Article

Qualitative Social Work

12(4) 433–453
Photography in social work ! The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/1473325011431859

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findings
Amy Catherine Russell and
Natalie D. Diaz
Texas State University-San Marcos, USA

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present the use of photography as a supplement to a
classic grounded theory research study with lesbian women regarding their experience
of identity, culture, and oppression. Photography was integrated into the grounded
theory methodology to visually express the theoretical codes that emerged from the
grounded theory of liberated identity. Photographs are presented with coded substages
and participant in vivo codes, including explanations of the visual representation in the
photographs. The findings, the basic social process substage photographs, were guided
by the participants to best convey visual meaning of their experience. The photographic
images reveal how the use of photography, in concert with Glaserian grounded theory,
exemplified experience, humanity, and meaning in this specific research study, and
thus the complementary visual image can edify the significance in the humanness and
affectivity of research participants.

Keywords
Grounded theory, lesbian identity, photography, qualitative social work research

Introduction
Humanness and affectivity in research findings can be visually conveyed through
the respectful use of image, such as photography. The purpose of photography as a
study of visual representation can supplement and provide a format for human

Corresponding author:
Amy Catherine Russell, Texas State University-San Marcos, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666,
United States.
Email: ar41@txstate.edu

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434 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

experience, adding to the comprehensive empirical nature embedded in research

(Banks, 1998). This artistic endeavor is not to find truth but to seek understanding
and meaning. ‘Humanness’ in this context can exude experience and human phe-
nomena (Szto et al., 2005), such as capacity, range, and emotions not easily rep-
resented in text alone. Becker (2007) refers to this as reality aesthetics, artistic and
philosophical presentation of an object and its parts, in this case, the textual find-
ings of a qualitative study and the equability of a visual image to convey deeper
meaning. Additionally, the use of image to complement research findings can be
especially salient for marginalized groups, since it can be a format to make the
invisible visible, a way of bringing conflicting social problems to the surface
(Loseke, 2001). The purpose of this article is to present the use of photography
as a supplement to a classic grounded theory research study with lesbian women
regarding their experience of identity, culture, and oppression. Photography was
used to convey the theoretical codes that emerged and formed a grounded theory of
liberated identity. This use of photography will enhance presentation of findings,
presented with a discussion of methods, photographic usage, and inclusion of pho-
tographs as visual representations of the conceptual codes that emerged through-
out the grounded theory methodology. Discussion of photographic influence on
social work research and policy will found the use of this method, within a method,
as a parallel to the grounded theory substages.

Photography in history, policy, and research

Documentary photography has been a powerful tool in both social research and
policy change in the present and past century (Szto et al., 2005). Using the emo-
tions conjured by image, social reformers were able to create a consumable format
of research for the layperson. During the Depression, documentary photographers
Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, and Walker Evans were instrumental in con-
veying the hardships, poverty, and desperation of migrant workers and farmers,
Figure 1. Social welfare agencies were created to do just this, such as the Farm
Service Administration, headed by Paul Kellogg, to visually document the experi-
ence of the poor. Social policy change occurred through this visual way of educat-
ing others of the social problems experienced by the impoverished during the
Depression. Social reformers of the turn of the 20th-century utilized photography
to represent holistic and contextualized practice since the visual image can ‘chal-
lenge the voices of omniscient academic observer’, to expand our previous levels of
understanding, and to give complex experiences substance (Brearley, 2000: 2; see
also Barone and Eisner, 1997).
Social science research has a tradition of integrating creativity into methodology
to enhance the expression of results. Other socially-focused disciplines, such as
nursing and education, have recently increased their use of photography to ‘exam-
ine how content is presented; and looking beyond the image to examine the con-
text, or social and cultural relations that shape its production and interpretation’
(Riley and Manias, 2003: 85; Taylor, 2002). According to Eisner (1998), an

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Russell and Diaz 435

Figure 1. Lange, Elm Grove, Oklahoma, 1936.

