The Rhetoric of the Image by Roland Barthes.

Through reading the The Rhetoric of the Image by Roland Barthes I have found out a few things.

• ·      The study of signs and symbols is the semiotic theory.
• ·      Sadly photography has changed the way we see things
• ·      Epistemology is the study of nature, origin, methods and the limits of the human knowledge. 
• ·      The form can’t be recreated and therefore everything else is a copy and by taking a photo we are changing it.
• ·      When we look at something, then take a photo of it we will never see it in the photo as we see it in real life, as the naked eye.
• ·      When we look at images our personality, upbringing, opinions etc affect what we see in those images.
• ·      We cannot look at an image without giving it a meaning automatically.
• ·      The meaning to an image depends on who the person is and what mood they are in, or what’s happening in their life currently.
• ·      An image had many different connotations.
• ·      We have both image and text, never by themselves.
• ·      Adverts are a deceiving product as the producers of them use both the image and text to manipulate our thoughts, and they make us see what they want us to see.

Being a textiles student this information is very useful as it has made me realise that what I see is not necessarily what others see (so my work could actually be good, in someone else’s eyes!) . Therefore the client is never going to see my end product the way I do. However this could prove to be difficult. And so I will have to compromise with the client. As I may interpret the clients needs differently.

Ooouf. That’s a bit of a brain screw!