Camera Lucida

Roland Barthes.

(6) the photo is always invisible-- it's not what we see (framing device is invisible)

(13) Riley/Dickinson: anxiety at sight of 'self' on piece of paper

(14) moment when subject feels he's becoming an object-- being photographed-- "I am neither subject nor object but a subject who feels he is becoming an object"

(21) wound sentiment-- I see, feel, hence I notice, observe, think

2 things photo must contain:

1) participate in something or other (not banality)

2) affect- affective intentionality

2 elements of the rule

1) has the extension of a field (perceived as consequence of knowledge, culture)

can be stylized, more or less successful, refers to a classical body of info

2) average affect-- studium-- application to a thing without special acuity

punctum-- element that pierces, pricks, mark made by a pointed instrument; usually accidental/chance but poignant

studium-- the order of liking, not loving; a half desire, "all right"

functions of a photograph-- to inform, represent, surprise, cause to signify, to provoke desire

in a photo, always something that is represented

(28) contrary to sentence-- can shift from description to reflection

Daguerre-- running a panorama theater animated by light shows (photo more closely tied to theater than painting)

(31) theater and cult of the Dead: simultaneously living and dead

(34) photography, in order to surprise, photographs the notable; but soon, by a familiar reversal, it decrees notable whatever it photographs

(34) every photo is contingent (and thereby outside meaning)/ photography can't signify (aim at a generality) except by assuming a mask

(38) the object speaks and induces us to think-- risks being perceived as dangerous

(36) Brecht-- hostile to photography because of its weakness of critical power and no critique except among those who are already capable of criticism

(42) detail that detracts (in 'unary' or 'unity-ed' photo) is the punctum

(55) punctum adds what is nonetheless already there

(53) revealed after the fact ('what sticks out') -- affect