educational researcher, photography can be used as another tool to enhance

research articles in addition to the typical graphs and charts that disseminate
research; incorporating photography into publications offers a deeper interpreta-
tion which is often not better described by words. From a nursing prospective,
Killion (2001) stated ‘A single photograph may contain a thousand references’
(p. 50). In Killion’s (2001) study of understanding health aspects through photog-
raphy, the author found that nursing students were able to look at the lives of
people through a different lens. However, in traditional research methodologies,
the researcher/photographer is rare but does not imply that this role is not useful
(Riley and Manias, 2003).
Becker (2007) notes in his discussion of telling about society and the use of art in
this endeavor: ‘The truth of the work’s assertions about social reality contribute to
its aesthetic effect’ (p. 128). The use of art and image to complement research
findings can be especially salient for marginalized groups, since it can be a
format to make the invisible visible, a way of bringing conflicting social problems

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436 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

to the surface (Loseke, 2001), as evidenced by the documentary photography of the

Depression. Here the link between research and policy can be seen: photography
can be a catalyst to convey the human experience and be used to invoke policy
change, while research uses photography to convey human experience and
enhances the findings. As such, research can apply the aesthetic and artistic in its
method, whether as the method in and of itself or as a supplemental format, as in
this research study. This visual documentation can then represent the humanness of
the participants with hopeful increased understanding and even social change
efforts.

The topic under study

Lesbian identity, a highly contested construct, has empirical roots in gay and les-
bian developmental theories (Cass, 1984), coming out and stage theories (Lewis,
1984; Sophie, 1986), lesbian identity theories (Kitzinger, 1995; Kitzinger and
Perkins, 1993), lesbian feminism (Jeffries, 2003), and lesbian political identity
(Phelan, 1989). However, based in this original research study, none of these stud-
ies fit well with the findings of lesbian liberated identity. Liberated identity in this
context was not a stage-progression; stages were revisited without one considered
more desirable than others. Although similar, coming out theories focus on authen-
tication only; liberated identity in this study was more complex. Radical and social-
ist feminism, when used as alternatives to liberalism and social constructionist
ideologies, affirm a lesbian process of political identity that is essential to sociali-
zation, development, and identity. Without the political component, research on
lesbian socialization and development continues to oppress lesbians (Kitzinger and
Perkins, 1993). Political identities and lesbian feminism were relevant but again,
not a parallel to liberated identity; relational, spiritual, and political components
were not qualified stages but elements of a greater whole, the entire basic social
process of liberated identity for lesbian women in this particular study.
Liberated Identity, a basic social process, emerged as grounded theory from
conceptualized data. This data and theory are from a primary grounded theory
research study, from whence the photography presented in this manuscript is based
(Russell, 2011). Liberated identity, a three-stage nonlinear process, is action,
whether internal or external, to affirm integral lesbian identity and lesbian loving
relationships. Liberated identity is constructed and undertaken to resolve oppres-
sion in varying cultural contexts; lesbian women in the primary study liberated their
identity by transcending oppression (Russell, 2011: 63).
The initial study was an exploration of lesbian cultural experience, and the
grounded theory of liberated identity derived from these findings; the visual
images in this manuscript are a display of the thematic substages as directed by
participants to best convey their experience of authenticating, reconciling, and
integrating their identity as a lesbian in contemporary culture. In orthodox
grounded theory methodology, this emergent theory is not based in previous

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Russell and Diaz 437

empirical literature, and literature is integrated into the theory as a comparison and
contrast to the findings after the grounded theory is evident.

