Photographs and COVID-19: The therapeutic quality of shared narratives and collective memory

Abstract

Mainstream media photographically documented intimate and difficult moments of COVID-19 while also publishing hopeful images. These spanned from intubation, death, and facial bruising from personal protective equipment to Italians harmonizing in song and nightly balcony cheers for US health workers. At the same time, people were documenting and sharing their own experiences across social media. Past research suggests impactful photographs elicit stimuli that can slow people’s psychological recovery or offer a therapeutic quality that incites post-traumatic growth. Despite a large body of research that examines visual framing with media photographs, few studies examine the ways in which viewing photographs of disaster influences disaster survivors, and to our knowledge, no studies examine this during an unfolding trauma in a world in which the survivors themselves digitally archive the event through images. The present panel longitudinal study seeks to investigate this gap by better understanding the impact of COVID-19 photographs through employing a visual self-narrative approach and photo-elicitation interviews. Fifty-seven participants were recruited in May 2020 and 35 repeat participants were recruited in May 2021. The research examines (1) reasons people vulnerable to the pandemic may find viewing and sharing photographs important, (2) responses to shared images, and (3) changes people experience in their relationship to photographs over time. Findings suggest that participants have a drive to share their experiences and learn about others, while pandemic photographs in themselves hold more of a negative impact for the viewer as they are experiencing the pandemic, which, over time, lessens and trends toward more positive nostalgia.

Introduction

Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a sense of globalized collective trauma inciting fear and panic, yet also a sense of togetherness and empathy. In the early stages, mainstream media publicized photographs of patients being medically evacuated and intubated (Graham, 2020), lonely and painful deaths (Walters & Burke, 2020), health care workers’ facial bruises from N95 masks and arduous shifts (Law, 2020), and contentious political statements about face masks by the former US president (Neuman, 2020). As such, mainstream media has been found to generate a heightened sense of anxiety about COVID-19 resulting in uncertainty of how to stay safe (Mevorach et al., 2021). Simultaneously, photographs can instill hope, and, in the case of COVID-19, were widely circulated. For instance, images from Italy of individuals standing on balconies harmonizing (Horowitz, 2020) and across the United States cheering on frontline medical workers (Kragen, 2020) united people globally and locally.

Along with these widely circulated stories and dramatic images, social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram became key sources of information for people to see how others were coping with COVID-19 and life in isolation (Gozzi et al., 2020). While various studies have found that photographs shared on social media can accelerate rumors and result in panic and fear (Naeem, 2021), others have found they can act as a conduit promoting constructive sharing and even community (Rafi et al., 2020). Furthermore, while impactful photographs of disasters in mainstream media have been found to elicit stimuli of a negative event slowing individuals’ internal recovery, they have also been found to offer a therapeutic quality that allows viewers to process past trauma and even incite post-traumatic growth (PTG; Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021). Despite these findings, there is a gap in the research. Few studies examine the ways in which viewing photographs of disaster influences disaster survivors, and to our knowledge, no studies examine this during an unfolding trauma in a world in which the survivors themselves digitally archive the event through images. As such, the present panel longitudinal study seeks to better understand the ways in which photographs of behavioral changes, issues, or concerns induced by the pandemic incite emotional responses with varying degrees of arousal and investigate the possible impact photographs may have on the historical collective memory of the pandemic era. Affective responses to pandemic era photographs taken by participants are investigated through participant-driven photo-elicitation interviews (PEIs) with 57 participants in May 2020, and 35 repeat participants in May 2021. PEIs were initially created by Collier (1957), where he employed photographs in the interview process as a way to encourage participants to discuss difficult memories and emotions that may be inaccessible in oral interviews. The affective circumplex model (ACM; Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998) is employed as an analytical framework to investigate valence and arousal of responses to photographs. To better understand the impact of photographs during an unfolding pandemic, this research examines (1) reasons people vulnerable to the pandemic may find viewing and sharing photographs important, (2) responses to shared images, and (3) changes people experience in their relationship to photographs over time. Our findings suggest that participants have a drive to share their experiences and learn about others, while pandemic photographs in themselves hold more of a negative impact for the viewer as they are experiencing the pandemic, which, over time, lessens and trends toward more positive nostalgia.

Literature review

Commemorative quality of photographs

The indexicality of photographs offers an assumed guarantee of proximity to truth, lessening the viewers’ desire to question what they see, while extending their ability to imagine what is happening outside of the frame (Barthes, 2013). Peirce (1991) suggests photographs act as indices directly pointing to constructed reality while Verhoeff (2012) suggests they effectively construct it through a reminiscent quality. Photographs have a wide range of uses and varying degrees of significance depending on the audience. Some are more impactful than others and viewing impactful photographs can change the way we remember certain events (Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021). Photographs record personal stories, while globally they archive iconic events and help to create a historic and collective memory (Recuber, 2012).

