Photovoice

WARM-UP: Abstract Photo (10 minutes)

Materials: Photograph of an object or landscape with no people in it

• Post a large version of your photograph at the front of the room or project it on a screen
• Ask the group: What are the first words that come to mind? What feelings does this remind you of? What concepts or ideas? If this picture were a metaphor, what could it symbolize?

(For example: a picture of a flower might be about growth, beauty, new life, the seasons, global warming, the destruction of family farms, or plant-based healing)

ENGAGE: Photo Album (30 minutes)

Materials: Magazines or newspapers with photos, construction paper, glue or tape, scissors. In this activity youth will make a photo album; facilitator may choose to make an example album to demonstrate.

• Pass out your materials
• This activity can be done in small groups of two or three, or as individuals
• Instruct youth to select a group of pictures and make a “photo album” around some theme. They should cut out the photos that they’ve chosen and can glue them to a piece of construction paper to make their album.
• When they are finished, ask youth to present their theme and photo album to the group. Make sure to ask questions as the group presents:
  • What theme did they choose?
  • How did they see this theme in each of the photos that they selected?
  • What things stand out for each picture?
  • What does the picture make you think about? What does the picture make you feel?
  • Is there another picture or image you would have added to make your theme more clear?
  • How does using only photos limit the ability to convey a certain message or theme?

CORE ACTIVITY: Introduction to SHOWeD framework (30 minutes)

Materials: SHOWeD worksheet. Facilitator should select a photograph ahead of time from internet / magazine / newspaper that relates to the focus issue that the group has chosen.

• Pass out worksheet.
• Today we are going to learn a method for analyzing photographs, called “SHOWeD”. This is an acronym, with each of the letters standing for a different part of the analysis. Ask students to read aloud each part of the framework: What do you See? What is Happening here? How does this story affect Our lives? Why are things this way? How could this photo educate people? What can we Do about this?
• Explain/define any parts of the framework that are confusing.
• As a group, discuss the answers to these questions and notice similarities and differences between peoples’ responses.

WARM-UP: Photo Reflection (10 minutes)

Materials: None

• Ask youth (either group discussion or individual reflection with share-out): Think of a time when someone took a picture of you when you did not want them to, either someone you knew or a stranger. What was the situation? How did you feel? How could the situation have been avoided?

ENGAGE: Ethics Scenarios (30 minutes)

Materials: Ethics Scenario Handout

• Divide youth into three teams
• Pass out Ethics Scenario Handout. Each team is assigned a different role in a scenario. Students should work together in their teams to answer the set of questions on the handout based on their team’s role.
• When teams are finished, they should select a representative to read aloud their role to the rest of the group and share their question answers.
• When all teams are done sharing, discuss as a group:
  • What was different about each team’s response? What was similar?
  • How were the responses influenced by the different roles?
  • How would you change your team’s role to act in a more ethical way?
  • How can we make sure we are taking photos in a way that is respectful?

CORE ACTIVITY: Brainstorm photovoice guidelines (30 minutes)

Materials: Place a large piece of chart paper at the front of the classroom with “Photovoice Guidelines” written across the top. If your students will be using consent forms to take photos of people, have that form ready to pass out.

• Ask youth to brainstorm guidelines for taking photos and list them on the chart paper. Examples include:
  • No trespassing. Pictures should be taken on public property. Ask permission to take pictures on private property. If taking pictures in a school, are there any places that are out of bounds?
  • No staging. Do not stage a picture. Do not interrupt a moment to take a picture.
  • Respect privacy. Do not take pictures that invade another’s privacy.
  • Get permission. You must get verbal consent to take pictures of a person or a small group of people. Taking pictures of large groups of people without permission is okay. It is also okay to take pictures with people where the faces aren’t seen or are obscured.
  • Photos of people should show respect for those people.
  • Do not take pictures of illegal activities.
  • Don’t hide! You or the camera should not be hidden while taking pictures. Make yourself visible. Explain what you are doing if anyone asks why you are taking pictures.
• Review what youth should say if they are stopped and asked questions about taking pictures
• If students will be taking photos of individuals and need to get consent, take this time to pass around and review the consent form that you will be using. Schools and community organizations often have standardized consent forms already.

WARM-UP: Eyeball Benders (10 minutes)

Materials: Eyeball benders worksheet. This worksheet shows two photographs of common objects but from an unusual close-up perspective. Facilitator will either project the photos on a screen or print out copies of the photos to distribute to class members.

• Divide group into two teams. Show photos from eyeball benders worksheet, either projected or handed out.
• Ask each team to decide what this photo represents. They can have only ONE answer.
• Reveal the correct answers!
• How can photographs obscure the truth? How can they reveal the truth?

ENGAGE (15 minutes)

Materials: Paper and colored pens/pencils.

• Pass around blank paper and writing materials.
• Remind group that today we will be taking photographs for our focus issue.
• Ask youth to spend 5 minutes drawing a picture that relates to the focus issue. What picture would you want to make that reflects your experience and your feeling about this issue? If you were taking a picture of this youth issue what would you try to capture?
• Have youth share their pictures.

CORE ACTIVITY: Taking photographs (Reserve at least 60 minutes)

Materials: Chart paper with photovoice guidelines that students brainstormed in a previous lesson. Cameras that students are going to use (disposable cameras, digital cameras, students’ phones, etc…)

• Review the guidelines that your students brainstormed for photovoice. In particular, stress that pictures with people where the faces are identifiable must have a consent form.
• Pair people off. Everyone should have a camera, copies of photo releases, and a pass to be in the hallway (if needed).
• If using disposable cameras, participants need to hand in their camera to you by the end of the session. If using phones or digital cameras, participants must upload or send their photos to you by the end of the session.
• Youth should review their photos and select 1-2 to share with the group (this can be during class-time or as homework before the next session).

