four note friday 2.10 | Photovoice, Empathy, and Photography Exercises

It's spring break at my institution, and I have been traveling (i.e., working from away). While browsing a museum gift shop a few days ago, I came across the book One Photo a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Inspiring Ways to Slow Down and Look Around by Joost Joossen. Of course, it will be coming home with me. I've already adhered sticky notes to seven of its pages. Yes, I travel with post it notes.

Always on the lookout for objects I can use pedagogically, I hoped this book might provide me with some ideas and inspiration applicable to photovoice. It did not disappoint.

To facilitate a photovoice project, empathic understandings of participants'-co-researchers' experiences are important. It is possible to build empathy—to make it. But it takes work. And it is work worth doing. Working through the things that may be asked of project participants is one way, however small, to nurture empathy.

If you are providing participants with photography prompts rather than co-constructing them, for example, try them out first. See what it is like so you can anticipate snags, give suggestions, and show example responses.

In what follows, I will share four of the exercises from the book, along with an explanation of how they could be useful within a photovoice project. Some could serve as prompts for the actual projects, while others could be well-placed within a photovoice training session.

🟣 Take 5 to 10 Honest Pictures Today to Show Who You Are (p. 40)

As someone who studies and works in higher education, college student (identity) development is always of interest. This prompt could be a brilliant way to inquire about identity development among college students—as well as an important intervention for those students.

How might you go about this one? What comes to mind as you imagine doing this exercise? Would you take selfies? Photographs of your belongings? The place(s) you call home? The locations you frequent? Would you use symbols or metaphors?

If I were to do this, there'd be a coffee, a very messy and a very clean space juxtaposed, books and notebooks, things-in-the-making, feet moving outside, and some chickens, probably. The jowls taking shape on my face would be there too, as I notice them in every mirror now, and I feel youth receding into my background. Many, many stories to tell in all those images.

🟣 Take a Journey through Your Own Home and Take Pictures (p. 100)

My first-ever doctoral advisee was (is) an occupational therapist. Her dissertation was all about using photo elicitation and telehealth to better identify and understand fall risks inside the homes of seniors. It was a lovely piece of scholarship.

What a perfect prompt this one would be for such a study. And I can see it as having so many applications within the context of a photovoice study. How might this exercise look differently for a child, a person who uses a wheelchair, an older person?

🟣 Go into Town Today and Take a Photo to Prove that Your Town Is Alive (p. 151)

This prompt certainly reminds me of where I reside. My city seems to be a place easy to mock. However, so much of it is alive, at least to me, and I know others feel the same. In what sort of photovoice project might this prompt be useful?

We might consider what is meant by town. I see it as a city center or a downtown area. Though this is the type of prompt that my be up to the photographer-participants' interpretation(s), which may be instructive in and of itself.

I would head out to my favorite spots—the coffee shop, the walking/running/biking paths, the print shop, and the green spaces. Campus, too! This prompt would work well for projects oriented toward city planning, design, public art projects, and more.

🟣 Take a Selfie Today to Express How You Think Others See You (p. 219)

This prompt certainly reminds me of college student (identity) development yet again. Think of the intimacy here. I imagine some healthy cognitive dissonance might emerge from this exercise—even as I grapple with myself on how I would approach this one.

Context seems quite important for this prompt. For example, we might consider the experience of newcomers, however defined, to a particular place or space. Here, in keeping with my scholarly home, I am thinking about new college students. How do you believe you are seen in the home, at work, and in various college environments? These different contexts could shift the image-making in profound ways.

This one would be a significant challenge for me. The contexts would change my response like the twisting of a kaleidoscope. I perform different people in different contexts—as we all do, as a matter of survival. The layers to understand here are unending, making this prompt a fascinating one.

Not only does this book include a bunch of interesting photography prompts (160 to be exact!), it also includes extended notes/instructions for each prompt, photography tips, example photographs, quotes about photography, and a reading list. Check it out, make some empathy, and enjoy!

🥹 Thanks for spending a moment with me this Friday.
💌 If you’re new here, welcome! I hope this space becomes one you look forward to each week.

📬 Have a question you want me to answer in a future issue? Reach me at photovoicefieldnotes@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for being here.

Warmly,
Mandy
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