The majority of past visual framing studies offer detailed examinations of created frames of mainstream media photographs rather than individually taken and shared photographs. Furthermore, while a rich body of research objectively examines visual framing of collective trauma (Fahmy, 2004; Fahmy et al., 2007; Maher, 1995; Tankard & Israel, 1997), few studies examine subjective perceptions viewers may have of photographs. Fahmy’s (2004) comparison of the coverage of the 9/11 attack in international publications found that although there were the same available images across wire services, different publications pulled certain images that illustrated the event dramatically different. Such choices can push a political bias or promote stereotypes. In their Hurricane Katrina study 3 years later, Fahmy et al. (2007) found a reinforced stereotypical view of African Americans portrayed as “on the edge, helpless, and in need of assistance” (p. 550). While this was not necessarily the dominant frame found on wire services, nationwide front-page images showed white people saving black people. In her study of the Iraq invasions, Parry (2011) found that “selective and repetitive portrayals of events and people during wartime can contribute to dominant news framings on informational, affective and symbolic levels” (p. 1197). Photographs can indeed enforce a certain viewpoint, but how do disaster-survivors respond to distributed photographs of the situation they experienced? Kwesell and LeNoble (2021) examined this relationship in their study conducted six years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and found responses to be both visceral and complex, promoting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTG, a relationship that has yet to be explored in other research.

Therapeutic quality of photographs

Photographs have been employed in a variety of therapeutic clinical uses as they can represent emotions, cognition and experiences (Ginicola et al., 2012), while viewing them can elicit these same qualities (Collier, 1957; Zelizer & Allan, 2011). Phototherapy, for example, draws on their evocative quality using clients’ own photographs to help unlock clients’ stored thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs (Weiser, 2004). People can process thoughts without having to verbalize directly what is on their mind (Delgado & Wester, 2020). Ginicola et al. (2012), for example, studied a counselor’s use of phototherapy for a patient who attempted suicide. The patient initially refused to talk about issues until photographs were introduced, which allowed her to metaphorically express what she was feeling.

Collective memory and archives

In addition to individual-level reactions, photographs implicate how people may remember their shared experiences and this can be both useful and detrimental. The concept of collective memory is based on how “individuals collectively remember, forget, and recall events, people, places, etc.” (García-Gavilanes et al., 2017, p. 1). In addition to aiding in people’s recollection, collective memory can simultaneously play a role in their trauma healing (Chirwa, 1997). Mainstream media outlets consume a powerful role in shaping collective memory by controlling the public narrative. Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur (1976) found that such media control becomes stronger during disaster and trauma as people depend on news to orient themselves when outside threat creates uncertainty. Despite this, other research suggests that the more photographs are circulated, the more they may lose their true meaning (Cohen et al., 2018). Essentially, memory is malleable, defined by how narratives are formed and how widely they are shared over time. Such malleability can lead to social issues such as stigmatizing a place or group of people (Kwesell, 2020).

While mainstream media, without a doubt has effects on collective memory, photographs hold a particularly strong role. The emotive effects photographs have that help in therapeutic processes, including the ability to recuperate memory and increase emotional reaction, can have strong societal implications. The collective memory of the United States, for example, remains marred by inhumane images such as the iconic “Napalm Girl” photograph taken by Nick Ut because it, rightfully so, shocked and saddened the public (Hariman & Lucaites, 2003). Similarly, while W. Eugene Smith’s photograph of a young Japanese girl with methyl mercury poisoning bathing in her home in Minamata ensured that the vulnerable would be compensated and the situation never be forgotten, it also stigmatized the place (Weisenfeld, 2020). Alternatively, photographs can be used to alter history by incorporating certain values into historical archives (Perlman, 2011). Still photographs, in particular, can bring people back to a lived traumatic past and aid in individuals’ ability to process because they can revisit the image as much as needed, while on a public level authenticate a traumatic experience and dictate the way the public perceives and processes the event (Zelizer & Allan, 2011).

In their study of post-nuclear Fukushima, Kwesell & LeNoble (2021) found that impactful mainstream media images caused memories of trauma to resurface even seven years later. Similarly, Stainback et al. (2020) questioned photographs’ therapeutic role suggesting that while photographs depicting COVID-19 frontline workers and hospitalized patients may raise awareness, over time they may serve primarily as a continued mental health stressor for frontline workers. The flip side to Kwesell & LeNoble’s (2021) study is that findings also echoed Zelizer and Allan (2011) in that photographs also allowed disaster survivors to sort through their past and build on their future in a healing manner, even promoting PTG. Interestingly, Berkowitz (2010) suggests news photographs can create a sense of shared experiences, belongingness, and community for viewers.

