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Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

Book by Roland Barthes · 6 quotes · Photography, Punctum, Roland Barthes

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Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography Quotes

“Another unary photograph is the pornographic photograph (I am not saying the erotic photograph: the erotic is a pornographic that has been disturbed, fissured). Nothing more homogeneous than a pornographic photograph. It is always a naive photograph, without intention and without calculation. Like a shop window which shows only one illuminated piece of jewelry, it is completely constituted by the presentation of only one thing: sex: no secondary, untimely object ever manages to half conceal, delay, or distract... A proof a contrario: Mapplethorpe shifts his close-ups of genitalia from the pornographic to the erotic by photographing the fabric of underwear at very close range: the photograph is no longer unary, since I am interested in the texture of the material. The presence (the dynamics) of this blind field is, I believe, what distinguishes the erotic photograph from the pornographic photograph. Pornography ordinarily represents the sexual organs, making them into a motionless object (a fetish), flattered like an idol that does not leave its niche; for me, there is no punctum in the pornographic image; at most it amuses me (and even then, boredom follows quickly). The erotic photograph, on the contrary (and this is its very condition), does not make the sexual organs into a central object; it may very well not show them at all; it takes the spectator outside its frame, and it is there that I animate this photograph and that it animates me.”

PhotographyPornographyEroticRoland BarthesPunctum
Book:Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography
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“Iš prigimties Fotografija (patogumo dėlei tenka priimti šią universaliją, kuri kol kas remiasi tik nesiliaujančiu atsitiktinumų kartojimu) turi kažką tautologiško — pypkė čia yra visada ir neįveikiamai pypkė. Galima sakyti, kad Fotografija visada nešiojasi savo referentą — abudu sustingę iš tos pačios meilės ar gedulo pačioje judančio pasaulio širdyje: jiedu vienas su kitu suklijuoti, galūnė prie galūnės, kaip pasmerktasis prirakintas prie lavono kai kurių kankinimų metu; ar net panašiaip kaip tos žuvų poros (regis, rykliai, anot Michelet), kurios plaukia vilkstine, tarsi sujungtos kažkokiu amžinu lytiniu aktu. Fotografija priklauso tai sluoksniuotų objektų klasei, kai negalima atskirti dviejų sluoksnių jų nesunaikinant — kaip lango stikslas ir peizažas, ir — kodėl gi ne — Gėris ir Blogis, geismas ir jo objektas — dvilypumai, kuriuos galime suvokti, bet ne patirti.”

PhotographyRoland Barthes
Book:Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography
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“...The editors of (i)Life(i) rejected Kerész'a photographs when he arrived in the United States in 1937 because, they said, his images 'spoke too much'; they made us reflect, suggested a meaning — a different meaning from the literal one. Ultimately, Photography is subversive not when it frightens, repels, or even stigmatizes, but when it is (i)pensive(i), when it thinks.”

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Book:Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography
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