Some technical and aesthetic issues:

What kind of cameras should you use?
Many people who use photo voice techniques work with disposable cameras. They are very simple to use (though in some cases people might forget to turn on the flash) and the quality of the photos can be quite good. In many of the projects that our team members have carried out we have ended up using very inexpensive point and shoot cameras that have to be loaded with film. While we don’t always recommend this, we found the choice to be a good one when one thinks of skills-building. This was pointed out to us in evaluation session when several of the participants (adults) observed the following: “We also learned some skills. Now I can load a camera”. Access to digital cameras can change some aspects of the overall process. The benefits, of course, relate to the possibilities for the participant to view the products as they go along, and development costs change. In much of our work, particularly in development contexts, we have relied on non-digital cameras because of cost factors and also the sheer simplicity of using disposable or simple point and shoot cameras.

Developing the films: Black and white or colour?
We have been interested in experimenting with sepia, black and white, and colour. Overall, getting pictures developed in black and white or sepia can provide a type of distancing sometimes - the products might even look more artistic.

Ways of looking:
In a community that is not used to public exhibitions of photographs, even the idea of sensitizing people to ‘ways of seeing’ is a feature of the work. We saw this when, during the one of our sessions with a group we had placed on the wall photocopied enlargements of some of the pictures. We had expected that the so that the group would participate in some sort of ‘walk about’ before the session actually started. In actual fact, most people did not really ‘relate’ to seeing these enlarged images, until after they had participated in looking at their own envelope of snapshots. They weren’t used to looking at visual images.

Some other tips
1. Ideally you should make duplicates of the pictures. Keep one set so that you have a ready-made collection as a back up.
2. Take out the negatives from each package when they come back from the developers and store in a safe place. We have learned the hard way that in the process of setting up picture-viewing groups it is easy to lose the negatives!
3. Number all the pictures in a set from an individual or group (all the pictures from group 1 with one’s on the back, etc.)

The interpretive process:

What do the photographs mean to the individuals who took them, and how do we balance our interpretations as members of the research team against the interpretations of the photographers and the groups more generally? The work that we have found particularly useful in taking visual methodologies such as photo-voice to a point where they can contribute to ‘finding solutions’ has been in studies that talk about ‘working with’ the photographs, or ‘working with’ the images. The photos work best we think when the participants are engaged in selecting, commenting on, and deciding on how their views can best be represented visually. This work goes far beyond photo-elicitation and positions picture-taking within a broader framework of narrative and display.

Drawing on the rich body of work on ‘working with a single photograph’ (Kuhn, 1995; Mitchell and Weber, 1999; Mitchell & Larkin, 2004), what we have found is that visual work can have a greater impact when the photographers themselves are involved in using close reading techniques.

A few steps that we have found useful:

A Walk-About
We always try to include some type of a ‘walk about’ activity after the photos are developed. A good idea is to simply enlarge a few pictures, stick them up on the wall, and just give participants time to walk around and look at the pictures. Sometimes it is helpful to have a paper and marker close by so that people can also write comments. This could be as simple as having participants select particular images over others and explaining to their group the choices. We also found that it is important to have participants involved in working out the display techniques such as producing ‘in house’ exhibitions.

Close viewing 1
We all like getting pictures back from the developers! It is important to build in time for groups or individuals to just have the opportunity to look at their whole collection. It can be very useful to give some very simple direction such as ‘pick 3 or 4 that you particularly like. Why?’
IMAGE OF CARRRINGTON KIDS LOOKING AT PHOTOS

Close viewing 2
If photographers have been working in groups in their initial picture-taking phase, we have found it useful to ask them to create photo narratives using poster board. These narratives can range from ‘what stories do your pictures tell?’ through to “pick several pictures that you think most explain ‘challenges in addressing HIV and AIDS’ and several pictures that explain ‘solutions in addressing HIV and AIDS’. If you have markers, participants can also add text (titles, captions, arrows and so on).

Display
The idea of including some sort of public exhibition can be particularly important in terms of coming to a deeper understanding of what the photos mean to the photographers. Additionally though, once the photos are mounted into some sort of exhibition they invite community participation.

Even the practical issues of whether pictures would be framed and mounted under glass could become a concern. In the Vulindlela project with teachers and community health workers, the teachers observed that there was no place to have a permanent exhibition in the school and noted the danger of glass in a public space. Where to display photographs is another important issue. Who is the audience? Where will the target audience be most likely to see the display? In the same Vulindlela project noted above, teachers did not want to hold their exhibition on HIV and AIDS in the school because, as they pointed out, the main care givers, the gogas (grandmothers) would be unlikely to see it. They opted to display the pictures in the middle of the village on Pensioner Day.

Ethical dimensions:

Given the sensitivity some of the issues being addressed through photo voice and social change, who or what can be photographed? What is the difference between photographs taken as part of the research process and used only by the participants and the research team, and those used for public display? We recognize that ‘informed consent’ is particularly complicated in photo voice studied because it is the participants themselves who often have to negotiate the process when they themselves are photographing other people. In some studies we have used a very simple prompt of asking participants to mark with an X any photographs that they would not want to have displayed. While this was far from being a totally comprehensive approach, it was something that people understood.

Issues of ownership are embedded in ethics . Who owns the photographs and which versions? We raise this question because the visual artefacts exist in a variety of forms (the original black and white snapshots, the negatives, the enlarged photocopies, the mounted and framed photocopies, the digitalized versions). It is important to recognize ownership, particularly when participants otherwise have little access to cameras. Ownership, however, does not just pertain to the participants taking the pictures but also the people being photographed. In one instance, for example, a young girl who was photographed on the day of her father’s death needed to own that particular picture.