punctum: a gift from the photo goddesses

In Roland Barthe’s book "Camera Lucida" we learn his view of the two main factors that make a photographic image stand out. One of these is punctum.

Punctum is a detail that stands out: “that accident which pricks, bruises” the viewer. Punctum is an element that rises up from the scene and unintentionally fills the entire frame. It is a detail that attracts you to an image, that changes your reading of it. Punctum is usually accidental, but it elevates the images to a higher and more provocative level.

I was so excited when this boy walked by carrying the heads of two freshly slaughtered goats (the goats were dinner that night at the orphanage – a special Christmas feast.) I knew I was making a photograph I was going to like. But it wasn’t until I made the print and had time to really take it in that I noticed the playful polka dots on the boy’s flip-flops.

Those, rather than the goat heads, are actually what “prick” and “bruise” me.