Photography as play
Examining constant photographing and photo sharing among young people
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12700577 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jenni Niemelä-Nyrhinen (0000-0001-5025-1578, Tampere University, corresponding author), Janne Seppänen (0000-0001-7448-9476, Tampere University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 581-599 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Visual Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-3572 • E-ISSN: 1741-3214 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14703572211008485 |
| OpenAlex | W3185675462 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 28 |
This article considers on what grounds contemporary photography may be understood as play. This is done by tracing the common characteristics of play that are revealed in the constant photographing and photo sharing among young friends through the camera-based social media application Snapchat. The arguments are built by presenting qualitative data, consisting of saved snaps and interviews, together with existing theory of play. Snapping, as it emerges from the article’s data, aptly fits in with the theoretical notion of play mainly adopted from Winnicott’s Playing and Reality (2005[1971]) and Huizinga’s Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture (1998 [1949]): the aim of snapping resides in itself; it is limited in terms of time and space; it is executed according to shared rules; it is fun, playful and enjoyable; and it is different from ‘ordinary life’. Further, it reinforces friendships through indices of togetherness, intimacy and trust. The article concludes with a discussion on the advantages of understanding current photography as play and the affordances that photographs provide for that play
Aesthetics · Affordance · Art · Epistemology · Human–computer interaction · Object (grammar · Photography · Sociology · Visual arts · Art Education and Development · Cinema and Media Studies · Computer Science · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence
“What do they snapchat about?” Patterns of use in time-limited instant messaging service
Digital play
Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics
It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit
Photographs as things – photographs of things. A texto-material perspective on photo-sharing practices
Snapshot Photography, Now and Then
Sharing the small moments
Talking about pictures
Personal photography, digital technologies and the uses of the visual
A snap of intimacy
It has not been—it is. The signaletic transformation of photography
Hybrid repertoires of photo sharing
Black Screens
Visual communion
Stigma avoidance through visual contextualization
Digital work and play
Picture This
Snapchat’, youth subjectivities and sexuality
Homo ludens
The Oral Paradigm and Snapchat
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |