I must say I underestimated our trip to the International Center of Photography.  As it turns out though, it was time quite well spent, since it became a complete new learning experience for me. At first glance, the images seemed simple and undeserving of second glimpses; but boy was I wrong. As my classmates began to discuss the photograph with depth, offering a variety of interpretations, my eyes were soon able to grasp the ideas they described with such detail.

 At the International Center of Photography we I saw many photographs and collages by John Wood. John Wood played with photography to send a message to his audience. His collages and pictures were a little controversial and political. I saw one photograph that immediately caught my attention and I knew immediately that this was the photograph I wanted to analyze further and write about. I thought about what the picture represented and what John Wood was trying to say or ask his viewers.

Visiting the International Center of Photography was incredibly exciting for me because of my love for photography. I had trouble, however, with the questions about each photograph's meaning. I recalled what I read in Camera Lucida about Barthes' "desperate resistance to any reductive system." I do intellectually understand "how" to interpret a photograph, but I don't always feel that analyzing and dissecting each image is a beneficial or necessary process.