Methodology: Photography and grounded theory

The photographs displayed are results from a larger study on lesbian cultural
experience and an emergent grounded theory of lesbian liberated identity
(Russell, 2011). This primary research study methodology was orthodox grounded
theory (Glaser, 1978). In Glaserian grounded theory, categories, stages, substages,
and properties of these stages are discovered first by open coding and then satu-
rated by selective coding and are the main problem or the pattern of behavior that
comprises the whole of a life issue and how this issue is resolved.
Because grounded theory is designed to discover life cycle interests and basic
social processes (Glaser, 1978, 1998), it follows trends in recent lesbian, gay, bisex-
ual, and transgender (LGBT) research of within group variation and participant-
driven perspectives (Meezan and Martin, 2003). Theory generation is grounded in
the unique perspectives of lesbian women’s experience in cultural contexts. Thus, it
enhances the conveying of the humanness of lesbian identity, experience, and
oppression in culture by making the invisible visible. This is also a strengths-
based focus found in the participants’ suggestive main concern and identified res-
olution and an empowering process to participants due to how they met challenges
in culture, rather than how they were consumed by them. This photographic inter-
pretive research approach adds depth to the understanding of lesbian cultural
experience (Heppner and Heppner, 2004). The participants decided for themselves
the best images to represent their experiences in culture. For the purposes of this
article, photographs are presented with an explanation of the code; however, there
is no suggestion to how the image should be interpreted to allow for individual
subjective understanding by the reader.
Photography as an adjunct process to this study serves the purpose of making
the invisible visible through the illustration of liberated identity. The photographs
complement the text by providing a visual representation of liberated identity, the
process stages, and the ways lesbian women transcend oppression.
Photography was added to this research study as a means to convey the human
experience of the participants. The photographs also complement the text by
increasing understanding of liberated identity through visual records. In this
study, photography serves the following purposes: (a) to make the invisible visible,
(b) to symbolize conceptual codes, (c) to emit understanding and, (d) to add dimen-
sion to lesbian cultural experience. Photography was an adjunct to the study; it was
not used to collect data. Photography, as a method in the research process itself,
occurred after theoretical codes emerged, an adjunct process not to collect data but
to artistically represent the data. Participants identified the potential images they
believed would best represent these codes.
When the write-up stage in the grounded theory methodology began, the
researcher initiated the photographic process and visual documentation to

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438 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

supplement thematic codes. The researcher returned to the participants for consent
process reiteration, discussion of codes, and decisions of images to capture. The
researcher then developed and selected photographs for inclusion in the final
article.
Photography informed consent was an appendix to interview consent and
explained to participants at the interview. Only those participants who gave con-
sent were photographed. Not all participants who consented to photography were
photographed. Participants who gave consent during interviews were contacted
and time was scheduled to take the pictures. Most photography was conducted
in participants’ homes. Researcher and participant decided together what to pho-
tograph after discussing the choices of relevant substantive and theoretical codes,
including what was comfortable for the participant to photograph. Caution was
taken to not capture any images outside of what was dictated by the participants.
Photographs occurred in both natural and staged settings and include images of
participants and of artifacts in their homes.
A series of photographs were taken to illustrate the conceptualized codes of
authenticating (symbolism), reconciling (family of choice, migration, spirituality),
and integrating (community and activism). Some manipulation was conducted for
effect through the developing process. The researcher developed the black and
white prints in her home to ensure confidentiality was not threatened by commer-
cial development of the stills. A still camera (non-digital) was used (Canon EOS
Rebel TI). Ilford Delta Professional black and white film (400 speed, finer grain)
was the medium with exposures ranging from 4 to 24 per participant. No hand-
written or typed identifying information was attached to photographs. After neg-
atives were evaluated, prints were made from selected negatives based on codes,
categories, and properties found in the data. Five participants were photographed
for a total of ten photos that are included in this manuscript. Descriptions expand-
ing on the codes and categories are provided with the corresponding photographs.
This research study was approved by an institutional review board and deter-
mined exempt under federal category #2: Research involving the use of interview
procedures in which information obtained was not recorded in such a manner that
human subjects can be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the sub-
jects. The research presented no more than minimal risk of harm to subjects and
involved no procedures for which written consent is normally required outside of
the research context. There was no link between what participants reported and
their name; this included the use of images.

Findings
Grounded theory codes and findings are illustrated in this section from the original
research study. For the purpose of this article, the photography is presented with
the coded substages including an explanation of visual representation in the pho-
tographs. These sociological constructs were the codes ascribed by the researcher
and originating from the data (Glaser, 1978), and included in vivo codes taken

