In today’s discussion, I’ll be focusing on Roland Barthes’ “Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography” and in particular the section on photography as an adventure. Barthes powerfully states, “the principle of adventure allows me to make photography exist. Conversely, without adventure, no photograph.” I was particularly struck by how photography was described as a network of “essences,” where material and regional essences come together to define the piece as a whole. This brings to light a broader discussion of the importance of context, as seen with McCloud’s discussion on comics as well as the various Dondis’ readings. The passage also seems to frame pathos as a negative trait when viewing photography, as if sentimental values cloud our judgement when exploring the formal ontology of photographs. One could argue that these sentimental reasons for viewing photography are just as valid as those involved with ethos or logic. Finally, one question that also came to mind is with regard to the subjectivity of interpretation. Just because Barthes wouldn’t bother to see certain photographs “as an image,” does this necessarily imply that all others would as well? And to push that thought further, can the principles he described when analyzing photography help to explain potential dichotomies in interpretation?