Before you Begin
Photovoice is typically carried out through a series of workshops, which can be held either online or in person. A central part of the method is bringing people together and encouraging active participation. The more participants feel they have ownership of the process and have helped shape it, the more meaningful and impactful the resulting messages tend to be. Before you begin – make sure you give full consideration to the following:
- Communication and Purpose: Consider carefully the intended outcomes of using Photovoice and what may realistically be achievable through this method. For example, will it be used for policy engagement, awareness-raising, or community dialogue? Clear communication about the purpose, potential impact, and limitations of the project is essential to sustaining ethical, respectful, and effective collaboration. Transparency in realistic potential influences and outcomes of the method builds trust and helps to prevent any disillusionment later in the process.
- Ethical Concerns: How will participants be informed about consent, privacy, and ownership of the photos? Is the intention that all submissions will be publicly shared? Reconfirm participants’ permission to share the photos after they have been taken, not only at the outset.
- Subject Matter: Discussions about biodiversity loss and environmental change can evoke anxiety and strong emotions. It is important to manage and acknowledge these responses within the method. Facilitators can support participants by offering ways they can take to change or advocate for biodiversity conscious decision making. Additional advice on facilitating these conversations can be found at (e.g.) Education Reboot, Natural Resources Defence Council, and Force of Nature.
- Checklist: Do you have the skills, resources, equipment and time to dedicate to this method – if not it might be worth considering a different method instead. Alternatively, if resources allow, consider partnering with a trained Photovoice facilitator when running the method for the first time.
In this video Geraldine Brown outlines important practical and skills-based preparations for facilitators working with the Photovoice method:
Recruiting Participants
Photovoice works well with individuals and/ or with a group that already has some familiarity or shared experience, such as a class of school children or a Learning Community. If you are using it with a new or purposively created group, consider how trust and a shared purpose will be built, and consider the following strategies for recruitment:
- Accommodate – Photovoice is time and energy intensive. Offer different levels and forms of participation, allowing individuals to engage in ways that suit their capacity, interests, and circumstances. If possible, agree upon a clear timeline and build in logistical flexibility.
- Show Appreciation – Cover expenses such as travel and provide refreshments. If permitted within your project’s ethical guidelines, offer financial payments or token in-kind gifts to participants by way of acknowledgement of their time and contribution. If direct payments are not possible, consider alternative forms of recognition such as free access to training, workshops, or other events. This signals respect and values people’s contributions.
- Partner – Collaborate with trusted community groups. Think about your network, who could benefit from this training and how?
- Accessible – Address language, digital literacy, and technical support needs, and where possible offer childcare options during the training workshops.
- Proactive – Be present in the community you wish to work with. Build relationships through face-to-face conversations, attend local events, and spend time understanding the context. Place invitations in spaces where people already gather, such as schools, libraries, community centres, or local cafes, and frame the invitation as an opportunity for creative collaboration and recognition.
Defining the Project
Photo question:
The starting point of Photovoice is a question that can be responded to through photography. This question can be co-designed with each individual (if working out with a group), by the group, or the organiser can set broad parameters and invite the individual/ group to define the specific focus. In a biodiversity project, this might include exploring how local land use changes are affecting species, documenting everyday actions that support biodiversity, capturing community relationships with natural spaces, or identifying barriers to conservation efforts. The question should be:
- Clear: easy to understand, without need for explanation
- Open-ended: not something that can be answered with 'yes' or 'no'
- Visually answerable: it should inspire people to respond through images
Training Workshops:
Training and Supporting Photographers
People within your Photovoice group might already be confident with photography. Even so, in order to allow for a mixture of expertise levels, it's worth running a short training session on certain skills to build group dynamics, encourage peer learning and get quality photos. This can be a great chance for someone in the group to share their own skills or experiences. A basic training session might cover:
- How to use photography to tell a story (symbolism, realism, staged vs candid images)
- Simple techniques: lighting, framing, composition, focus
- The difference between capturing a moment and conveying a message
If photographers already have experience (e.g. using smartphones regularly), you can shift the focus to more creative or advanced techniques, or offer optional resources for those who want to experiment further. Depending on your budget, you could invite a professional photographer to offer guidance.
