ABSTRACT
This chapter opens the door to important considerations of cameras themselves and their role in social science research by recognizing the ubiquity of images in the digital age. It outlines how the camera has been used in social science research over time, and explains how thoughts about representation—that is, why and how to make and use images—in research has changed. However, with the turn, visual ethnography intensified its draw on artistic photography and filmmaking while becoming one of many visual techniques for social science research. As digital equipment has become ever-more commonplace many researchers no longer think about doing visual research—rather, cameras have become part of the common ethnographic toolkit. The chapter concludes by briefly noting some implications of the widespread availability and use of digital equipment; images can immediately be shared with a subject on the one hand, and almost as quickly transmitted around the globe on the other.
