Garry Winograd was a New York based photographer who lived during the mid 1900s. Most of his work is New York street photography, snapshots of people in their everyday lives. Scrolling through pictures on google, I immediately stopped at this picture. Something about it struck me. I was immediately enthralled from what appeared to be an ordinary photograph.

The picture is titled “Radio City” and it was taken in the year 1961. The studium is a woman standing outside Radio City Music Hall Rockefeller Center with a bag by her feet. A man seems to be walking towards her and she is staring at him. But staring at the picture, I wanted to know more. Something about the picture captivated my attention and arouse a certain curiosity in me. What was that something? What was the punctum? Was it the cigarette in the woman’s hand? The sign next to her? The hand behind her back? Maybe. The more I allowed the photograph to consume me, the more I realized that the punctum was not in the picture, yet it was the entire picture.

To me, the punctum was the angle in which the photograph was taken. The picture was not taken from a traditional viewpoint. The photographer was crouched down on the floor and standing on the right side. Staring at this image, I understand what Barthes means when he says the punctum is a call for action. I feel a certain level of discomfort and I am overcome with a desire to step into the picture and straighten everything out. I can’t help but wonder why the photographer chose that angle. The building looks slanted as though it is sliding down the sidewalk, and everything on the left side of the picture is “higher” than the right side. The fact that the picture is taken from such an angle changes my entire perception of the image. The slanted angle highlights the man and he appears larger than the woman. Standing on the left side and having the picture taken from the bottom right, the man seems to be walking “over” her as though he is on top and more dominant. I can’t help but wonder if Winograd intended for the photo took like this; I want to say that he didn’t but then why did he angle the picture?