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Russell and Diaz 439

directly from the language of participants and researcher field note data that was
abstracted theoretical codes from the in vivo codes. Based on the abstracted data
from the 28 lesbian women in this qualitative study, theoretical codes represented a
main concern, transcending oppression, and resolution of this main concern
through a basic social process (Russell, 2011). The data revealed patterned complex
behaviors with the goal of transcending oppressive cultural proscriptions and
ascriptions that ‘liberated’ the women to experience integral self in all cultural
contexts through sexual identity. There was a paradox to transcending oppression:
to liberate identity, a lesbian woman must live in oppressive culture to acquire
needed resources while transcending this oppression (Russell, 2011).
The basic social process of liberating identity consisted of three permeable stages
that were not sequential or exclusive, and were frequently revisited. Movement
from one stage to another was compelled by cultural experience. The first stage,
authenticating, was an external verbal, visual, and behavioral act to challenge
heterosexist bias. Reconciling, the second stage, was an affective internal process
to contrast lesbian identity with heterosexism through checking, submitting, and
making identity congruous in oppressive cultural contexts. Integrating, the third
stage, was an internal and external stage that requires awareness of cultural oppres-
sion, uniting with culture, being in culture, and creating an effective identity in
culture (Russell, 2011).
Substage theoretical codes are represented by photographs guided by the par-
ticipants that best convey visual meaning of their experiences. The intention of the
photographs in this study was as supplemental data only, not as data itself. Visual
images of the substages reveal how the use and enhancement of photography, in
concert with Glaserian grounded theory, exemplified experience, humanness, and
meaning in this specific research study.

Transcending oppression
Image A (Figure 2) is a visual representation of the main concern, transcending
oppression. Data revealed goals established to overcome cultural proscriptions
toward lesbian sexuality and was the result of forced proclamation of difference.
Because a person may have a differing identity than cultural expectations of the
norm, they may correct this assumption by proclaiming difference, or not proclaim-
ing this difference.
Transcending oppressive cultural proscriptions and ascriptions allowed a lesbian
woman to experience her integral self in all cultural contexts. Different others, the
lesbian women in this study, based this on their prior experience, and hence antic-
ipated oppression. The question became to them: ‘What will I do to transcend
oppression so that I can be myself wherever I go?’ This transcendence required
resisting, reconciling, and ignoring detrimental social messages that pluralistic iden-
tities are inferior. Transcending oppression was the catalyst to begin stage progres-
sion to liberate identity. Transcending oppression required the negotiation of

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440 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Figure 2. Image A: Transcending Oppression.

expressing loving relationships and was based on past oppressive experiences

(Russell, 2011).

Authenticating
Authenticating involved advising heterosexuals about lesbian identity through lan-
guage, visible difference, and standards of interaction. Lesbians, in effect, took on
the responsibility of informing heterosexuals about lesbian life and loving relation-
ships. This responsibility served the purpose of authenticating by challenging the
assumption of heterosexuality, sharing with others, and proving worth. Properties
of authenticating are (a) verbal correcting, (b) visual showing, and (c) behavioral
proving (Russell, 2011). Image B (Figure 3) is a visual representation of the visual
showing code found in the authenticating stage, with the purpose of externally
revealing difference as a lesbian woman.
Authenticating was done by degrees through overt statements, differences
embedded in language, or signs and symbols. In this study, authenticating occurred
mostly in overt statements that immediately set limits and proclaimed difference.
Women considered less ‘out’ than others had authenticated in only one or two
cultural contexts, the lesbian community and/or the family of origin. Purposes of
authenticating were (a) defying traditional sex roles, (b) sharing relationships, and
(c) proving worth (Russell, 2011). Vulnerability to oppression presumably com-
pelled authenticating, but the often spontaneous action was founded more in a

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Russell and Diaz 441

Figure 3. Image B: Authenticating, Visual Showing.

sense of accountability for educating others about identity and to limit heterosexist
assumptions about identity. Data that founded the authenticating substage
included quotes such as: We are proving that we are worthy of acceptance and
belonging by working harder, doing more; We authenticate everywhere, in every set-
ting; Coming out is my honesty in relationships with others; We want to be visible and
educate others about ourselves; This is what we do for you, a gift; We verify the fact
that we are lesbian with you, to be genuine, up front, and allow you the opportunity to
leave; How can I have a true relationship with you if you do not know this part of me,
the most important being my emotional relationships?

