telling stories, representing lives, revealing cultures WRITING IMAGES

another tool of the trade Photography is a central part in the tradition of documentary work. The camera allows us to document with images, but primarily it allows us to get closer to our subject.

When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I’d like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph. – A NNIE L EIBOVITZ

the camera “sees” differently The camera sees more than what our human eyes are culturally conditioned to see. It captures the totality of social interaction and material culture that is present within the scope of the camera’s lens.

This benefit of seeing…can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions ceaselessly battering our lives, and look thoughtfully at a quiet image…. The viewer must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate. – D OROTHEA L ANGE

photographs are intimate Note everyone wants his or her picture taken. Respect your informant’s wishes. Don’t invade one’s privacy, but strive to boldly reach into personal life. Work from the outside in, from the most public to the most private. Earn the right to see what you wish to show.

photographs: a way of giving back Remember, it is important to give back to your informants and to your fieldsite. One simple way is by offering some of the photos you took. Photographs are often eagerly welcomed gifts.

photographs: an interviewing aid A carefully presented sequence of pictures can help structure interviews in a more interesting way. Photos used during an interview can serve as a valuable means of getting at feelings, attitudes, emotions—the deeper aspects of culture.

documenting the “unflat” stuff How do you represent the stuff that won’t fit on paper—material artifacts, for example? Steamroller?

documenting the “unflat” stuff The camera can be very useful for making inventories of material culture—for representing the “unflat” stuff in your final ethnography.

capturing human interaction The use of photography is essential in any extensive study of nonverbal communications as a form of social interaction. Body posture, facial expression, hand gestures, and spatial relationships are all well recorded with photographs.

making significant choices Remember that your photographs are the result of significant choices that you made in the field… –what to photograph? –where to stand? –what to include? –when to click the shutter? Remember the discussions we had about cropping pictures? Remember how a the meaning of a photo seemed to change when it was cropped in different ways?

cropping alters perceptions You are going to see one image cropped in four different ways. What does each version suggest?

what does this version suggest?

practice making choices What you include in your photos is just one of many significant choices you will make… Now try your hand at cropping some photos. 1.Experiment with different croppings of the photo. 2.Choose your favorite cropping. 3.Reflect on why you made the choice you did. 4.How does your choice affect the meaning of the resulting image.