Camera Lucida: Two Parts, Question + Image

Part 1

“What I can name cannot really prick me, The incapacity to name is a good symptom of disturbance…the punctum can accommodate a certain latency (but never any scrutiny).“

The first and second paragraphs of chapter 22, give a good explanation and example of what the author means by punctum. He defines it as something in the photograph that grabs the person’s attention and gives the viewer something to ponder as they step away. In this passage Barthes explains that this intriguing aspect must also be unknown, at least at first, to the viewer. It’s also important that it is obvious at first glance that there is something unbalanced in the photograph, and need not be explained by a caption. It’s a little hard to understand how something in a photograph could be so distinguishable yet be incapable of being identified by the viewer – a corequisite according to Barthes.

Part 2

“It was history which separated me from them…this is the only time that I have seen her like this…by accessories which have perished…That is what the time when my mother was alive before me – is History.” This Is a quote from the first and second paragraphs of chapter 26. Barthes introduces the idea that history has a strong impact on the spectator. Seeing a photograph of his mother wearing clothes and jewelry that preceded his birth had a profound impression and is associated with his definition of the studium. Although usually the studium is the background knowledge and information that the viewer has, here, Barthes argues that the unfamiliarity with the past is what impacts the viewer. This point is relevant to the argument because it explains one characteristic that appeals to the author as the spectator of a photograph. Since the historical background in the picture seems pertinent to the specific picture of the author’s mother, I think this idea’s relevancy varies for each photograph and sometimes isn’t even a factor. For instance if the picture is from the current era, and the subject is anonymous, the timeline of the photograph might not even be noticed by the spectator.

Question:

Sometimes when I’m in a museum and I see a very old photograph, I can get so distracted by its age and the differences of the era that I may not even absorb all the main subjects of the image. I wonder if a photograph’s age alone can be part of the punctum, not the stadium.

Photograph:

As per Barthe’s request, I did not add a caption for this image.

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