Digital archives

In addition to coverage of highly traumatic events, archives of daily life photographs may highlight shared experiences encouraging people to associate more with their community and the place in which they dwell (Berkowitz, 2010). In the current context of social networking systems, digital archives are paramount in influencing the way people remember experiences. Public and private digital archives of conflict and natural disasters have been found to be effective in helping people commemorate loved ones lost (Recuber, 2012). Van House (2011) suggested the accessibility of digital technology encouraged involvement becoming the impetus for people to take, share, and view others’ photographs. Individuals now tag and save images, fluidly creating their own individual archives, which then extends to photographs posted by friends that offer meaning and validation to their lived experience (Zhao & Lindley, 2014).

Research questions

Photographs of collective trauma have been found to serve complex purposes, including inciting memories of lived trauma that can both hinder and facilitate recovery processes. While photographs have a variety of uses and effects, people continue to photograph and continue to be affected by photographs. Through investigating how people think about the potential of photographing and sharing their lives during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and one year later, we can better understand the attitudes people have about photographing a historical situation, and the impacts photographs may have over time. As such, the following three research questions are proposed.

• Research Question 1 (RQ1). What are the reasons participants choose to take, share, and view photographs that document life during the COVID-19 pandemic?

• Research Question 2 (RQ2). What affective reactions emerge when participants view shared images of behavioral changes and concerns about COVID-19 during the onset of the pandemic?

• Research Question 3 (RQ3). In what ways do participants feel that their photographs may be impactful 1 year later?

Methodology

Before recruiting participants, the present study underwent an institutional review board (IRB) review and was granted approval.

Recruitment and participants

Participants were recruited through snowball sampling. First, a social media advertisement was posted on Facebook pages for the 10 states with the highest levels of COVID-19 at that time. The advertisement asked for people to join a photography research project about living in isolation (quarantine or lockdown) during the COVID-19 pandemic or to share the advertisement. The present research started with a visual self-narrative workshop (Kwesell, 2020) with 57 participants (47 female, 10 male) from 19 states in May 2020, where they were asked to photograph elements of their daily life for one week and reflect on other participants’ photographs through PEIs. Their average age was 44 years old, ranging from 20 to 80 years old. The average amount of time in isolation during the 2020 data collection was about 45 days. Among the 57 participants in May 2020, 29% (n = 17) reported that their employment status had changed due to COVID-19. Then, 35 (28 female, seven male) of the participants from 2020 joined the research again one year later for a PEI exercise that asked them to reflect one more time on the impact of photographs making the study a panel longitudinal study. They were from 14 different states, with an average age of 47; 86% (n = 30) of the participants were vaccinated by May 2021. The participants in 2021 were inquired again about their employment status and 23% (n = 8) reported that their employment status had changed over the course of the year due to COVID-19. In both the 2020 and 2021 data collection, participants had varying degrees of backgrounds with digital photography. In primarily coding text rather than images, we followed research suggestions by both Padgett et al. (2013) and Kwesell (2020) and are thus able to better understand the intent of the participant photographer despite their level of experience with digital photography. See Table 1 for a more detailed account of the participants.

Table 1.

Demographic information about participants.

	May 2020	May 2021
Participants	57 (47 women, 10 men)	35 (28 women, 7 men)
Average age (range)	44 (20–80)	47 (21–80)
Average amount of time in lockdown isolation	45 days	N/A
Employment status change (due to COVID-19)	Change (lost or reported switching): 17 (29%) Did not lose or change: 36 (63%) Did not answer the question: 4 (7%)	Change (lost or reported switching): 8 (23 %) Did not lose or change: 27 (77 %)
Frequency of leaving house during lockdowns	<7 times a week: 21 (37 %) 7 times a week: 10 (17.5%) 8–14 times a week: 22 (38.6%) >14 times a week: 4 (7 %)	N/A
Location (n)	AR (1), AZ (1), CA (2), CO (9), FL (4), GA (3), ID (1), IL (2), MT (1), NC (2), NJ (1), NY (1), OH (3), OR (14), SC (1), TN (6), TX (2), UT (1), WA (2)	AZ (1), CO (7), FL (2), GA (3), IL (2), NC (2), NJ (1), NY (1), OH (2), OR (6), SC (1), TN (4), TX (2), WA (1)
Occupation	Education: 13 Entertainment/Photography/Journalism: 7 Real estate: 2 Medical/human health services: 8 Self-employed: 2 Services/Sales: 9 Retired/unemployed: 4 Stay-at-home parent: 2 Student: 5 Technology: 1 Military: 2 Law: 2	Education: 6 Entertainment/photography/journalism: 5 Real estate: 4 Medical/human health services: 4 Self-employed: 4 Services/sales: 3 Retired/unemployed: 2 Stay-at-home parent: 2 Student: 2 Technology: 1 Faith-based: 1 Law: 1
Vaccination Status	N/A	30 (86 %) Vaccinated 5 (14 %) Not vaccinated
Experience with digital photography	No experience: 1 (2%) Some experience (either with DSLR or phone camera): 42 (74%) Hobbyist: 4 (7%) Photography student: 1 (2%) Professional experience: 9 (16%)	No experience: 1 (3%) Some experience (either with DSLR or phone camera): 26 (74%) Hobbyist: 3 (9%) Photography student: 0 (0%) Professional experience: 5 (14%)

Of note, panel longitudinal studies have been criticized as being difficult to conduct for high rates of attrition, often due to relocation of participants (Kalton, 1989). While the study did face some attrition, 61% repeat participants illustrate that the initial experience was meaningful to participants.

