Lucida Excerpt

Today, our world is saturated with photographs, many of them come at us so quickly we haven't the time to stop and think about how this image appeals to us. We scroll through Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and more, endless streams of photographs; and what do we gain from it. As Lucida described in this excerpt, what we get is a constant feeling of "studium", that state of when you look at a photo and you like it or you don't and it really doesn't reach further inside of you than that. When Lucida began to describe this, I immediately connected with it, and kind of had an "ah ha" moment. As a child of the digital age, I experience this event on the daily, I never knew what name to tie to the numbing pleasure I get from social media, but now I do. But upon this realization, I became kind of disappointed in our society for not wanting to view the more provocative photography the world has to offer, the pictures that strike us at our soul and really hit us hard, the "punctum." But then, the author clarified that studium is not the enemy of punctum but rather they are two sides of the same coin that create a whole. Studium presents itself first and gives the viewer the general awareness of the situation. While punctum, when it does appear, provides a pin point of detail that illuminates the entire image further.
As an artist this excerpt has given me another aspect to think about: whether or not, I choose to include a piece of punctum in my work, and if I do, the subject of punctum I choose can drastically affect my intent. It can tell if I was really "there" with this piece.