Back to my Project....

How "Loch Discourses" came about

When I planned my project with the guidance of Matt, we discussed options which were later discarded, including my idea of "doors" as a subject. I liked the idea because I think that people use their doorways to convey ideas about themselves, whether consciously or subconsciously, deliberately or otherwise. There were many different ways I could see this project evolving, looking at different kinds of doors - internal, external, commercial, houses, museums, churches, cars - the list is endless. I thought I could look at them in terms of their functions as conveying information about their "owners" and about how they operate in spatial terms. However, it was very similar to a previous project and so after much deliberation I decided to opt for "Loch Discourses".

Loch Leven has a new pathway built around it with various information points, rest points and cafe's as well as historical features and areas of natural beauty and interest. There is scope for educational, historical, biological, conservation, environmental and sociological discourse, and probably more that I haven't yet considered.

The methodological considerations I considered included the weather - Scotland being Scotland, and the fact that most of the photographs would be done in early Spring meant that I had to consider how photographs would turn out if the weather was bad. I think photographs are just as feasible whether they contain images of rain or not, but I had to consider that rain could mean poor visibility and light so I ideally needed to take pictures at times when the weather was kinder to the camera!
I also wanted to take photographs which did not have images of people in them, so I chose quieter times to take the photographs, usually nearer the beginning or end of the day (but again I had to bear in mind that I needed adequate light). Then if anyone was in the area I wanted to photograph, I just had to wait until they passed by; this seemed to cover me for any ethical issues and sample considerations.

It could be argued that I chose to take a grounded theory approach because I simply went out and took literally hundreds of photographs of anything that caught my eye in the area and then went on to delete some and select others to categorise into groups.

The equipment I used were 2 digital cameras, each of which belonged to my daughters, but in the end, only one of which I could use as I couldn't get the other to link properly to my laptop. I had a similar problem with the camera on my mobile phone so this piece of equipment was abandoned. Perhaps if I had more technical experience this wouldn't have been a problem. I expected to come up against these kinds of issues because the whole idea of taking photographs to put on a blog is new to me. I hadn't even read a blog before I started this module so it has been a new and enlightening experience for me. I hadn't taken very many good photographs either!

This was the plan I used and developed as I started my project.

Best wishes, Kim  

S-Shapes; Diagonal Lines and Close Cropping

Hi,


When we set out to take our first set of photographs, mine turned out to be not very good, in fact the only "before" and "after" pictures that I managed at the time were illustrating the rule of thirds. Since then, I have been taking lots of photographs as part of my loch discourses project and I tried to take some pictures which illustrate the ideas of s-shapes, diagonal lines and close cropping. I hope you like them.

Best wishes, Kim

Examples of Diagonal Lines:

(also an example of close cropping!)

S-Shapes

 

Close Cropping

I hope you agree that these are better pictures than my initial attempts! I'm still trying to work out how to make the slide show work on blogger, but I will get it yet!

Best wishes, Kim

A Post Script to Validity and Reliability

A post script to reliability and validity

Looking over my material on validity and reliability I realised that I hadn’t mentioned triangulation as a method to add strength to the study. Although I did say that photographing an image or a series of images simultaneously from a different angle would add to the validity of the study, I should add that by recording the study ethnographically or by audio tape for example would provide additional material to substantiate what is being observed. These methods, like the process of taking photographs, are also subject to the effects of the researcher – Personal Reactivity – and also Procedural Reactivity, where the making of the evidence interferes with the evidence despite the professionalism of the researcher. Regards, Kim.  

And also.... A Comment on Validity and Reliability in Visual Methods

Hi,
here is the first part of part B, second! It relates to validity and reliability. I know we had 250 words to do it in and I'm assuming that like the rest of the work on this course, it is with a leeway of + or - 10%, so the word count is 225 - 275 words. I have done 265 words, excluding title, references, quotes and bibliography. By the way, in the second part of part B (which I did first) my word count was 274 words and the bibliography was the same i.e. from Prosser "Image-based Research; A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers". Best wishes, Kim

A Comment on Validity and Reliability in Visual Methods

Whilst photographs may represent truth - assuming they have not been manipulated physically or electronically – they are socially and technically constructed (Harper cited in Prosser, 1998, p29). The more that is known about how the photograph came to exist the more its validity can be judged. Whether the photograph represents the only truth of a particular situation lies in;

“distinguishing between the statement that X is true about something and the statement that X is all that is true about something”

(Becker, 1986, cited in Prosser, 1998, p29).  

Context is important in order for the viewer to understand the time, place, people and objects in the picture; the photocontext (Adelman, cited in Prosser, 1998, p155). However, the nature of the photograph may be affected by the photographers prior knowledge and beliefs as well as its’ interpretation being affected by the viewers own knowledge and beliefs.

The problem of reliability and validity is related to access: whether the photographer is able to photograph a spectrum of related actions; whether the camera itself is an obstruction to access, or whether the active nature of photography influences how the fieldworker is received in the field (Harper, cited in Prosser, 1998, pp29-30). When a person knows they are being photographed it may change their behaviour consciously or subconsciously. A good photographer will know to keep out of eye contact and attention seeking of the subject being photographed (Adelman, cited in Prosser, 1998, p157). Validity and reliability can be enhanced by taking photographs of the same subject in the same position from a different angle, simultaneously.

Given the intrusive and revealing nature of photographs compared to other methods, ethical concerns are paramount and the sociologist must always be conscious of the cultural perspectives of the subjects (Harper, cited in Prosser, 1998, p30). Harper quotes Gold in this context, citing:

            “...For visual sociology, the concepts of sensitivity and covenantal ethics are clearly related. A researcher ...[must make]... efforts to understand his or her hosts’ beliefs, values and views of the world”,

(Gold, cited in Prosser, 1998, p30).

It has been argued that photographs are problematical and indefinite statements rather than reflections of truth. However, the camera is a representation of modernism, progressing the purposes of empirical science (Harper, cited in Prosser, 1998, p30).

Bibliography

Prosser J (1998) Image-based Research; A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers, Routledge, Oxon.

Word Count excluding title, references, quotes and bibliography =265

Meantime..... A Comment on the Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology

Whilst I am sorting out which pictures to put into which discourse heading, I thought I would post the comments I have made on the journalistic image as visual sociology, which is the second half of part B of our tasks. I know I picked quite a controversial subject but it is one that came immediately to mind whilst I was reading Becker, and I thought it threw up a lot of questions regarding sociological analysis. Regards, Kim.

A comment on the journalistic image as Visual Sociology

Howard S. Becker in “Image-based Research”, said that in the proper context, news photographs of continuing interest became documentary citing the example of Erich Salomon’s photographs of the Versailles Peace Conference (Becker, 1998, p94).

On considering this point, I thought about the photograph of the tunnel and the smashed car which was the scene of Princess Diana’s death in 1997. In the preceding years the press had followed Diana through the dissolution of her marriage, the aftermath of her divorce and the constant speculation over her affair with Dodi al Fayed, increasing in intensity and intrusion over the summer preceding their deaths. The photograph of the crash site was the culmination of this story and readers who looked at that picture furnished the image with the context, knowing instantly what they were looking at.

Fourteen years later this image does not have the same connotations; it is no longer news but is a record of an event, a documentary. It could be part of a sociological analysis: it could raise questions, perhaps, concerning the intrusion of the press in the lives of public figures, and at the time there was much debate on this subject and the role of the paparazzi in causing the accident. It could also question the appropriateness of photographs in certain circumstances which, again, was raised regarding the distastefulness of photographing the car whilst Diana was still inside, dying. It could be part of a series of photographs in a sociological analysis on the subject, perhaps including pictures taken at other crash sites such as the Lockerbie aeroplane crash in 1989, analysing at what point does news cease to be news and become a macabre spectacle for voyeurs?