Participant-driven PEI

The present participant-driven PEI was built from other studies that asked participants to photograph their own lives and supply their own pictures on which to comment (Kwesell, 2020; Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021; Kwesell et al., 2022; Kwesell, Gao & Cohen, 2023). Participant-driven PEIs have been found to be particularly empowering as participants are involved in all steps of the research (Van Auken et al., 2010). While traditionally participants are interviewed based on their own stories, the present study adapted the method. First, being at-risk to COVID-19 and living in isolation during the onset of the pandemic was considered a collective trauma and shared experience. Therefore, participants were interviewed not only using their own photographs but also the photographs of other participants as well.

First, participants were asked to fill out an opening questionnaire hosted on Google Forms; the questionnaire inquired about reasons they wanted to join the study, photograph their lives, and share photographs with others during COVID-19. The answers were inductively coded into 19 themes. A series of meetings were held to discuss discrepancies and merge sub-themes into seven final themes employed to answer RQ1.

Second, participants were asked to photograph behavioral changes, issues, or concerns they had experienced since the onset of the pandemic (see example photographs presented with participant captions in Figures 1 to 9).

Figure 1.

“Now I have to remember to bring more than my phone.”

Figure 9.

“When: Every day; Where: Every town. Closed. Shut Down. Limited operation. Out of business . . . Employees are still waiting for unemployment checks after 6 weeks with no income. These family owned businesses will be secondary casualties, employment opportunities lost forever.”

Participants were asked to photograph about three pictures for each of the two subjects over 48 hours totaling 163 photographs of behavioral changes and 170 photographs of issues or concerns (333 photographs in total). When photographing behavioral changes, participants focused personal protective equipment (PPE) (Figure 1), workspaces (Figure 2), and relationships (Figures 3 and 4). When photographing issues or concerns, they tended to be more metaphorical. For example, one participant documented COVID-19 ripping lives apart (Figure 5), while several documented concern about the future and feeling alone and lost (Figure 6) as well as uncertainty mixed with emotional instability (Figure 7). Educational fears (Figure 8) and economic fears were also expressed (Figure 9).

Figure 2.

“Instead of meeting in person like we would normally do over food and warm drinks, we are doing our best to connect remotely. I care about my colleagues so these meetings are a mix between sadness and joy, light and darkness.”

Figure 3.

“On the way we passed the house of a friend and fellow preschooler, so my son was so happy to see his friend, do some running with her and see her yard. On the way back saw two different friends driving by who stopped to talk. Felt really good to connect to these folks who I haven’t seen in person in so long, even if we couldn’t hug hello.”

Figure 4.

“This is a representation of how I feel like this isolation is impacting me in my social relationships concerning finding a life partner. I went through a break up in January and just as I had almost recovered I had an accident. Then while recovering from that the pandemic and social distancing happened. So, as of May 1, 2020 I feel like I’m holding my own hand and I will be for a long time.”

Figure 5.

“COVID19 has destroyed our intimacy and closeness with friends and family. It is a powerful force in nature and doesn’t care about human things like family and lives lived.”

Figure 6.

“When I think of the COVID-19 situation I can’t seem to think of anything. My mind draws a blank. I don’t know what to expect and I don’t know how to plan. I feel alone and lost and this is what this picture represents.”

Figure 7.

“I feel isolated yet connected today. I feel sad yet hopeful today. I feel lost yet focused today. My question now is what will tomorrow bring?”

Figure 8.

“I fear the new ‘guidelines’ the mandates, the literal rules of engagement for a Covid-19 learning world. I’ve heard no field trips, no lunchroom, desks separated and distances. I want my kids to experience gaining knowledge in a school, not a prison.”

