'Studium' and 'Punctum', a new language which I feel I need to explore further here in order to get a better understanding.
Defining Studium:
This is the interest in a photograph.
We experience this in an opposite way as to how it was created, the photographer comes up with the idea and then goes on to generate it whereas we see the creation first and then have to interpret it's meaning.
Bathes suggests that an example of stadium is when 'I glance through them, I don't recall them; no detail (in some corner) ever interrupts my reading: I am interested in them (as I am interested in the world), I do not love them.' - He takes the information in but there isn't a particular aspect of the image which stands out to make the attraction stronger.
This is the interest in a photograph.
We experience this in an opposite way as to how it was created, the photographer comes up with the idea and then goes on to generate it whereas we see the creation first and then have to interpret it's meaning.
Bathes suggests that an example of stadium is when 'I glance through them, I don't recall them; no detail (in some corner) ever interrupts my reading: I am interested in them (as I am interested in the world), I do not love them.' - He takes the information in but there isn't a particular aspect of the image which stands out to make the attraction stronger.
Defining Punctum:
This is the element which stands out within a photograph.
It is often a smaller detail which attracts the eye and becomes more important, influential and meaningful to the viewer.
The punctum can often be made to do with personal values and individual experiences (for example. if you see a location, item or person that means something to you then this will make you more fond of the image).
In his text Bathes mentions a couple of images which he reacts to under punctum and stadium.
''The stadium is clear: I am sympathetically interested, as a docile cultural subject, in what the photograph has to say, for it speaks (it is a ''good'' photograph): it utters respectability, family life, conformism, Sunday best, an effort of social advancement in order to assume the White Man's attributes.''
He then goes on to say ''The spectacle interests me but does not prick me. What does, strange to say, is the belt worn low by the sister (or daughter).''
''This particular punctum arouses great sympathy in me, almost a kind of tenderness.''
Other examples he gives later on are shown below.
This is the element which stands out within a photograph.
It is often a smaller detail which attracts the eye and becomes more important, influential and meaningful to the viewer.
The punctum can often be made to do with personal values and individual experiences (for example. if you see a location, item or person that means something to you then this will make you more fond of the image).
In his text Bathes mentions a couple of images which he reacts to under punctum and stadium.
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| James Van Der Zee, Family Portrait, 1926. |
He then goes on to say ''The spectacle interests me but does not prick me. What does, strange to say, is the belt worn low by the sister (or daughter).''
''This particular punctum arouses great sympathy in me, almost a kind of tenderness.''
Other examples he gives later on are shown below.
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| William Klein, 1954 - Children of Little Italy in New York |
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| Andre Kertesz, 1921 - Tristan Tzara, Paris |
Conclusion of Studium vs Punctum
They can both be present in the same photograph but the punctum often disturbs the stadium and changes peoples interaction with the subject matter, turning their 'liking' of an image into a 'love'.
For photographers we always strive for this punctum.
They can both be present in the same photograph but the punctum often disturbs the stadium and changes peoples interaction with the subject matter, turning their 'liking' of an image into a 'love'.
For photographers we always strive for this punctum.
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