Recognizing images and incorporating into code

I have a programming project in mind, but have only scratched the surface of my programming experience. I'm just about done with my first Python class, so that's about how much experience I have. Now my question, is it possible to read and recognize an image (business card/playing card/ image with text) and produce an operation based on the information read? The image would be at a distance, and I would be using a camera or xbox kinect.