The photo was taken in 02.16.2019 as a part of my doctoral research project to document birdwatching citizen science practices. I took part in a field trip organized by three groups: Uameros Pajareros, Aves FC and Aves Guardianes de Tlahuac. I documented most of the trip in video, using a GoPro camera, but I also took some stills -like this photograph, using my iPhone 6 camera.
Arturo Vallejo, "How can you tell this photo was staged?", contributed by Arturo Vallejo, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 25 August 2019, accessed 3 May 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/how-can-you-tell-photo-was-staged
Critical Commentary
This photo was taken during a field trip I made to document a pajareada, a birding visit, in an ejido (a rural shared land) in Tlahuac, a southern semi-rural district of Mexico City.
How can you tell it was staged? THE ANSWER: birding is a very competitive/collaborative practice. The usual dinamic is that someone spots a bird, tells the other participants and they all gather to watch the specimen (some use photo cameras, others binoculars, some even a use spyglass or a cellphone). Then, they all try to identify the specimen commenting its distinctive features and usually one or two of them confirms the identification with a field guide. After that they move on, looking for the next observation.
I took this photo during a break of the birding. I was documenting the pajareada mainly in video and used the pause to also take some stills of the crew. When the pajareros in the photo noticed I was ponting my cell phone to them, they playfully started to pose as if the were "in action". But they were all looking in different directions.