Methods for Participatory Photography

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• Methods for Participatory Photography
• Samuel F. Dennis, Jr., PhD, ASLA
• University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Department of Landscape Architecture
• Department of Family Medicine
• Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
• Participatory Photo Mapping Workshop
• BC Mental Health and Addiction Services
• Vancouver, BC, Canada
• June 3-5 2009

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• It is a user-friendly technology (Aitken and
  Wingate, 1993).
• It is fun, easy to master, tangible and
  child-centered (Cook and Hess, 2007).
• It provides an opportunity for participants to
  feel valued and taken seriously providing a
  non-evaluative and non-judgmental environment
  providing narrative autonomy and producing a
  tangible product (Foster-Fishman et al.,2005).
• It provides a useful medium for helping young
  people explore abstract questions such as who
  are you? (Ziller,1990).
• It is useful method for exploring what young
  people find salient about places (Tunstall et
  al., 2004).
• It is a silent tool that helps even very
  young children find a voice (Clark, 2003).
• Photography forces us to frame an issue.

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Healthy or Unhealthy?
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() growing cultural diversity in the
neighborhood (-) white, middle-class flight to
the suburbs () available physical and social
assets (-) faith-based organizations abandoning
their community responsibilities () availability
of a large commercially-zoned property on a major
downtown artery (-) general physical
deterioration in the neighborhood () local
youth-serving organization (after-school program)
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The problem with visual images

• embody multiple meanings
• present single self-evident truth

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(T) new bus stop for building across the street,
Capital West. Put there for residents or workers
in the hotel next door. Many people have to walk
blocks for a bus stop. Probably a 30 - 40000
dollar investment. Who gets privileged in use of
public money? Difficult to get to day ready and
day labor sites because buses don't get there in
time. Need to be there (in Monona) by 630 AM,
All about priorities. You can't even catch a bus
in Monona. You have to go all the way down to the
viaduct and walk back into Monona. You need a car
or a taxi or your feet work good, for you to get
to any place in Monona. They think it's
protection but it's really not. The nice bus stop
may turn into a home for somebody. We need Falk
to come to a meeting like this. This is more
shelter than most, most don't protect you from
the wind, from the ice, from natural weather.
They have those bus stops to keep homeless out of
it. I'd get something and make it a home. Not
enough seating. I have an electric wheelchair.
But there's not much seating. And there's not
much shade here in the summer. They are a
complete waste of money. I don't know whose? I
hope to god it's not mine. They used to have
decent shelters around the square. Tore them down
and built these bad ones. They wanted to close
down Grace move them to the Lussiter They've
changed the way the seats are, so no one can
sleep on them any more. A little space. Using
arms to keep people from laying down. They say
they let the artist do the design. If that was
the best they could do, they shouldn't have
bothered. Brick ones were sturdier. Those people
sleeping there didn't bother anyone. They just
want to get some sleep. People could stand there.
But the majority of homeless didn't bother
anybody. They need a place for women, for men,
for families. All these new faces are going to
come into this disease. It's not just Madison all
over the world. They need big building for
different people, You can't treat someone with
heroin or cocaine addictions the same. Some
people just need a place to rest. Some are very
sensitive to the weather. they need to come in
out of the weather. They are sensitive to the
heat. A place to come in to sit and not be
uncomfortable. That includes alternative families
and alternative lifestyles. They are human just
like you and they need to be included just like
you.
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Meadowridge Library Thats the name of the
neighborhood. Meadowridge is next to Meadowood.
Its a safe place to hang out with friends and do
homework and study. Use the computers. I wanted
to get the Ace Hardware in the picture. I took
this because if you are having trouble finding
your parents you have a place to go to ask for
help. You dont have to run inside a random
house, you can go into a store or library. I use
the library to use the computers. Some of the
computers you need to have a number to use them
and its usually your birthday. Some have time
limits, some dont. I search for interesting
things sometimes math homework. Sometimes people
go on game sites. Chat with friends. Each week
they have DDR or chess tournament in the back
room in the library. You get to hang out with
your friends and stay out of trouble. Its safe
and fun. There are Spanish materials and people
who work at the Library who speak Spanish. If
someone is making trouble they get kicked out.
A person was hired to make sure fights dont
break out at the library. It used to be really
crazy there. Its better now. They might have put
up security cameras in the library. I think
cameras make things safer. I think a lot of
people are considering putting cameras in their
houses because of the trouble in the
neighborhood. I think some people put cameras at
their house so that is someone is fighting they
can give it to the police. Wondering why
someone would put a camera in the library who
would steel from the library they dont have
any money. Want camera in school. Its a lot of
people wholast year I got my MP3 player and
money stolen from my locker and nothing I could
do about it. The school told me to write what my
things looked like, but it didnt work. They do
have a few cameras on the school and some
classrooms but they want to put up more this
summer so they can look at what people are doing.

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Thats Chriss hoop. This is in the back of
someone's house. We dunk and stuff on that. I
like to play ball here. This is a safe place.
Their mom and grandma own both the buildings. I
feel safe when they are around.
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Visual Culture

• visual forms as an agency to advance various
  social, cultural, political, and educational
  ends.

Sullivan (2003)
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How images workGillian Roses (2001) Visual
methodologies an introduction to the
interpretation of visual materials

• Recognize that all images do work
• All images produce, reproduce or resist social
  relations of power
• Meaning is produced at three sites the image,
  its production and its viewing
• Images are embedded in wider cultural practices
• Meaning is socially constructed through the
  interactions of social groups

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Dennis, Jr., S., Gaulocher, S., Carpiano, R.,
and Brown, D., (2009) Participatory photo mapping
(PPM) Exploring an integrated method for health
and place research with young people. Health and
Place. Jun 15(2)466-73. Dennis Jr., SF.
(2006) Prospects for Qualitative GIS at the
Intersection of Youth Development and
Participatory Urban Planning. Environment and
Planning A, v. 38(11), pp. 2039-2054. Wood, D.
(1992) The Power of Maps. Guilford Press.