Next, participant photographs were grouped into smaller groups of seven to nine participants, with seven total groups. Smaller groups have been found to allow participants experiencing a traumatic situation to feel safer (Peek & Fothergill, 2009) while fewer photographs may individuals’ cognitive ability to process (Luck & Vogel, 1997). A unique website was built for each of the seven participant groups where they could view their own photographs and captions next to their group members’ photographs and captions for each of the two assignments. Participants were asked to spend time with their group’s photographs, read the captions, and answer how the photographs made them think and feel. While participants did view one another’s photographs, they did not have contact with each other through discussions or focus groups and, outside of the photographs and captions they offered, identifying information was kept private. This was a research choice chosen by the research team and approved by the PI’s IRB for the specific research participant group to ensure psychological safety because (1) participants were experiencing the pandemic while undergoing research and therefore considered particularly vulnerable, and (2) the pandemic had become particularly politicized, and the research team did not want to risk having one person offend another without the opportunity to moderate a discussion in an in-person setting. An in-person discussion was not possible due to the contagious quality of COVID-19. The choice to not have participants communicate with one another should be noted as it is different than the first visual self-narrative research in which participants discussed their photographs and experiences with one another in a classroom setting with the PI present to moderate the discussion (Kwesell, 2020). The answers to the PEIs are coded deductively, employing the ACM, which is further discussed in the “Analytical Framework” section, to better understand how impactful photographs were to participants. The findings are used to answer RQ2.

Third, participants were asked exactly one year later to review the photographs and answer three questions to better understand the impactful quality of the photographs over time. They were asked (1) what they got out of the visual self-narrative workshop including photographing, sharing, and commenting on others’ photographs from 2020, (2) if they thought the photographs, or photographs in general could be therapeutic, and (3) if there was anything else they would like to share. The answers to these three questions were combined and then coded employing the ACM.

All data, including the opening questionnaire, PEI responses, and closing questionnaire were coded by a team of three researchers with a two-stage process including a priori themes and subthemes, as well as inductive themes as such reasoning has been found to strengthen research quality (Joffe, 2012). Furthermore, multiple follow-up meetings were conducted to overcome discrepancies and ultimately ensure inter-rater agreement among codes. Coded data were then employed within our analytical framework, the AFC (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998). Coding qualitative data to unearth salient themes has been broadly employed in visual self-narrative research (Kwesell, 2020; Kwesell et al., 2022; Kwesell, Gao & Cohen, 2023) while the AFC, in particular, has been employed in Kwesell & LeNoble (2021).

Analytical framework

To better understand emergent affective responses to shared images and perceptions about the impactful quality of photographs, Feldman Barrett and Russell’s (1998) ACM is employed. The ACM measures emotional reactions by looking at valence (pleasant and unpleasant), and arousal (activation and deactivation). Past research has employed the ACM to not only investigate photography’s impact (Vrticka et al., 2013) but also to evaluate the ways in which memory is affected by emotion (Kensinger, 2009).

Kwesell & LeNoble (2021) employed the model with an adaptive PEI technique in their study of post-nuclear Fukushima to measure the impact of photographic media coverage of a disaster on the population who experienced it. Through coding PEI responses into the eight affective codes suggested by the ACM (Figure 10), the study found media photographs left a strong impact on disaster-survivors regardless of whether they were positive or negative. Such findings support Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur’s (1976) theory of media system dependency: when ambiguity rises due to unforeseen circumstances, media holds more power and stories become more impactful. Furthermore, though photographs acted as recurring emotionally impactful stimuli to the disaster, they also had the capacity to interrupt negative thought patterns, therefore increasing individuals’ capacity to re-assess their situations in a healthy way (Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021). Without a clear distinction between negative and positive reactions, photographs were found to offer new perspective, thereby allowing participants to negotiate their own recovery.

Figure 10.

Affective circumplex model from p. 980 of Feldman Barrett and Russell (1998).

Note. The present figure includes terminology from emotion literature for the positive–negative and activated-deactivated affective dimensions. The bolded, dashed line represents eight affective codes derived from the ACM in the present study. ACM = affective circumplex model.

In the present study, we employ the ACM to examine PEI responses of behavioral changes, issues, and concerns during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to better determine their impact. While we understand that the photographs in themselves are important, our research questions revolve around responses to and perceptions of others’ photographs and while we offer several example photographs that are directly discussed by participants, much of our analysis focuses on textual responses.

Results

When asked why participants wanted to join the workshop, photograph, and share photos of their lives while living in isolation during the pandemic (see RQ1), seven inductive themes arose with the desire to therapeutically process being the most salient followed by interest in others’ experiences, connection and community, a desire to document a historical moment, interest in COVID-focused research, to keep busy, and a love for photography. Table 2 shows operationalization of codes and example quotes.

Table 2.

Inductive responses employed to answer RQ1.

