The class discussion in todays class absolutely blew me away with all the information and detail that Barthes was getting across in the first few pages of the book. When I initially read it, I did not find it too difficult to read aside from all the parenthetical statements he was making. However, after reviewing what we read in class, it felt like I read a different book.

Our review in class today of the book Camera Lucida ushered in a new understanding of photography as a medium in itself. What is a photograph, but a mere capture of a moment. A true moment? Maybe not. But a moment nonetheless. As the author notes, photographs ( portraits in particular) may not be as realistic as they seem. In the sense, that a person no matter how much they resist, is inevitably posing for a picture whether they smile or not, whether they maintain eye contact or not. The mere fact of knowing that they are being photographed changes the individual.

Below are instructions on how to use Drupal. If you have any questions about these, please contact Irene Meisel immediately {email: imeisel@gc.cuny.edu ichat: imeisel@mac.com google chat: irene.meisel}.

*Please note* Word puts all kinds of crazy code in its documents, so it's best not to compose in Word, if at all possible. Word's backend code WILL SHOW UP in your posts if you copy/cut + past from Word!

Here are your options:

We're all going to Fall for Dance on Wednesday the 30th, but I urge you to go to one of the dance talks, especially on Friday: http://www.nycitycenter.org/content/ffd09/dt.aspx