Camera Lucida is a book written by Roland Barthes in 1980. The book explores the core of photography.
The three categories Barthes organises photographs in are: studium, punctum and index.
“The studium is coded, and can be understood as the rhetorical meaning of the photograph” (Barthes, 1980). This could be the symbolism of the image through the images subject/s.
“The punctum is a sudden ‘prick’ when recognising something in a photograph that triggers a deeply personal meaning or memory” (Barthes, 1980). This seems to be the feeling you get when looking at personal images.
“The punctum escapes language (satori) – The photograph touches me if I withdraw it from its usual blah-blah…to say nothing, to shut my eyes, to allow detail to rise of its own accord into affective consciousness” (Barthes, 1980). The image creates emotions if you look more into the meaning behind the image.
The index of an image when the the photograph is proof of the existence of the thing or person being photographed.
The punctum does not exist in film photography, as the still frame of the image does not let you recognise punctum.
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