Theme	Sub-themes	Example quote(s)	Codes
Therapeutically process present situation	Find purpose (n = 17); seek hope / comfort (n = 5); process situation (n = 17)	“Validation- That I’m doing okay through this. Comfort and Hope knowing others are in this season too.”	39
Interest in others’ experiences	Ability to spend time (n = 8); learning from others—survival techniques and differences (n = 9); understand collective challenges (n = 13)	“Understanding, not everyone experiences the same thing.”	30
Connection and community	Connect to others (n = 20); build community (n = 9)	“because connecting with others helps me through the stress the pandemic has caused.”	29
Desire to document historical moment	Help create history (n = 8); understand long-range consequences (n = 6); be better for future (n = 4)	“I think it’s a time to definitely be documented so we can learn. Learn how to cope better. See how others are affected.”	18
Interest in COVID-focused research		“I’m completely intrigued by the concept. This is up my alley as it’s quiet yet powerful.”	16
Keep busy	Creative outlet (n = 10); something to do (n = 5)	“I feel happy to have a new and creative way to process this experience.” “things to do while I’m unemployed.”	15
Loves photography		“I love photography and this is a crazy time, would love to see other people’s lives through the eye of the camera.”	11

When asked about affective reactions that emerged when participants shared images of behavioral changes and concerns about COVID-19 (see RQ2) participants tended to exhibit activated unpleasant and unpleasant affective reactions, which tended to be more about the ongoing pandemic than the actual photographs (see Figure 11). Photographs reminded them of the pandemic, but participants did not necessarily feel unpleasant toward specific photographs. Alternatively, the majority of pleasant, activated pleasant and high activation had to do with specific photographs. In addition to the ACM, two themes suggested by Kwesell & LeNoble (2021) arose including acceptance and difficult but important, while one new theme arose inductively from the data: sense of struggle. Table 3 shows operationalization of codes and example quotes.

Figure 11.

Spider graph of RQ2 findings (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998).

Table 3.

Deductive and inductive responses to photographs employed to answer RQ2.

Theme	Operationalized	Example quote	Codes
Deductive
High activation	Astonished, surprised, shocked	“But the one which was soul crushing, from someone who obviously has significant current issues, the photographer with CLL. I want to share a huge hug.”	3
Activated pleasant	Hope, bright future, grateful	“I’m grateful to have those that I love close, to distract me from the terror that is our political leadership.”	4
Pleasant	Community attachment, belonging, relief, interest	“It was interesting to see that there were many of us whose concerns were external.”	10
Deactivated pleasant	Changed values/priorities		0
Low activation	Indifference		0
Deactivated unpleasant	Depressed, guilt, sadness	“I feel sad, concerned, overwhelmed.”	7
Unpleasant	Uncertain or dark future, rejection, others negative perceptions	“I was struck about how much uncertainty we are all feeling about the future.”	14
Activated unpleasant	Fear, anxiety, shock, anger, irritation	“Sometimes anger. I believe in agendas and this is one of those times that nothing feels right.”	17
Deductive codes taken from Kwesell & LeNoble (2021)
Perspective change to positive			0
Acceptance	Coming to terms with the situation, desire to grow	“We were eating good but resorted back to our comfort food and our frozen food once we realized we could not get our preferred food.”	3
Difficult but important	COVID-19 should not be forgotten, necessary to view others’ photos to understand their situations	“Looking at these photographs, I am reminded how privileged I am.”	2
Inductive code
Struggle		“I felt guilty and grateful . . . guilty and grateful for not being as worried, grateful and Guilty for not being as fearful grateful and Guilty for being financially stable.”	1

When asked about the kinds of ways participants feel their photographs may be impactful after one year (see RQ3), many participants felt pleasant and activated pleasant (see Figure 12). People tended to feel pleasant when seeing others have pleasant times, such as children playing outside, or when they were able to relate to how another person was handling the pandemic, for instance, cooking. In addition to the ACM, three themes from Kwesell & LeNoble (2021) arose, including acceptance, difficult but important, and perspective change. Over the course of one year, people’s reactions remained highly activated, yet tended to lie more on the side of activated pleasant and pleasant. Table 4 shows operationalization of codes and example quotes.

Figure 12.

Spider graph of RQ3 findings (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998).

Table 4.

Deductive and inductive responses employed to answer RQ3.

Theme	Operationalized	Example quote	Codes
Deductive
High activation	Astonished, surprised, shocked	“I was surprised at how the many things that we all are doing that we didn’t have “time” for before.”	1
Activated pleasant	Hope, bright future, grateful	“I feel more hopeful and encouraged. I see people trying new things, experiencing positive changes with their family, appreciating time with pets. Noticing a the little things, adapting and slowing down.	14
Pleasant	Community attachment, belonging, relief, interest	“Most of these photos could be reflective of my life. From large packs of toilet paper (because that’s all that was available) to online classes and homemade meals. It shows that we are more alike then different.”	15
Deactivated pleasant	Changed values/priorities	“Finding a way to collapse spaces so that they can be shared in new ways during this time.”	4
Low activation	Indifference		0
Deactivated unpleasant	Depressed, guilt, sadness	“I too feel the sadness of not being able to go into the store and experience by sensory.”	6
Unpleasant	Uncertain or dark future, rejection, others negative perceptions	“Their daycare sends emails every day with activities and ZOOM invites, and I very rarely even open them. I just can’t. I don’t want to. I’m just focused on barely getting by.”	2
Activated unpleasant	Fear, anxiety, shock, anger, irritation	“Imagine how much more horrible it would be to go through this and for it to be absolutely unsafe to go out in the sun?!?”	4
Deductive codes taken from Kwesell & LeNoble (2021)
Perspective change to positive		“There is a common thread throughout the photos of changed behaviors that I can’t help but believe will be positive and become a source of self reflection for most of us.”	1
Acceptance	Coming to terms with the situation, desire to grow	“These photos make me feel a sense of coping and resilience. We’re all doing our best and I relate to needing to get out of the house.”	8
Difficult but important	COVID-19 should not be forgotten, necessary to view others’ photos to understand their situations	“There is something comforting about the way this has made us all have to slow down. I hope we don’t forget that.”	4
Inductive code (n = 0)

