Photo Voice
Photo Voice was first developed in 1995 by Caroline C. Wang as a means for women living in rural villages in China to communicate important health messages to policymakers. Photo Voice is a photographic approach to auto-ethnography, activism, and social participation. It is a participatory approach that supports and creates tools for empowering participants to develop personal voice, a sense of community, and to identify future directions for social change.
Photo Voice is about putting cameras in the hands of participants to give them ownership over the stories they tell and the issues they address. These stories may be used to explore the root causes of social issues and can be used to alleviate conflicts, challenge stigmas, and promote a sense of community and shared group identity. Photo Voice helps to document meaningful moments and encourage critical discussion.
The Process
You can use digital cameras, mobile phone cameras, or disposable cameras. It has become more common to use digital cameras or phones; however, disposable cameras may be useful if you’re working with groups with little access to digital devices. This is a judgment call on your part, depending on your group and the context of your work.
Consider using video and/or audio to document the process as well as to capture the discussion elements of the workshops. This will provide great stimuli for follow up discussions and interviews.
Part 1: Initial Workshop
Allow time to discuss photography examples in the initial stages. You may want to provide some examples of photographers from around the world who use photography to highlight social, local and global issues, such as:
Jenny Matthews
Sebastiao Salgado
Roland Freeman
You may also want to watch “Born into Brothels,” an award-winning documentary that uses a Photo Voice approach. This film does contain some difficult ethical issues, therefore watching it in advance and preparing some questions and reflections would be useful.
Give participants the tools and materials. Review the purpose of Photo Voice and the purpose of your specific project. Use open questions to help participants identify photo subjects that are meaningful for them. A few open questions will allow participants to focus but at the same time open up opportunities to explore and share their unique voice. The questions you ask depends on what you want the group to focus on. Consider using or adapting questions from the interview guide section and following up the process with an interview as well.
Some questions to consider asking participants:
Part 2: Photo Taking and Development
Allow participants a week or more to become familiar with their cameras). Assist participants with the process if it is new for them. Process a digital/CD copy and 2 standard-sized prints of each photo. Label both sets of photos on the back. Keep the digital copy and one set of photos.
Ask participants to select 3 photos that best respond to the initial questions that they’re willing to share. Encourage participants to select photos they find most significant and meaningful and that tell the story they want to share. You can provide photo reflection sheets with questions to help participants write up accompanying narrative descriptions. Planning time for this will help with reflection on the whole process and enrich the final group workshop
Mount the printed photos and narratives onto poster board in a uniform manner that doesn’t distract from the photos and the accompanying descriptions. Simpler is better, so consider using black text on a white or cream background. Depending on your group, you may want to translate text, or use the primary language of participants or a combination of languages.
Part 3: Reflection and Final Workshop
Organize a one-day workshop for participants to come together, share, and learn collectively from the Photo Voice experience. This workshop can be organized into the following themes:
Appreciation
Encourage photographers to circulate through the room to view and appreciate each other’s photos and stories. In appreciating photos, a simple way for participants to engage in discussion is to follow these three steps:
Story Development and Sharing
Depending on the size and composition of your group, you can form smaller teams to work together on selecting photographs that speak to a particular story or theme. Teams can do this verbally or through placing dots or post-it notes next to the photos that they feel relate best to their chosen theme, story, or topic. Each group then uses those photos to create a photo board with a title and give a short oral presentation of their photo board. They can discuss how the photos complement each other: are there any layouts of photographs that help to tell a story form beginning, middle, and end? Is this important? Does the grouping of photos give rise to any other thoughts about how they might be displayed together? Managing inclusion is the role of the facilitator at this stage, judging which photos are included and not included and being mindful that people feel included in this process of selection. Ask for any thoughts, reactions, or questions. This is a good time for photographers to share their individual and collective experiences as they relate to specific photos.
As facilitator, you can stimulate group discussion by asking groups to explain:
Photo Voice offers a visual and impactful way of sharing a group message and collective issues with a wider audience. With the permission of the photographers, photos may be made available to the public, stakeholders, and policy makers through a public exhibition.
Photo documentary work can be a part of or support other activities in this toolkit. Participants can use the photographs to inspire scripts, plays, or poems. People who are shy or reluctant to tell their stories with an audience are often helped by focusing on their concrete work. Having a selection of photos with stories also make great examples for multimedia presentations, creative exhibitions, or online narratives, where a combination of written poetry, spoken word performances, interviews, and images can be used.
Photo Voice was first developed in 1995 by Caroline C. Wang as a means for women living in rural villages in China to communicate important health messages to policymakers. Photo Voice is a photographic approach to auto-ethnography, activism, and social participation. It is a participatory approach that supports and creates tools for empowering participants to develop personal voice, a sense of community, and to identify future directions for social change.
Photo Voice is about putting cameras in the hands of participants to give them ownership over the stories they tell and the issues they address. These stories may be used to explore the root causes of social issues and can be used to alleviate conflicts, challenge stigmas, and promote a sense of community and shared group identity. Photo Voice helps to document meaningful moments and encourage critical discussion.
