The Barthes reading was so compelling because I think most people don’t think deeply about the implications of the photograph, so reading a deep analysis of it brings active thought about it to the forefront. I immediately related to the struggle to pose, as it feels so artificial, and I nearly never look good in any picture that’s not a candid. One thought that came to mind throughout the reading was thinking about how Barthes would analyze the proliferation of photographs in modern society, and specifically the selfie. In most of his writing, he seems to rely on the fact that the photographer is different from the subject, but that’s true as much in the modern day. When he examines the photographer’s concern about avoiding death in the image, I think applying this frame to selfies creates an interesting viewpoint where the person taking the photo is deciding to make an active benchmark of the past, in a sense condemning their current image in order to preserve it. In addition, by taking it themselves, they take ownership of the image fully, eschewing Barthes’s concerns about ownership and being fully responsible for the creation of still identities of themselves.