At the start of the reading, Barthes discussed people’s reactions to being photographed. I found it interesting to contemplate how we often are more artificial while still considering photographs the most “real” art medium. Barthes also talked about how the photographer themselves seek to make things seem more alive in photographs as opposed to representing death. I think this approach is commonly used by most people when they consider photography and what they believe is a good photograph or not. We often try to avoid anything that is lifeless seeming in a photograph and choose to highlight growth/life instead. Another topic Barthes touched on was the idea of us perceiving different photographer’s works. Although we might gravitate towards a specific work, that does not mean we like all of an artist’s work. Barthes showed through his thoughts that photography is something that can be appreciated in both a beautiful, unexpected way or the most monotone, regular way. I find this fascinating since I feel like I generally think the more unique, the better, but Barthes points out the appeal of things that do not stand out.

In these works by Jochen Gerz, text and image complement and support one another. It was interesting to notice how my mind used the text to expect something out of the image or vice versa. I realized that I began to use it as a precursor before viewing the next thing, and it affected what ideas I thought of when viewing the overall piece. However, Gerz takes us in an unexpected direction when I move from text to image. The photographs he selected are not literal carriers of the textual information. Instead, I found that it replicated more of the background emotional experience as opposed to visual exactness.