The Process
You can use digital cameras, mobile phone cameras, or disposable cameras. It has become more common to use digital cameras or phones; however, disposable cameras may be useful if you’re working with groups with little access to digital devices. This is a judgment call on your part, depending on your group and the context of your work.
Consider using video and/or audio to document the process as well as to capture the discussion elements of the workshops. This will provide great stimuli for follow up discussions and interviews.
Part 1: Initial Workshop
Allow time to discuss photography examples in the initial stages. You may want to provide some examples of photographers from around the world who use photography to highlight social, local and global issues, such as:
Jenny Matthews
Sebastiao Salgado
Roland Freeman
You may also want to watch “Born into Brothels,” an award-winning documentary that uses a Photo Voice approach. This film does contain some difficult ethical issues, therefore watching it in advance and preparing some questions and reflections would be useful.
Give participants the tools and materials. Review the purpose of Photo Voice and the purpose of your specific project. Use open questions to help participants identify photo subjects that are meaningful for them. A few open questions will allow participants to focus but at the same time open up opportunities to explore and share their unique voice. The questions you ask depends on what you want the group to focus on. Consider using or adapting questions from the interview guide section and following up the process with an interview as well.
Some questions to consider asking participants:
- What places, turning points, and meeting points best show what is happening in your community?
- In what ways does your community cross boundaries (of race, class, ethnicity, age, gender, etc.)?
- What changes would you like to see in your community?
- What barriers are there for progress in your community?
- What is working well for you in your community?
- If you could change one thing in your community, what would it be?
Part 2: Photo Taking and Development
Allow participants a week or more to become familiar with their cameras). Assist participants with the process if it is new for them. Process a digital/CD copy and 2 standard-sized prints of each photo. Label both sets of photos on the back. Keep the digital copy and one set of photos.
Ask participants to select 3 photos that best respond to the initial questions that they’re willing to share. Encourage participants to select photos they find most significant and meaningful and that tell the story they want to share. You can provide photo reflection sheets with questions to help participants write up accompanying narrative descriptions. Planning time for this will help with reflection on the whole process and enrich the final group workshop
Mount the printed photos and narratives onto poster board in a uniform manner that doesn’t distract from the photos and the accompanying descriptions. Simpler is better, so consider using black text on a white or cream background. Depending on your group, you may want to translate text, or use the primary language of participants or a combination of languages.
Part 3: Reflection and Final Workshop
Organize a one-day workshop for participants to come together, share, and learn collectively from the Photo Voice experience. This workshop can be organized into the following themes:
- Appreciating of one another’s photos
- Developing a collective story
- Sharing a story and photo montage
Appreciation
Encourage photographers to circulate through the room to view and appreciate each other’s photos and stories. In appreciating photos, a simple way for participants to engage in discussion is to follow these three steps:
- Description: Participants simply describe what they see: the subject, landscape or portrait, black and white or use of color, etc.
- Interpretation: Participants discuss what they think the photographer was trying to achieve, what it means. What messages might the photographer be trying to convey, address, challenge, or explore?
- Judgment: Participants discuss what they like or dislike about the image and why. Personal judgment is an interesting discussion for engaging with art. A person might not like a world-renowned masterpiece, but at the same time appreciate what it has to tell us. Judgment is subjective and helps to develop individual voice.
Story Development and Sharing
Depending on the size and composition of your group, you can form smaller teams to work together on selecting photographs that speak to a particular story or theme. Teams can do this verbally or through placing dots or post-it notes next to the photos that they feel relate best to their chosen theme, story, or topic. Each group then uses those photos to create a photo board with a title and give a short oral presentation of their photo board. They can discuss how the photos complement each other: are there any layouts of photographs that help to tell a story form beginning, middle, and end? Is this important? Does the grouping of photos give rise to any other thoughts about how they might be displayed together? Managing inclusion is the role of the facilitator at this stage, judging which photos are included and not included and being mindful that people feel included in this process of selection. Ask for any thoughts, reactions, or questions. This is a good time for photographers to share their individual and collective experiences as they relate to specific photos.
As facilitator, you can stimulate group discussion by asking groups to explain:
- Why they have selected these photos.
- How these pictures work together? What story do they tell?
- How are the pictures similar and how are they different?
- What challenges are being highlighted here? How are they being addressed successfully or unsuccessfully?
- What kind of discussion will these photos spark in your community?
- How does this relate to your life and the lives of people in your community?
- If the sky were the limit, what would be your next steps to further the work of your group?
- What barriers are there to making this happen?
Photo Voice offers a visual and impactful way of sharing a group message and collective issues with a wider audience. With the permission of the photographers, photos may be made available to the public, stakeholders, and policy makers through a public exhibition.
Photo documentary work can be a part of or support other activities in this toolkit. Participants can use the photographs to inspire scripts, plays, or poems. People who are shy or reluctant to tell their stories with an audience are often helped by focusing on their concrete work. Having a selection of photos with stories also make great examples for multimedia presentations, creative exhibitions, or online narratives, where a combination of written poetry, spoken word performances, interviews, and images can be used.