Every destination we travel through has an effect on who we are as a person. Individual’s have a daily routine they follow and a set schedule of what we need to accomplish. Typically individualś do not take the opportunity out of their busy routines to stop and really notice what is going on around them. I have recently had the opportunity to stop and take the extra time to examine and photograph what I have been failing to notice on my routine heading to college. I finally was able to notice nature, the roads and people that I encounter everyday but never took the time to really notice. The author of “Camera Lucida”, Barthes further explains the in depth message behind photographs. A photograph portrays way more than just a picture, it contains a meaning behind it.

Nature will always be a part of a person’s daily route whether we notice it or not. We know it surrounds us but we do not take the time and effort to fully embrace it. We all have our schedules that we need to complete on a daily basis. We all let time control us, even though there are twenty-four hours in a day but for most of us that is not enough time. For instance, I never took the time to examine the beauty of the trees I passed on the way to school even though I know in my head that they present. The first photograph shows the trees that line Lagrange Road right before the bridge after 143rd street to capture the remarkable beauty. The trees on this particular day where filled with green leaves that sparkled with the sun shining. This time of year trees are in full bloom, unlike the winter season when they are stripped of leaves and bare. Looking for only a second to admire the beautiful trees have made me realize we are surrounded by all types of beauty.

In regards to roads, I have never noticed that there are no lines by the stop signs on my street. We were all taught to stop before the stop sign and the white line was our remindered. We as individuals still know what to do at a stop sign even though the white line is not present. To look at the road where the white lines should be painted is odd because you get so used to seeing them.

Furthermore, for my third photograph I took were the flowers outside the C building at Moraine Valley Community College. Every Monday and Wednesday I park in the same lot and pass the same flowers that I never took the time to appreciate. I always had the same motive which was to hurry inside and arrive to anatomy on time. I never noticed the beautiful colors and the abundance of bees that surround the flowers. The picture captured the beauty in simple things that I took for granted to notice. Furthermore, the picture captured Earth’s beauty and how so much beauty is ignored because we fail to even notice. Sometimes you really do have to stop and take a breath and be grateful for the beauty that surrounds us. From this experiment I have started to slow my pace down and stop and enjoy the beauty of the flowers.

Our whole lives we are surrounded by people. Some judge others based on looks, age, or fashion. The photograph of students at Moraine Valley Community College was taken during a class at the school. The photograph was meant to demonstrate the wide range of age diversity. You can not tell a person's age by looking at them like you could during high school. It is a very different environment where we are no longer grouped into grades based on ages. We spent most of our lives in classes with everyone being the same age. There is so much that we do not notice about others.

For example, I have never noticed before that less people are wearing glasses even though most of us can not see well. The reason for that is because most of us are wearing contacts. Years ago contacts were never as popular as they are today. An individual obviously can not tell whether a person is wearing contacts or not. They can tell if they do wear glasses. This explains why one of my pictures is a pair of glasses and a contact case. Every Monday and Wednesday I sit in classes for hours and I never look if people wear glasses or not. People wear contacts because society told them that they make you look better and no one has really thought about that. I just to wear glasses in fifth grade but then changed into contacts as soon as I got older for that reason. It really is crazy what we as individuals do not notice about each other.

The story “Camera Lucida” portrays a theme that tries to explain the meaning behind photographs. The author, Barthes even mentioned how photographs can be lined with death because that moment can never happen again. Barthes takes each of his photos to a higher deeper level. The author spends the first half of his story presenting ways in which one can analyse, understand the photograph, for what they really represent. Barthes even stated that; “The Photograph is an extended, loaded evidence — as if it caricatured not the figure of what it represents (quite the converse) but its very existence ... The Photograph then becomes a bizarre (i)medium(i), a new form of hallucination: false on the level of perception, true on the level of time: a temporal hallucination, so to speak, a modest (o)shared(i) hallucination (on the one hand 'it is not there,' on the other 'but it has indeed been'): a mad image, chafed by reality.” The author refers to a photograph as a hallucination, which is understandable. That moment we capture a picture is the only time that exact picture will ever be taken. You truly can never have the same picture taken twice. Nothing remains the same, everything even if it is minor something changes. Barthes relates back to the photographs I have taken because it may have been the first time I stopped and notice something and capture it but it was also the last time.

Our world that revolves around a clock. We have places to travel and a set schedule to adhere Would it be nice to slow down and enjoy and soak in the beauty that surroundings us. While society is racing to beat the clock I decided to take the time to stop and photograph what I fail to see in my daily experiences. The author of “Camera Lucida”, Barthes further explains the in depth message behind photographs. A photograph shows way more than just a picture, it has an important meaning behind it.