Slow glass: a case for photomedia literacy

Abstract

Like many fields, visual literacy is enamoured with digital cameras. They are convenient for classrooms, can accelerate learning, and can facilitate research where verbal language cannot. However, exclusive use puts at risk the possibility of experiencing affordances of other photomedia. This paper argues for diversifying photomedia used in research. While it recognises that digital cameras have a role to play in developing visual skills, particularly when resources are limited, it posits that sole use of digital cameras obfuscate other possibilities for expression. Adopting autoethnographic description, affordances were considered of three photomedia as used during a rephotography project along Japan’s north-eastern coast between 2019 and 2022. Setting out photomedia literacy as a competence that complements rather than competes with a range of other literacies (e.g. media literacy, digital literacy, information literacy), the paper concludes with challenges for any scholars thinking that digital cameras are convenient one-stop solutions.