Of unkempt hair, dirty shirts and smiling faces: capturing behind the mobile camera

Abstract

What would it be like, if every photo could be turned around to reveal its photographer in the moment of image capture? In this paper we report on a new camera phone application BehindTheCamera (BTC). In contrast to traditional photography, BTC employs both front and rear cameras to capture not only the target of interest, but also the photographer or scene behind the camera. We conducted an exploratory study with 8 participants over 10 months to reveal usage patterns and possible benefits for the user. A thematic analysis of the BTC images suggested seven salient categories of use. Our findings were substantiated by in-depth interviews and later review of images with the participants to capture their experience with BTC. The findings point to the value of BTC for supporting creativity, play, and capturing the interplay of photographer and motif for later rich reflection.