What is the role of photography as a form of social communication?

What is the role of photography as a form of social communication? This project attempts to use photography as a methodology that can structure the process of research: to help us observe and reflect on the lived environment, to reflect on the results of these observations with participants, and to communicate the results of this investigation to others in a visual manner. This means that is important to understand what role photography plays in participants' everyday lives, and how they understand and react to the photographs taken as part of this project. Without the presence of a research team, photography would have still been an extremely important part of social practice for people in the town that has been altered and accelerated by the availability of smart phones. However, within the context of this project, it is often difficult to separate an analysis of this role of photography as a form of social communication, outside the research project, from my own efforts to use photography as a tool for communicating the process and results of academic research.

In this photo, researcher Tom McDonald and two family members gather round to discuss photos taken and displayed on a cell phone - while I, behind the camera, take a photo of them discussing photos that we will later discuss. This picture encapsulates both how photography is used as a form of social communication by individuals living in the town, and also how it is being used as part of this academic research project to communicate, connect and reflect.