Photography and Time Travel

Photography sometimes captures an unexpected moment of the past such that the subject of the photograph makes a connection to it in order to experience that certain moment of the past. In specific cases, the punctum of each photograph is the key element that deepens the viewer’s curiosity. The viewer of these photographs is also the subject, so the personal connection aids him/her to recall certain memories and analyze the total message of the photograph. The two photographs used in this blog are personal photographs of me in which the punctum stand out and are almost the total message of the photographs. The views of Roland Barthes and other photography analysts used in this blog tend to prove how elements in a self-photograph create a specific connection to the viewer and hence pull him/her into the past. 

Ahdil Hameed sitting on the steps in front of Doe Library

The personal photograph creates a link between the viewer and the moment in the past, causing the viewer’s mind to focus on either the punctum or personal relationship to the photograph. The picture above is a picture of me sitting on the steps in front of Doe Library right after there was slight rain one evening. The picture was taken when I was new to Berkeley and was spending my days exploring the university campus. Then link that I feel towards this photograph can be described using Roland Barthes explanation in Camera Lucida. Barthes states, “The photograph is literally an emanation of the referent. From a real body, which was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here; … A sort of umbilical cord links the body of the photographed thing to my gaze: light, though impalpable, is here a carnal medium, a skin I share with anyone who has been photographed” (Barthes 80-81). Barthes considers himself linked to anyone who is photographed because light emitted from the photograph serves as a link between the past and the present. Since I am the subject of the photograph, the image links me to that exact moment in the past. Also, since I am personally connected to this photograph, I can remember the details of when and how the photograph was taken. Hence I can visualize myself in the exact same location and ponder about the visual and social atmosphere around me and why the photograph was taken. What specifically stood out to me in this photograph was my gaze that was away from the camera. I identify my gaze as the punctum since it pricks me and makes me wonder what I was looking at or thinking about. The punctum provokes thought and forces me to reverse my memory, successfully connecting me to the moment in the past. Hence, the effects of personal connection in addition to the punctum of the photograph prove to be able to connect myself to the past and reminisce that certain moment. 

Ahdil Hameed running down the rugby field

In certain circumstances, what creates the connection between the past and the present in a personal photograph is the timing at which the photograph is taken in addition to the punctum. In the photograph above, I am running down a rugby field and am unaware that I am being photographed. The idea about this photograph that strikes me is the time at which it was taken. If it was taken even a split second before or after, my gaze and position would have been different.  Hart Crane mentions “Speed is at the bottom of it all; the hundredth of a second caught so precisely that the motion is continued from the picture indefinitely: the moment made eternal” (McQuire 107). From Crane’s statement, I feel that the moment in the photograph is one I would want to cherish. So I eternalize the image from the photograph into my mind and picture myself on the field even when I cannot enjoy the sport. Therefore, the specific timing of the photograph in addition to the punctum (my gaze away from the camera: similar to the above photograph) eternalizes the preferred image in my mind and connects me to the past. 

By - Ahdil Hameed 

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Douglas & McIntyre, 1980.\

McQuire, Scott. Visions of Modernity.London: Sage Publications, 1998.