Place of Mind

Why do we have cars? Mainly for the convenience of getting from one place to another in a short amount of time. Although having a car has become quite common in our everyday lives, I believe that a car has a far greater significance than just being a form of transportation. When my parents first gave me my car, The Cruze, I was thrilled. The thought of owning a car and being able to drive around without any guidance excited me. “This time, it is not I who seek it out (as I invest the field of the studium with my sovereign consciousness) ,it is this element which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces me.” (Barthes, 26) In a photograph the subject is always clear, but the meaning behind it isn’t. After having my car for a while, I noticed that it’s a significant aspect of my life. The Cruze isn’t just a car. It’s a stress reliever. Whenever I’m feeling down, I like to drive and listen to music. It gives me time to think and reflect on everything that’s going on. Driving from place to place also gives me a small break from reality. When I’m focused on just driving, my worries seem to fade away. While driving slowly and smoothly, I feel myself to be in a relaxed state of mind. When I accelerate to a high speed it can be exhilarating, giving me a great rush of adrenaline. Being in The Cruze with my friends can be a lot of fun too. Listening to music and driving different places together creates lots of memories. I don’t need to be driving to an exact destination in order to feel any of this. I don’t even have to be driving at all. Just being in my car brings me a lot of happiness.

Something I look forward to every morning is drinking a good cup of coffee. Drinking coffee is very common. Most people take it on the go, or drink it quickly before leaving for school or work. I usually sit at my kitchen table and drink it with my mother. I have been drinking coffee since I was very little. Back then I only liked it for the taste; now, I like it because it wakes me up and gives me energy. It gets rid of all my fatigue. The benefits of drinking coffee are endless. But why do I have to actually sit down at my kitchen table to drink my coffee? Why not just take it to go? I have come to realize that sitting down for coffee is a way my mother and I bond. When my grandmother comes to visit from Mexico, she joins us. We share stories, and have fascinating conversations. It brings us closer together as a family. It’s a tradition. This leads me to wonder why I loved coffee so much when I was little. Children usually dislike the taste of coffee. Maybe I didn’t actually like it. I think that seeing how much my mother and grandmother valued their time sitting together, talking over coffee, made me want to mimic them. I wanted to feel closer to them. I wanted to be like them. They have always been my role models. They’re who created my love for coffee.

Having a cross in one’s room is something very common in a Catholic household. I’ve had the same cross in my room since I could barely remember. When I was younger, I thought that it was only up for decoration. I would look at it while i prayed and that was it. I did not give much thought about it. Not until my friends started telling me scary stories. I would hide under the covers at night and occasionally peek out to look at my cross and pray that “la llorona” or “bloody mary” wouldn’t get me. That’s what initially gave my cross more meaning. It made me feel safe. “By the mark of something, the photograph is no longer ‘anything whatever.’ This some-thing has triggered me, has provoked a tiny shock, asatori, the passage of a void.” (Barthes, 49) This means that anything you photograph, no matter how small, it has meaning. When you take a photo of something, it’s automatically given more importance. It freezes time and allows you to take a longer look at it and discover it’s true meaning. Sometimes I walk by my cross and see it and I still don’t give it much thought. But when I actually stop to look at it, I’m reminded of all of the good things I have. It’s a symbol of who I am.

Walking my dog is something I do everyday. It has become something so ordinary in my life that I don’t give it much thought. I walk him around my block so that he gets his exercise and does his business. When looking at this photograph, all i see is my dog and the street I grew up in. It’s far more than that. To my dog, that's what he looks forward to everyday. He absolutely loves walks, as soon as he hears “Chico, wanna go walk?” he starts wagging his tail and jumping around in circles. To Chico, this street is his world. It’s what he knows. For me, this street holds many memories. Running around with my childhood friends, riding bicycles down the hill, playing ding dong ditch. I never stop and think about this. Now that I have, I realize that it’s an important place in my life and holds lots of significance. “(Memory) suffices that the image be large enough, that I do not have to study it (this would be of no help at all) ,that, given right there on the page, I should receive it right here in my eyes.” (Barthes, 43) This means that memory is the biggest factor of giving a photography meaning. This place has meaning either way. But the photography itself needs to be connected to a story in order to have a purpose.

My bed is my happy place. Getting home after a long day and jumping into my bed can be very relaxing. When looking at a picture of my bed, all you see is a plain bed. All I can think of it is that it’s simply a place to sleep in. But if I think about it in a deeper perspective, it’s more than just a bed. It’s a place that makes me feel safe and comfortable. It’s a place where I can fully relax. It’s the place where all of my dreams, and nightmares, are created. It’s where I lay at night and think about my day. I think about everything important that happened, and try to think about how my next day is going to go. It’s where i think about my plans for the future. “Photography, in order to surprise, photographs the notable; but soon, by a familiar reversal, it decrees notable whatever it photographs.” (Barthes, 34) This means that my bed for example is significant on it’s own. When I have a photograph of it, that photograph becomes significant too.

There are many things we fail to notice in our everyday lives. Photography is a tool that can help us give things more meaning. When you see a random picture, you probably won’t give it much thought, but when you come to know the photographer’s experiences and stories, you’ll be able to understand that things have a greater significance than they seem to have.