As I entered the International center of photography on Wednesday afternoon with some of my IDC classmates, I felt a bit out of the loop. As I roamed around the facility trying to find John Woods' exhibit on "Quiet Protest", I felt somewhat artistically uneducated. I looked and stared at many photographs on display, perplexed about what exactly the photographer was trying to convey. I thought to myself that maybe I didn't have the ability to appreciate photography like others did, until I caught a glimpse of certain Avadon fashion photography, which absolutely took my breath away.

It's been bothering me for a while, but graffiti art in New York has always been a crazy form of art. I was driving down Queens blvd today and saw many different forms of graffiti art all along buildings and walls. People draw out names, people and other different images. I really have no idea what some of the images represent, but i'm sure there is deep meaning behind each and every one. Have you ever wondered how people can do graffiti all the way on top of buildings? Til this day, I am still left with that question unanswered.

I watched a movie tonight that posed some questions about art and it's true definition. The movie, titled Vicky Cristina Barcelona, held a ensemble of artists as it's main characters: a poet, a painter, a photographer, and an all-in-one writer, director, and actress. The poet refuses sharing his work with the world for he hates it and wishes to deprive them of his art. The painter is a Casanova that uses his skill and worldliness to seduce women.

     In Camera Lucida, Barthes discusses the importance of duality in photography. Specifically, he describes this duality with the phrases the studium and the punctum. The studium is what we see and the punctum is our emotional reaction. To Barthes, a photograph is not significant if there is no punctum for the studium. Since Barthes words are very complicated I found I only understood this concept in terms of acting terminology, which is something I am familiar with.