Camera Lucida. Commentary on Photography

Camera lucida (Latin: camera lucida, literally «light room») — an auxiliary optical device for drawing and copying objects in perspective. A prism is placed between the eyes of the artist and the sheet of paper, arranged in such a way that light reflects off the object being copied and falls onto the paper, creating an image on it.

«Camera Lucida. Commentary on Photography» (1980) by Roland Barthes — one of the first fundamental studies of the nature of photography and at the same time a homage to the author's late mother. His interest in a photograph from 1870 that accidentally came to his hands prompted Barthes to want to know what essential feature distinguishes photography from the entire set of images. Posing the question of classification and systematization of photographs, the philosopher constructs his own phenomenology, introducing the concepts of Studium and Punctum. Studium denotes the cultural, linguistic, and political interpretation of a photograph, while Punctum signifies a purely personal emotional meaning that allows for a direct connection with the photographic image.