The Whole Story. New York: Prestel Publishing.