Reconciling
Images C through E (Figures 4 through 6) are photographic representations of
reconciling, the second stage in lesbian liberated identity, an internal, cognitive,
and affective act done for oneself to reconcile lesbian identity while experiencing
oppressive cultural contexts (Russell, 2011). Lesbian women in this stage decided
whether to continue their connection with oppressive cultural contexts or to break
with them. A main purpose of reconciling is making identity congruous within
culture and sometimes required leaving a cultural context: when the lesbian
woman had no influence over an oppressive context, she may leave it to maintain
the integrity of her lesbian identity; she can always return of her own volition.
Volition involved finding safe contexts (migration), and returning to contexts that

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442 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Figure 4. Image C: Creating Family.

are oppressive. This included family of origin issues that were incongruous with
lesbian identity. Some lesbian women replaced oppressive family of origin contexts
with a family of choice to ensure family interaction and structure.
The properties derived from this definition to fit the data in the study were (a)
checking, (b) submitting, and (c) congruity (Russell, 2011). Checking involved
when deciding to authenticate in response to another person’s belief system.
Submitting required accepting the unpleasantness of others’ efforts to oppress
one’s lesbian identity, which may require the sacrifice of that identity to maintain
connection with them. Making congruous represented the potential migration to a
safe place where one’s lesbian identity was in accord with the cultural surround-
ings. Reconciling involved a yielding to the awareness that one’s identity and loving
relationships face cultural oppression. Conceptually, it entailed a suspension of
lesbian identity, not the negation of that identity. Quotes that supported the emer-
gent substage of reconciling were: I have a belief in destiny; whatever does not kill me

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Russell and Diaz 443

Figure 5. Image D: Creating Family.

makes me stronger; Don’t ask-don’t tell; Caution is for safety and acceptance:
Creating a family of choice that supports you is a must, these are your friends, not
your family of origin, and most of this family is gay; If we cannot change our families
and they don’t accept us, then we can leave and create our own family.

Integrating
The final stage of liberated identity is integrating. It is an internal and external
behavioral, affective, and cognitive process with four substages: (a) awareness,
resistance, and knowing, (b) uniting with culture, (c) being with culture, and (d)
effective personality (Russell, 2011). Awareness, resistance, and knowledge
of equality signified an understanding of privilege, segregation, inequality,

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444 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Figure 6. Image E: Migrating.

and difference. Uniting with culture included an external action undertaken to

connect with, minister to, and educate others in those contexts that present het-
erosexual bias. Being in culture required internal and external action that benefits
the lesbian community and other cultural contexts, uniting the community and
blending into other cultures. The final substage of integrating was effective person-
ality. This was an internal process that integrates one’s lesbian identity with cul-
ture. The woman learns to use what she is scorned for, her lesbian identity, as a
source of strength and to be fully in culture.

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Russell and Diaz 445

Figure 7. Image F: Equality Knowledge.

The four properties of the integrating stage do not imply a lesbian woman’s
complete integration into all cultural contexts. As long as oppression exists, com-
plete integration was neither possible nor desired. Integrating did represent, how-
ever, a lesbian woman’s ability to operate within a heterosexist context. There was
a fearlessness and grace to integrating because women who do so are not consumed
by a concern with reprisal. Integrating was the ability to render cultural boundaries
and barriers, whether overt or covert, permeable, including defining this difference
(Russell, 2011). Being out in the integrating stage was natural and no longer qual-
ified as limited to certain acts. Raw data that created the theoretical coding for the
integrating substage were: We are everywhere and you may or may not know it;
Integrating into the world requires self-reliance; Education, money, and affluence are
important for us to have power as a community; We have a responsibility to ourselves
as a community, this is a political act; Even if I am not an activist, I still enjoy the
rights we have won. Images F through J (Figures 7 through 11) represent the codes
found in the integrating stage of liberated identity.

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446 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Figure 8. Image G: Weaving Cultures.

Figure 9. Image H: Self-Reliance.

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Russell and Diaz 447

Figure 10. Image I: Self-Reliance.

Figure 11. Image J: Spirituality.

