Classic Photo Texts VII: Roland Barthes

Classic Photo Texts VII: Roland Barthes

Barthes: “This longing to inhabit, if I observe it clearly in myself, is neither oneiric (I do not dream of some extravagant site) nor empirical (I do not intend to buy a house according to the views of a real-estate agency); it is fantasmatic, deriving from a kind of second sight which seems to bear me forward to a utopian time, or to carry me back to somewhere in myself …” (p. 40).

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Classic Photo Texts V: Lorna Roth

Classic Photo Texts V: Lorna Roth

Roth: “Film chemistry, photo lab procedures, video screen colour balancing practices, and digital cameras in general were originally developed with a global assumption of ‘Whiteness’ embedded within their architectures and expected ensembles of practices” (p. 117).

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Classic Photo Texts IV: Teju Cole

Classic Photo Texts IV: Teju Cole

Cole: “All selfies are alike as all daguerreotype portraits were alike: an image can be more conventionally an example of its genre than a memorable depiction of its subject” (p. 179).

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Classic Photo Texts III: Errol Morris

Classic Photo Texts III: Errol Morris

Morris: “The picture of Mickey is powerful because it’s vague. Its vagueness allows us to imagine all kinds of diverse scenarios, depending on our political sensibilities …. photographs are both specific and vague” (p. 193).

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