Art 2840 Reading 2

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes was the second reading for class. I liked reading this excerpt because I am very interested in Photography. Roland Barthes goes very indepth about his feelings and confusions of photographs. The opening paragraph gave me something to think about. He said he looked in amazement at a photograph because he was looking at the eyes of someone who has seen the emperor. I don’t think of portraits that way, but it is an intriguing concept. Most portraits tell stories. Another part in the article that struck my interest was the paragraph that Barthes asks why we feel the need to photograph something, somewhere, at that very moment. Good question. I think photography is about feeling. Certain places give us certain feelings. And if you’re able to capture that feeling in a photo, why not? Barthes also talks about posing and how the mere presence of a camera alters the mood. If a person sees a camera, they automatically are posing. Whether they want to or not, they are very aware of the cameras presence. He says that posing leads to photographs of imposters. I do agree to a certain extent. By posing, the person is trying to make themselves look good, maybe try to be someone they’re not. But honestly, photographs show you how others perceive you. I think it’s a very interesting concept.

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