are explained extensively by Barthes in his book called Camera Lucida. Barthes explains the differences between studium and punctum in photography, which can change the way a person views photographs.
As I was perusing through the book Photography: The Whole Story by Juliet Hacking, I was drawn into a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson taken in 1952 called The Decisive Moment (366). When I stumbled upon the photograph, it instantly intrigued me. I was interested in the children playing in the rubble and wanted to know what they found so funny. I wanted to know more about the children and the setting they were in. These two things were intended by the photographer making them the studium (47). The fact that I wanted to know about the boys and what they were laughing at, meaning I wanted to do research, makes them part of the studium.
about the photograph of Lewis H. Hine’s known as Idiot Children in an Institution, “I add nothing with regard to the degenerescence of the profile: the code expresses this before I do, takes my place, does not allow me to speak; what I add-and what, of course, is already in the image-is the collar, the bandage” (55). So, for me in the case of The Decisive Moment, I add nothing to the photograph that is associated with the laughing children because they were intended to be in the photograph. The thing that I do add, though, is the crutches and little boy with the blanket standing to the right side of the photo.
The two things that he cannot name or explain why they are there are the
bandage and collar, which is why they are the punctum. In The Decisive Moment, what was intended were the boys and the setting they were in.
They initially interested me, but what was unintended to me were the
crutches and the little boy with the blanket.
I couldn’t quite tell why the photographer included the crutches in the
scene. It was such a happy scene, but the crutches add the duality of sadness. I also didn’t know why the little boy with the blanket was in the photograph because most of the boys seemed to be having a good time, and he wasn’t.
It seemed that he was an unintentional part of the photo, since the
photographer’s intentions seemed to be catching the boys having a good
time.
These two elements “launched desire beyond what it permits us to see,”
creating elements that pricked and pierced me upon staring at the photograph
(59). The photographer unintentionally photographed something that launched a desire in the viewer to be affected. As Barthes would say
the photograph has a blind field when punctum is added (57). The blind field adds that element of duality, so the crutches and little boy create elements of sadness and contradiction in a time of laughter and play.
These elements of studium and punctum do not appear in all
photographs, but they are concepts that have broadened my view of
photography. The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson is only one photograph to see these elements in. Barthes reflections on photography transform the way photographs can be seen and interpreted by each individual.
Works Cited
Barthes, Roland. (1980). Camera Lucida: Reflections on
Photography. New York: Hill and Wang.
Hacking, Juliet. (2012). Photography: The Whole
Story. New York: Prestel Publishing.