Photo by Paul Halliday
Visual sociology is a still emerging but exciting form of social practice as researchers seek to harness the powers of multimedia to contribute to understanding social life.
At Goldsmiths College, University of London my colleague Paul Halliday recently completed a 20-year photographic project of London faces and public places first inspired by a series of walks around Greenwich with his late father that opened up a new way of thinking about history, place and memory. As a module leader in Live Sociology Paul inspired my own first attempt in Deptford at exploring visual practices as an input to sociological methods.
Paul leads the MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths and outlines his approach to his London photographs on the project website:
"The work is a kind of auto-ethnography of my day-to-day life harnessing the power of photography to speak a language that resonates with a part of my on-going experience of being a Londoner - in a city that fascinates, infuriates, perplexes and at times leaves me utterly lost for words. A city that I have a deep sense of shared belonging with, that continues to intoxicate me, and that I am happy to call my home."
Labels: academia, culture, london, photography, sociology
