Blueprints (Photo Essays)

Blueprints: A Visual Analysis of Everyday Life

Doug Harper originally inspired this series of photo essay projects in a conversation about how I could incorporate the methods of visual sociology into my ongoing research on policing. He suggested that I use photography to better understand how police officers see the world and construct meaning in their professional lives. The strategy was to bring along a camera on a tripod while conducting fieldwork with police officers and when confronted with scenes, spaces or anything else that the officers were describing as particularly significant to their occupational culture, set up the camera and ask the officer to frame an image of it and then once set, I would take the picture. Once these photographs were developed they could be assembled into photo albums and I could follow up with each officer and conduct an extended interview about what each image meant to them. Doug's method was fascinating to me and I thought that it was something that might also work in a sociology course.

So, given the place of visual essays –particularly Dr. Harper's work– in this text it seemed like a natural place to try it. I have included an original visual essay assignment to accompany each chapter. These essays can be assigned and completed individually or by groups. However, I have written them as group projects for two reasons. First, they will require a camera. The type of camera really isn't important. Anything from the cameras that students tend to have on their cell phones to a disposable camera should be fine. It will be important to allow flexibility in this aspect because obviously, students will vary in their abilities to attain equipment. Assigning these essays to groups is a good way to overcome any financial obstacle by allowing students to pool their resources. Here I would suggest, if you are going to assign some or all of the visual essays below that groups might chip in and buy a used inexpensive digital camera. Second, the groups can use one or more of their members as a subject for each group. If groups and subjects remained constant over the semester each would be able to produce a series of essays that captured the images of the life of one or more of its members from the perspective of every chapter.

As an additional component, you might consider uploading the visual essays to your course website to be viewed by all of the students or else presented in class.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14

Chapter 1

The World Around You

Having read the chapter and thought about the impact of social forces on individual actions, this exercise affords the opportunity to document the process.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Ask your subject to think about the most influential social forces in his or her life. Have the subject list them and explain how each functions providing as many examples and as much detail as s/he can manage.
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you can photograph him or her in the course of everyday life.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain them. What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? What story do the pictures say about the function of social forces?
Once you have the subject's response compare what s/he said in step 2 to what s/he said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your experiences reflect how social forces affect individuals.

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Chapter 2

You in the World

In this project you will be attempting to document how your subject fits into the larger social context.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Interview your subject about the various statuses and roles that s/he inhabits. What groups and organizations do these statuses fit into? How is s/he part of larger social institutions.
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you can photograph him or her in different statuses.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain them. What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? What story do the pictures say about how the subject fits into the larger social context?
Once you have the subject's response compare what s/he said in step 2 to what s/he said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subject experiences various organizational realities and globalization and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 3

Reality Around Us

One of the important topics in this chapter is the social construction of reality through the media. This project allows groups of students to consider what is and is not selected for coverage.

Sit down with your group and come up with a list of recent local news stories. Then come up with a list of things that are happening locally that the media is not reporting on.
Collect media images of the stories receiving coverage.
Conduct fieldwork where you take photographs that represent what the media is not covering.
Compare and contrast the images from the media with the ones you have created. How are they similar? How are they different? Based upon the images, can you explain why one is considered newsworthy and the other is not.
Bring your notes and both sets of pictures together and write a clear and concise analysis of how reality is and is not constructed.

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Chapter 4

Visions of Culture

For this project you will be asked to take photographs of material culture as experienced by one or more members of your group. This is an essay that allows the entire group to act as both sociologist and research subject or it can be completed with just one subject.

Interview each member of your group about culture in their everyday life. What cultural artifacts are of the most importance to them?
Have them photograph these items mentioned above, in the context of their everyday live.
Sit down with each member of your group and ask them to go through the photos and explain them. What do they see in the pictures? Are there other cultural artifacts in the picture that they had not considered? What do these objects mean to him to them? How do they fit together? If ask them to go through the same process for the picture taken by the other subject and answer the questions how they imagine their counterpart would.
Once you have all of the responses compare what the subjects said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of the role of culture in your subject's everyday life.

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Chapter 5

Agents and Identity

This project will ask you to consider the people who have helped to make you who you are and those who are shaping who you will become. This is an essay that allows the entire group to act as both sociologist and research subject or it can be completed with just one subject.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Interview your subject about his or her experiences of socialization or resocialization. This could include anything from childhood experiences to organized sports to your current education. List the specific agents of socialization and explain your feelings toward them? Did you go through a period of anticipatory socialization? If so, describe it. Did you engage in role taking? If so, how? How did all of this affect your identity? Be specific and give examples.
Either take or find pictures of the people and events discussed in the interview. If your subject talked about experiences from high school, a yearbook will be very useful. If there are particular artifacts from the socialization experience try to get photos of them as well.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain them. Why did s/he choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How do they fit together?
Once you have the subject's responses compare what s/he said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of your subject's experiences with socialization.

