Team photo-diaries: making places, people, and power more visible

The prolonged border closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have inspired novel approaches in field-based research. In this paper, we review methodological and collaborative practice reflections on the use of a team photo-diary activity generated by research associates working with smallholder farmers in Northwest Cambodia. Team photo-diaries were introduced as a training tool to encourage reflexivity among Cambodian early career researchers during a household census data collection. However, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the photo-diaries inadvertently evolved from a training tool into a methodological tool for data collection and a collaborative tool between Australian and Cambodian-based team members. In seven months, eight research associates captured and collated 92 images, including a brief written note for each image. These were then presented in 10 fortnightly online workshops. The photo-diaries uncovered the unseen in quantitative data collection; they emerged as an orienting device, guiding the census data collection, and as an understanding device, enabling the team to contextualise quantitative data findings and identify emerging analytical themes. As a collaborative tool, a fortnightly online team photo-diary workshop facilitated regular interactions, connecting the lives and field experiences of team members. Using the photo-diary activity, we reflect on the ethics of remote fieldwork and over-reliance on local research associates for knowledge production. We argue that team photo-diary activities can make research locations, research teams, and power imbalances in global north–south research collaborations more visible and considerable. The team photo-diary activity underlines the challenges in navigating the ever-present tensions and possibilities of knowledge (co)-production.