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448 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Discussion
Photography as an expressive component coupled with Glaserian grounded theory
was useful in conveying humanness and experience, while adding depth and mean-
ing to the research process and dissemination of results in this research study.
Visual image portrayed through photography was used as a supplemental
method within the encompassing grounded theory methodology to convey human-
ness and experience contained in the basic social process theoretical codes. Main
implications from this study in the use of photography in research methodologies
relate primarily to: 1) social work policy and direct practice, and 2) creative and
innovative methods in social work research that cherish the participants’ experi-
ences. Both implications can be emphasized through visual image in the portrayal
of human depth and meaning. While the main limitation of this study was that
photography was only employed as supplemental documentation, not as data,
integration of photography as a data point itself would lend an innovative trend
in social work research endeavors.
First, photography can increase access and perhaps offer opportunities in social
work research, in the use of visual representation, and thus add an empowerment
component to support social work policy practice. History can be a telling point for
social work researchers, especially those within policy careers, when recalling the
political impact that documentary photography had, thanks to the social reformers
at the turn of the 20th-century, who also documented their research through pho-
tography: for example, Hine helped create child labor reform, the Farm Service
Administration affected change in farming practice technology, the Information
Division of FSA, with Evans, Walker, and Lange in the field, revealed in poetic
fashion and then educated the public on segregation and racism. These social
reformers/social researchers/photographers not only brought social issues to the
forefront with visual image, but also affected social change in policy reform and the
creation of much-needed social services (Huff, 1998).
In addition to social change, as evidenced by the social policy change that
occurred during the Depression, with the help from FSA, photography can also
make research more appealing to policy and clinical practitioners alike, by enhanc-
ing the humanity and meaning in experience, adding dimensional depth, and offer-
ing an outlet for subjective interpretation. Photographic research may also offer the
policy and clinical practitioner that encouragement to identify with social research
and the professional history of social work in a less threatening way. Some social
work practitioners may dread the empirical process pressed through positivist
methods in quantitative research, making it less consumable and more challenging
to conduct. However, the added enhancement of visual representation, photogra-
phy, drawing, or art, may make the process more appealing, for practitioner and
client alike, by simply adding a unique and human element.
In social work practice, and considering the emphasis on contemporary evi-
denced-based findings for the profession, humanizing such findings can make
them more applicable in practice settings. Usages of photovoice (Graziano, 2004;

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Russell and Diaz 449

Poudrier and Mac-Lean, 2009), photo interviewing and essays (Cruikshank, 2010;
Marshall et al., 2009; Powell, 2010; Wang, 2009), and photo narratives (Singhal
et al., 2007) can be incorporated into social work practice as empowering cata-
lysts and participatory-based routes to client self-actualization, self-reflection, and
self-expression. Photography can also increase relationship building and adds a
humanistic approach to fostering connections between persons (Goessling and
Doyle, 2009). Social work practice can benefit from the integration of visual rep-
resentation in one-on-one settings, as well as increasing the ease in deciphering,
locating, and applying research findings to inform practice. Research photography
in the practice setting can increase evidenced-based and research-informed social
work practice.
An application of this, for example, is seen in this study and how the photograph
situates the object in space and time, as well as locating the photographer in the
same, while conveying historical, cultural, and institutional intentions (Pink, 2007).
These intentions are found in the visual representations of the stages in the basic
social process of liberated identity: authenticating, reconciling, and integrating.
Implications arise in research from the authenticating and reconciling stages. By
making the invisible visible through the use of photography, the authenticating
stage is realized (Russell, 2011). As seen in this study, the use of image to comple-
ment research findings can be especially salient for marginalized groups, since it can
be a format to make the invisible visible, a way of bringing conflicting social
problems to the surface (Loseke, 2001). The research process coupled with photo-
graphic image can be an empowering activity through aesthetic representation of
identity, a validating process so to speak. The political endeavor of making a
marginalized population visible through photography can be empowering, give
credit to their political efforts, and validate their political concerns in transcending
oppression. And such knowledge and expression can be invaluable and empower-
ing in social work policy practice, and/or as an educational tool for the public, as
well as in the individual interactions we have with oppressed populations in social
work direct practice. This knowledge, or sensitivity, that resides as a visual image in
the social worker’s mind can make an impact on the interactions with the popu-
lations with whom we work.
The second implication of creative and innovative methods in social work
research is that it cherishes the participants’ experiences and can emphasize,
through visual image, the portrayal of human depth and meaning. The adjunct
of photography, as research method, supplement, or simple visual enhancement,
can contribute an innovative and fresh perspective for social work research in the
interpretation of research findings, a creative expression for both researcher and
participant. The reader can also benefit from visual image since many persons are
visual learners. While continually proving the profession as research-oriented,
social workers are encouraged to embrace unconventional research methodologies
that may be more accessible and evocative to the populations we serve, thus adding
sensitivity to representation of their life experiences at social work practice, policy,
and research levels.