WARM-UP (10 minutes)

Materials: Story Behind the Photo worksheet - print out copies of this worksheet and cut out the photo to distribute to participants.

• Divide the group into two teams.

-Distribute copies of the photograph in the “Story Behind the Photo” worksheet. Ask each team to come up with a story to explain what is happening in the photograph.

-Each group should choose a representative to share their story. What pieces of the photograph prompted their story? How are the groups’ stories different? Why?

-Reveal the caption on the worksheet. How is this different from the stories that each team came up with?

CORE ACTIVITY: Analyzing photographs with SHOWeD (60 minutes)

Materials: SHOWeD worksheet. Print out copies of each photograph. Mount each photo in the center of a large piece of paper so that there is room to write all around it. If possible, facilitator should have a way of displaying each photograph on a projector or screen for the whole class to see.

• Hand out the “SHOWeD” worksheet. Every participant should complete the worksheet individually for the 1-2 pictures they have chosen to present to class. This should go fairly quickly because participants should be familiar with the SHOWeD framework from earlier lessons (see part one). (5 minutes)
• Put students in groups of 2-3 and tell them that they will be doing what’s called a “text on text” exercise. Their job will be to write comments in the space around each photo, leaving room for others’ writing as well.
• Write or project the SHOWeD framework on the board. Students’ comments should be in response to one of the parts of the framework. They should label their comment with the corresponding letter. For example, if their comment is about what is “happening” in the photo, they should write an “H” next to it.
• Distribute the photos among the groups. When groups are done writing comments for each of the photos, they should pass their photos to the next group, moving clockwise. When each group of students receive the new photo, they should add their comments to those already there. Continue this way until all the groups in the room have seen and commented on all the photos. (20 minutes)
• Return each photo to the original photographer. Ask each student to spend several minutes reviewing the comments from the group. They should add comments that resonate or seem important to their SHOWeD worksheet (5 minutes)
• Take turns displaying each of the photos on a screen or projector. Ask each student to share what they wrote on their SHOWeD worksheet and what they learned from the group’s comments. As students share, ask: “Why did you want to share this photo?”, “What is important for people to understand about this photo?” Invite other students to explain or clarify the comments that they added on the previous exercise (15 minutes)
• After everyone is done sharing, each student will write a one paragraph story of their photo using their worksheet, including the feedback they received during the sharing session. They might simply copy down their responses in the order of SHOWeD, or they might decide to follow a different order. This can be an activity done during class or assigned as homework, depending on the amount of support that students need. (15 minutes)

WARM-UP: Candy Sorting Game (10 minutes)

Materials: Several different types of candy (e.g chocolate, sour candy, etc…)

• We are going to be learning how to identify themes and organize data today; first we are going to practice doing this with candy, then we will practice with the photographs that we took
• Organize youth into groups of three or four
• Instruct youth that each group is going to sort their candy several different times
• FIRST: ask youth to sort candy into piles (any type of pile they want, whatever makes the most sense to them)
• SECOND: now try to combine your piles into even fewer groups and give each of these smaller piles a name!
• Ask groups to share the names of their piles and how they decided to group candy together
• In this project, we are going to be sorting photographs into categories or piles, just like you did with the candy

CORE ACTIVITY: Identifying and grouping key messages (60 minutes)

Materials: Printed out photos and corresponding narratives from the previous lesson. Highlighters. Large post-it notes or index cards. Paper clips. Large surface to write on at the front of the room (chalk board / dry erase board / large butcher paper)

1) Identify key messages (30 minutes)

• Today we are going to be looking through our photographs and narratives and identifying the key messages that we want to make sure our community and stakeholders hear.
• Divide youth into pairs or groups of three and give each group a different set of photovoice data (photos plus narratives written during the previous lesson). Ask each group to read through the narratives and highlight sentences that are most important for the community to hear. (10 minutes)
• When groups are finished, they should write a message, or caption, for each photograph that reflects what they highlighted. This message should represent what is most important or striking about the photograph. They should write each message on a large post-it or index card. (20 minutes)
• Use a paper clip to attach each message to the corresponding photograph.

2) Grouping key messages (30 minutes)

• We are now going to group together messages that are similar or related.
• Divide youth into two teams. Ask each team to come up with a team name and write these down at the front of the classroom. Explain that each team will be competing to discover matches between different messages, and will get a point for each match.
• Shuffle the photos/messages and divide them evenly among the two teams.
• One at a time, select a message/photo and tape it to a surface at the front of the classroom. Ask each team to propose a “match” between this message and one of their own. Teams must convince the facilitator of the validity of this match. Each successful match earns that team a point. The facilitator should collect the matched photos and tape them next to each other at the front of the classroom to create a cluster. Once that cluster is finished (teams can no longer produce another valid match), ask participants to create a name for that cluster - what theme groups all of these photos together? The team that comes up with the best name gets another point. Write the name above the cluster.
• When each cluster is complete, move on to another photo and repeat the process above. At the end of this activity, you should have several different clusters of photos at the front of the classroom.
• When each photo/message has been discussed, ask youth to look at the clusters that they have created. You may choose to assign more points for any additional suggestions from the teams. Discuss:
  • Should any photo be moved from one cluster to another?
  • Do any photos belong in multiple clusters? If so, what is the BEST cluster for that photo?
  • Are any clusters too big? How could they be divided up?