Discussion

The present research seeks to examine reasons people would want to photograph and share photographs of their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as affective reactions to photographs others had taken. Through a panel longitudinal study, we are able to better understand how valence and arousal of reactions change over the course of one year.

Participants documented a wide array of behavioral changes and concerns they were facing during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic while they were also experiencing isolation. The photographs were both literal, such as a photograph of face masks and PPE (Figure 1), and figurative, such as a blank image that was taken to project uncertainty about the future (Figure 6).

First, the study inquired about the reasons participants wanted to document and share photographs of their lives during the onset of the 2020 pandemic. Participants wanted to document the uncomfortable situation while experiencing it, and they were not shy about sharing their photographs with others. While several research supports that photographing and viewing images can incite emotional responses (Collier, 1957; Ginicola et al., 2012; Zelizer & Allan, 2011) and offer a form of therapy through processing the event (Delgado & Wester, 2020; Kwesell, 2020), in the present research the opening survey suggests the majority of participants joined with the assumption that the activity may be therapeutic.

Several participants stated they joined out of boredom during isolation; while some had a desire for purpose when the rest of life halted, others felt obliged to record and share their unique experiences as it could be important for future generations. Although not everyone approached the project seeking healing, each of the reasons the participants suggested offered a sense of purpose while they experienced tremendous ambiguity. Participants were likely inspired by certain elements of seeing the ways in which others cope. Seeking similarities from others’ photographs may offer them a sense of belonging while finding differences may make them seek change or be more content in their own situation. Furthermore, the high response rate to continuing with research one year later suggests that the photographic process (taking, sharing, and viewing others’ photographs) was a meaningful experience.

Second, participants voicing a desire to document an important epoch in time is interesting. While some scholarly debate suggests positive outcomes in building collective memory (Berkowitz, 2010; Chirwa, 1997; Zelizer & Allan, 2011), other research suggests that images can muddle the truth over time (Cohen et al., 2018) and stigmatize a group of people or place (Hariman & Lucaites, 2003; Weisenfeld, 2020; Kwesell & Jung, 2019). Despite the latter, people still wanted to participate and, interestingly, were open about documenting their vulnerabilities.

Third, participants voiced wanting to document and share their photographs because they sought community. One participant mentioned the thought that joining the research project would be “mutually beneficial” while another suggested that “connecting with others helps me through the stress the pandemic has caused.” Such connection supports literature about digital archives, which have been found to be an impetus to share experiences (Van House, 2011), while offering commemoration, meaning and validation (Zhao & Lindley, 2014).

Regarding RQ2, which examined affective reactions that emerged when participants viewed shared images of behavioral changes and concerns about COVID-19, findings suggest that photographs during the 2020 onset of the pandemic elicited negative emotions reminding people of their circumstances during COVID-19. Responses were negative, but people tended not to comment on the photos. Rather, the photos as Peirce (1991) suggests, acted as indices to reality: here to the uncertain and scary situation. Perhaps because the research was conducted during the unfolding of trauma, people were unable to think clearly, searching for information while their minds would focus on the trauma, no matter the information. By searching for information during a state of anxiety, regardless of what they may find, it might make them think back on the cause of the anxiety. According to Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur (1976) people have an inherent need to resolve ambiguity and information allows this. However, once the initial phase passes, people may be more likely to digest and think through the information they receive.

Regarding RQ3, when asked to reflect on images taken and shared a year before, affected responses were highly activated positive to pleasant and activated pleasant. Here, people were able to look back and spend more time with the photos; perhaps because they were no longer in the height of fear of the unknown, they could think more about moments and the actual photographs. While Zhao and Lindley (2014) suggest that sharing photographs and creating digital archives offers validation and meaning, it is interesting to see the switch from the 2020 data in which responses to photographs tended to be more negative to one year later when participants tended to have more positive affective responses (Figure 13). The arousal of affective responses remained high in both 2020 and 2021 suggesting that images did not lose their ability to incite emotional responses, but the change in valence suggest that people’s view of their memories do indeed change over time. Here we see they went from negative to positive, and while the data cannot suggest why this happened, based on the situation, we offer some ideas. First, the 2020 data were taken while ambiguity and threat were high. Participants who were in isolation may therefore have been more aroused in general and more fearful of their future. The second wave of data was collected one year later, and while uncertainty about the pandemic and effects of COVID-19 remain, participants had already survived one year. In addition, the global health response had changed with a clearer understanding about effective ways to stay safe and medical advances such as vaccine rollouts.

Figure 13.

Spider graph of Table 2 (RQ1) and Table 3 (RQ2) findings combined (Feldman Barrett & Russell, 1998).

Last, this research builds upon the ACM with an important potential indicator. In addition to Kwesell & LeNoble’s (2021) added themes, considering adding the theme: sense of struggle to the ACM aptly describes the back-and-forth people may exhibit in times of uncertainty, which is currently missing from the ACM. The present research only coded one response as sense of struggle, but perhaps this is because it was not an initial deductive code and coders were less likely to offer an inductive code than code within the given deductive framework. If sense of struggle were added to the ACM more responses might aptly show that this back and forth is common in people experiencing trauma. Sense of struggle may sometimes fit within the scale of valence, but not always. Such a back and forth should be coded separately and further examined. Therefore, we suggest that the ACM be further adaptable. Two studies have pushed the ACM to include more indicators (Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021; and the present study) and such indicators should continue to be tested. If they remain valid, we suggest further elaboration on the ACM may aptly offer insight into the affective responses that disaster survivors may have.

Limitations and future research

Limitations should be noted. First, this research was exploratory and while the methodology offered robust data, it cannot be considered generalizable. It should be noted, however, that for highly involved participatory research with a vulnerable population, the number of participants (n = 57) and repeats (n = 35) is notable. Second, while the ACM allows understanding into valence and arousal of images, we do not understand the mechanism of what kinds of images influence PTSD or PTG. Further detailed research into photograph responses with a larger sample could offer more understanding into patterns of reactions to images and their long-term implications. Third, this study is considered a panel longitudinal study because both data from Tables 2 and 3 were gathered during the pandemic: data from Table 2 were collected while participants were experiencing a form of isolation, quarantine or lockdown, while data from Table 3 were collected as restrictions were loosening (to varying degrees for all participants). Future research could employ the same sample one to two years later, or when COVID-19 is no longer considered a pandemic or an immediate threat to daily life. Last, social media was employed for recruitment targeting the then 10 states with the highest levels of infection. While this was initially chosen as a single form of targeting because the pandemic was in its infancy and we did not want to exclude any groups of people, we feel that future research could employ a more robust form of targeting participants such as age, employment type, or even political background, among others, especially if future research was larger in scale with more participants.

Author biographies

Allison Kwesell is an Assistant Professor of Media and Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Her research interests include implications of perceived and self-stigma on vulnerable populations, visual narration as a tool to cope with post-trauma situations, effects of media photographs, and socio-psychological aspects of sustainable recovery. She worked as a photojournalist for over a decade covering several public health and disaster situations including polio vaccination activities in India, civil conflict in Nepal, earthquake disaster in Haiti, human security in Azerbaijan, nuclear disaster in Japan, and gun violence in Portland, Oregon. She is interested in learning more about how photographs can effect change and increase self-efficacy and resilience during trying times.

Yufei Wu is a senior at Mount Holyoke College pursuing a double major in psychology and economics. She is an international student from China and interned at the Sichuan Heguang Clinical Psychology Institute. She likes photography and is interested in interdisciplinary work in counseling settings such as the use of photographs. She is interested in becoming a psychologist and further studying clinical or counseling psychology.

Dechen Lama is a senior at Mount Holyoke College pursuing a major in neuroscience and behavior, a minor in chemistry, and hopes to attend dental school after graduation. Her family’s homeland is Tibet but she was born and raised in Nepal. Outside of class, Lama is a part-time Dental Assistant, a Resident Advisor for her college and an intern at Pad2Go, a social venture focused on destigmatizing menstruation in Nepal. In her free time, she enjoys singing and making clay sculptures. Lama is interested in research related to the psychological implications of COVID-19 on individuals of different socio-economic backgrounds.

Shuyang Lin is a graduate student at the Pratt Institute in New York City, pursuing a Master of Science in Information Experience Design (IXD). She is an international student from China and has a degree in psychology and biology from Mount Holyoke College. She has interned in the Visual Language Lab at Tilburg University as well as the International Arts+Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University. She likes drawing and is interested in research that combines art and cognitive psychology such as empirical aesthetics or neuro-aesthetics. She is particularly interested in continuing to study these experiences and their implications in daily life.