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450 Qualitative Social Work 12(4)

Humanizing research methodologies through the use of photography can

enhance the learning of social work students, researchers, and clients alike. For
example, Powell (2010) states, in her research that taught students to become visual
ethnographers, that ‘photography can be used as a tool for documenting events,
places, and people that, in the final presentation of work, render contextual com-
plexities that are difficult or elusive to depict through narrative text’ (47).
Photographs as research data, in this context, made the process accessible to stu-
dent ethnographers as well as conveyed humanness that cannot be captured in
words. The photograph as assignment, as well, can create aspiring social work
documentary photographers and visual ethnographers. Additionally, Wang
(2009) applied visual assignments in teaching photography, in which students
deconstructed contemporary culture visually and in turn enhanced abilities to
create change, personally and politically, through current visual technologies.
Utilizing Photovoice, Poudrier and Mac-Lean (2009) explored previously invisible
experiences in qualitative fashion by questioning, then visually disrupting, prevail-
ing understandings by presenting differing experiences through photography, thus
making the invisible visible as well as humanizing the experiences of different others
that had been previously ignored. Such endeavors reveal visually the experience of
marginalized persons, making their experience immediate and public through pho-
tography, a powerful tool in humanizing research methodology.
In more controversial realms, photography can expose oppression, especially
when photographs themselves are the data. Fey et al. (2010) used photographs
as documentation to expose racism and social justice. Finally, Phillips and
Bellinger (2011) explored the use of testimonials combined with photography in
teaching social work students about relationality and difference. Ultimately, pho-
tographs as research data, collected with the intention of humanizing the research
process itself and adding meaning to participant experience, can play ‘a highly
instrumental role by providing visual evidence as an innovative way of seeing
and analyzing social problems’ (Szto, 2008: 91). As such, social work research
can benefit from a sophisticated interplay of depicting participant experience, as
the visual method itself can empower and respect the participant experience, all
through a photograph.
Not only can visual representations add meaning and accessibility to social work
research, but it can also increase rapport and connection with study populations,
especially in social work settings, even practice environments (Collier and Collier,
1986; Pink, 2007). Observation and visual documentation of culture, experience,
and member checking within the captured photographic images can potentially
increase trust and reciprocity within a research environment. Photography can
empower research participants through the direction of the photographic process
with what images they wish to have captured, as well as ensuring the integrity of the
research process (Pink, 2007). Finally, photography during the research process
can elicit information from participants, as well as provide the researcher knowl-
edge about contexts that cannot be accessed, such as heuristic processes (Pink,
2007). Photography can add meaning to research contexts not just through

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Russell and Diaz 451

visual representations, but can also increase a possibly unrealized connection with
study participants, affording opportunity to shape the process as well as empower
themselves through it. Ultimately, humanizing research findings through visual
creativity and arts can both empower participants and advance the social work
profession.
Humanness and affectivity can be visually conveyed in research findings through
the use of image, such as photography. The purpose of photography as a study of
visual representation can supplement and provide a format for human experience,
adding to the comprehensive empirical nature embedded in research (Banks, 1998).
This artistic endeavor is not to find truth, but to seek understanding and meaning.
‘Humanness’ in this context can exude human phenomena (Szto et al., 2005), such
as human capacity, range, and emotions not easily represented in text alone.
Additionally, the use of image to complement research findings can be especially
salient for marginalized groups, since it is a route to make the invisible visible, a
way of bringing conflicting social problems to the surface (Loseke, 2001).
Photography can provide a human element to research practices and ensure par-
ticipants are valued and heard.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial,
or not-for-profit sectors.

Note
The images in this article are copyrighted by the author, 2008. The Lange photograph is
public domain through the Library of Congress.

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