Camera Lucida

As the author mentioned photography is not always about the objects it portrays, a photograph “is invisible”, the real important contents of the art go beyond what can be seen at first glance. The attraction or repulsion we may feel for some photographs would be mostly related to subconscious or profound perceptions of the portrayed event. But even when photography is able to communicate these profound ideas, the essence of a person is something that seems to go beyond the capturing capabilities of photography. This may be due to the fact that, even as highly intelligent animals, we still rely on other complex senses to perceive people and our surroundings at an essential level. Let’s remember that the author said he had found “gentleness” in the photograph of his mother, a feature that seems to convey more physical or behavioral content than intellectual or essential content. But we must also take into account that the definition of essential may vary.