If the project involves taking photos of people or recognisable places, it’s essential to cover:
- Consent: always ask before taking and using someone’s image
- Confidentiality: when and how to anonymise subjects
- Safety: do not put yourself or others in danger when taking photos
- Harm: do not damage a space or endanger species when taking photos
Taking Photos
At this stage, participants begin responding to the photo question. The facilitator should step back, allowing participants to take ownership of the process. It is important to consider the following:
- Support ownership and autonomy: Give participants as much control over the process as possible. Be available to troubleshoot any technical or logistical problems but avoid influencing the direction of their work or shaping what you hope to see. Allow participants to develop their own ideas, themes, and interpretations.
- Flexible timing and opportunities: Participants can take photos in their own time, following what is meaningful to them. Depending on the focus of the project, you may wish to offer logistical support to organise a photography trip.
- Encourage reflection and storytelling: At this point ask participants to reflect on their images and share the stories behind them. This could be achieved through a journal during the project. This could be written, voice-recorded, or visually drawn, allowing them to note thoughts, emotions, questions, and emerging ideas. Journals can help deepen personal reflection and contribute valuable context to the final analysis.
- Peer support: Participants may wish to support each other throughout the process. This could involve setting up a group chat, meeting informally to share experiences, or pairing participants to offer feedback and encouragement.
In this video Geraldine Brown describes the types of prompts used to guide participants’ photography in the PLANET4B project:
Selecting and Discussing Photos
This stage involves bringing participants together, either online or in-person, for a facilitated discussion. As a preparatory step ask participants to select up to five photographs that best respond to the question. This helps focus discussion and avoids having too much material.
Encourage each participant explain the stories and ideas conveyed by their photos and how these relate to the research question. The conversation may be unstructured, or the facilitator can guide it by asking open-ended questions and encouraging participation. Some facilitators use the SHOWeD framework to steer the discussion, which includes questions like:
- What do you SEE here?
- What is really HAPPENING here?
- How does this relate to OUR lives?
- WHY does this concern, situation, or strength exist?
- How can we become EMPOWERED through this new understanding?
- What can we DO about it?
Distilling the message
After the group discussion, support each participant to capture the essence of the meaning of each of their selected photos in a short written narrative, ideally one or two sentences. This step, common in Photovoice, helps individuals articulate why the image matters to them and can be adapted to prompt action by linking each photo to a single pro-biodiversity goal, for example translating the personal meaning of their photo into a concrete future commitment or behaviour that supports biodiversity.
In this video Geraldine Brown explains why participant-led storytelling is central to the integrity of Photovoice:
Exhibiting the Photos
Once you have the photos and accompanying short narratives, look to finalise your planning (collectively with the participants) of how you will use them and where they will be displayed. Potential options include:
- Physical exhibitions in community centres, galleries, libraries, schools, or public spaces, with printed images accompanied by captions or participant narratives.
- Pop-up displays in places related to the project, in markets, town squares, parks, libraries etc., A small exhibition is suited to a pop-up method, as people may be more willing to host this logistically.
- Online exhibitions hosted on a website ‘gallery’, or social media, this is a low-cost option, that has the potential to be viewed widely.
- Launch exhibition in which participants present their photos alongside live or recorded narratives, this could also provide a space for a workshop with identified stakeholders, creating space for dialogue, questions, and collective reflection. The inclusion of a participatory workshop can be used to encourage deeper and more diverse exploration of the themes with new audiences.
- Integration into reports, advocacy campaigns, or policy briefings where the images and stories contribute to influencing decision-makers or to raising awareness. This works particularly well if the photos are action-oriented.
- Printed photos as postcards, zines, a booklet, or photo-essay. Participant’s might want to keep these, but they can also be sent to policymakers, local authorities, other local organisations, local residents, or used in advocacy campaigns.