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Chapter 6

Exposing Your Self

In this project students can act as both sociologist and subject of the research. Each student is asked to consider how the present themselves in various settings and what this means sociologically. This can be done as a group or individually however the instructions below are written for a group. Note: this project can probably be accomplished equally well with Facebook and MySpace accounts if you or your subjects happen to have them.

Consider the various selves that you present in the course of your social life. List each and the social circumstances.
Go to your closet. Take a dramaturgical perspective and think of your wardrobe as a number of costumes for that you wear in acting out different scenes. Have yourself photographed in costumes appropriate to the different settings where you present yourself.
Exchange photos and writing with the group.
Examine these materials in terms of impression management. What impressions are your group members attempting to express in their various social settings? How are their techniques similar and different from yours?
Bring the relevant notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of what all this means sociologically.

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Chapter 7

Family Pictures

This is a project that can be completed without taking any new pictures and will work well in a group because each participant can take the role of both subject and sociologist. It goes without saying that if working with family photos you will want to scan the originals into computer files and return them to their usual places before you begin your analysis. This essay can be completed with only one subject however, the instructions below are written for groups in which each member will maintain the dual role.

Define and describe what family means to you. Who comprises a family? What are their roles? How do they interact? What types of activities do they take part in together?
Sort through your family pictures and select photographs that best capture your sense of family.
Take the time to explain what these pictures mean to you. Describe your relations with the people in the photographs and their relations with each other. How do these pictures fit with the sense of family you expressed in step one?
Exchange photos and notes from the previous steps with your group members.
Examine and analyze their photos and notes in relation to each other and your own. How are these notions of family and family life similar and different? How do they fit together to form a notion of family that transcends all of your different circumstances?
Bring the relevant notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of what all this means sociologically.

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Chapter 8

Shady Spots

For this project you are going to focus on the meaning of deviant spaces in social life. It is important to remember that this is an analysis of places and not the people in them. Were you to take pictures of people labeled as deviant, you would be on questionable ethical ground. The problem would be, that you were yourself contributing to the social labeling process and perhaps doing some manner of harm to the people in the photographs, even if they never knew it.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Sit down with your group and discuss your sense of deviance in the local community. What are some prime locations of deviant behavior? Where and when does it occur? How is it experienced? Push the subject to come up with as many different locations as s/he can. Hopefully, this will result in sites that are spread across the social landscape. Additionally, you might consider these same questions but shift from deviance to conformity or exemplary behavior.
Conduct fieldwork where you photograph spaces discussed above that are close to or included in your everyday routine.
Sit down with your group and go through the photos and explain them. Why did you choose to photograph these particular spaces? What do you see in the pictures? What do these images mean to you? What type of behavior you imagine to take place in the spaces? How are these things unique to deviance, conformity or the exemplary? What do have in common?
Once you have the subject's response compare what the group said in step 2 to what s/he said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of deviant spaces and what they mean sociologically.

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Chapter 9

Images of the Local and Global

In this essay you will address how one individual fits into the larger social structure and functions in the context of globalization. You can use this assignment as an opportunity to expand on the your essay from chapter two.

Choose someone to be your research subject. Ideally, this will be the same subject from your essay for chapter two. If not, you will want to repeat that project with this subject as step one for this essay.
Interview your subject about his or her position in various organizational realities and in the process of globalization. What is the reality that s/he is confronted with in his or her organizations? How is it experienced? How does s/he experience things that are global or evidence/results of globalization?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through the same elements of his or her everyday life that you did for chapter two. Ask the subject to take pictures of things that are unique to their organizational realities. Additionally, you will want them to point out examples of globalization in their ordinary experience.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain them. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How are these things unique to the realities of their organizations? What do they say about his or her experience of globalization?
Once you have the subject's response compare what s/he said in step 2 to what s/he said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subject experiences various organizational realities and globalization and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 10

Showing Real Class

In this assignment you are seeking to discover one person's sense of their own social class position.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Interview your subject about his or her notion of class. How does s/he define the concepts? What are the central characteristics of each class? Are there sets of common values that s/he can articulate for each class? How do they vary from one another? What class does your subject consider his or her own class status to be? How does s/he make this determination? What evidence can s/he provide to substantiate this claim?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through various elements of his or her everyday life where s/he can point out concrete examples of his or her own class as well of those of others. Ask the subject to take pictures of what stands out as important in these examples.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain them. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her?
Once you have the subject's response compare what s/he said in step 2 to what s/he said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subject views social class, how s/he sees him or herself fitting into the larger class structure, and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 11

Visions of Race and Ethnicity

For this project, you are being asked to determine the differences between how people of different races and ethnicities see the world. You will need at least two subjects of different races or ethnicities. If this not possible, you will have to focus very closely on how your sole subject sees his or her own race or ethnicity, how s/he sees others, and how s/he thinks the two relate to each other.

Select at least two subjects of different races or ethnicities.
Interview each subject about his or her own, as well as the other races or ethnicities. How does s/he define these concepts? What are their central characteristics? Do they have a set of common values that s/he can articulate? How do they vary from one another?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through various elements of his or her everyday life where s/he can point out concrete examples of things that might stand out differently to people of various races and ethnicities. Ask the subject to take pictures of what stands out as important in these examples. Try to include some overlap in setting so they have at least the opportunity to photograph similar things. Additionally, it might be useful to accompany your subject into scenes of significant cultural diversity and places where they are in the minority or majority relative to whoever is present.
Sit down with each of your subjects separately and ask them to go through the photos and explain them. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How do they fit together? Ask the subjects to go through the same process for the picture taken by the other subject(s) and answer the questions how they imagine their counterpart(s) would.
Once you have the subject's responses compare what s/he said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subjects view race and ethnicity, how these perspectives vary, how they are similar and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 12

Picture a (Wo)Man

In this easy, your goal is to say as much about the differences between men and women as you can from the perspective of two different people. You will need one subject of each gender.

Select a male and female subject.
Interview each subject about his or her own, as well as the other two, gender. How does s/he define each gender? What are their central characteristics? Do they have a set of common values that s/he can articulate? How do they vary from one another?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through various elements of his or her everyday life where s/he can point out concrete examples of things that might stand out differently to each gender. Ask the subject to take pictures of what stands out as important in these examples. Try to include some overlap in setting so they have at least the opportunity to photograph similar things.
Sit down with each of your subjects separately and ask them to go through the photos and explain them. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How do they fit together? Ask the subjects to go through the same process for the picture taken by the other subject and answer the questions how they imagine their counterpart would.
Once you have the subject's responses compare what s/he said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subjects view the three generations, how these perspectives vary, how they are similar and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 13

Generational Perspectives

In this project, you are trying to understand how people see the members of other generations and what this means in terms of their senses of nostalgia or progress. Ideally, you will want to use three subjects from each generation discussed in the chapter.

Select one to three subjects of different generations.
Interview each subject about his or her own, as well as the other two, generations. How does s/he define each generation? What are their central characteristics? Do they have a set of common values that s/he can articulate? How do each of these generations vary from one another?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through various elements of his or her everyday life where s/he can point out concrete examples of all three generations. Ask the subject to take pictures of what stands out as important in these examples.
Sit down with each of your subjects separately and ask them to go through the photos and explain the pictures. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How do they fit together? Ask the subjects to go through the same process for the picture taken by the other subjects and answer the questions how they imagine their counterparts would.
Once you have the subject's responses compare what s/he said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?
Bring your interview notes and photographs together and write a clear and concise analysis of how your subjects view the three generations, how these perspectives vary, how they are similar and what all of it means sociologically.

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Chapter 14

Seeing Change

In this project you are being asked to capture the images of social change that your subject is confronted with in the course of his or her everyday life. I all likelihood your fieldwork is going to include some time spent on campus. Environments like these are almost always saturated with groups working for social change so, you are certain to come up with some rich material for this project.

Choose someone to be your research subject.
Interview your subject about his or her knowledge of and experience with social movements. What types of groups or causes is s/he familiar with? Is s/he aware of anything that these groups or movements have accomplished? Does s/he consider these to be positive or negative changes? Ask him or her how these groups fit into the political spectrum. How does the subject's own ideological position compare to those of the groups or movements?
Conduct fieldwork with your subject where you accompany your subject through various elements of his or her everyday life where s/he can point out concrete examples of social change or movements. Ask the subject to take pictures of what stands out as important in these examples.
Sit down with your subject and ask him or her to go through the photos and explain the pictures. Why did they choose to photograph these particular things? What does s/he see in the pictures? What do these images mean to him or her? How do they fit together?
Once you have the subject's responses compare what s/he said in step 2 to what they said in step 4. Do these responses fit together? If so, how? If not, why not? What do you learn from the interaction and photography that was not readily apparent in your initial interview?

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