'Whose reality counts?'

Photography is a versatile and powerful tool. How many of us carry around vivid images of people and events that have been caught on camera? But photography can also be a powerful tool in many aspects of rural development. Most often photography is used by 'outsiders' to capture aspects of rural development practice but when we 'hand over the camera' to 'insiders' it can become a very powerful tool indeed throwing up new perspectives and ideas. A few months ago I visited an exhibition in London where young children in a refuge camp in Africa had been provided with cameras and given basic photography training. The project encouraged children living as refugees to express their feelings of displacement and interpretations through the medium of the photograph. As you can see the outcomes were indeed impressive. I have attended other exhibitions using a similar approach and indeed it can be very empowering for people who would usually not have the chance or luxury to get behind a camera. In some exceptional cases it has lead to a new livelihood. And it doesn't have to involve expensive cameras. I have seen excellent, thoughtful photographs taken by young people using disposable cameras.

I wonder has anyone been involved in such exercises here in Ireland, north and south. I can think of a huge list of situations and contexts where such an idea could be tried in a positive way.