photographed in Chicago, Illinois on August 8, 2009

Depth of field is the term used to describe those circles of least confusion that appear to the human eye to be in focus. When we do qualitative research, finding the appropriate depth of field or range of focus is one of our first challenges. When faced with complex family realities and a wide range of compositional possibilities, we must compose the picture in order to locate on our film plane the circle of least confusion – a range of objects in focus that provides a basis for close scrutiny. Finding the appropriate depth of field is an important strategy in qualitative research. In qualitative research, focus is often narrowed to understand the details of everyday living: how decisions are made, how relationships are managed, and how identities are constructed …

Composition is a matter of selection that involves not only technical decisions about framing edges and spaces, but moral and aesthetic decisions that reflect values, interests, and preferences. In the Introduction to his book Frame Analysis, Goffman (1974) argues that in our effort to understand the organization of everyday experience, we need to concern ourselves not so much with what it is that a camera takes pictures of, but rather with the camera itself. In other words, it is not the nature of reality itself that is important, but the conditions under which we perceive reality. These are matters of selective attention, focus, and engagement with the subject matter.

Excerpted from Qualitative Methods for Family Studies and Human Development, by Kerry J. Daly. Published by SAGE Publications, 2007.

photographed in San Diego, California on July 10, 2009

If I had a gun for every ace I have drawn / I could arm a town the size of Abilene. / Don’t you push me baby, ‘Cause I’m all alone / And you know I’m only in it for the gold.

All that I am asking is for ten gold dollars / And I could pay you back with one good hand. / You can look around about the wide world over / And you’ll never find another honest man.

Last fair deal in the country / Last fair deal in the town. / Put your gold dollars where your love is baby, / Before I let my deal go down.

Excerpted from the lyrics to ‘Loser’ as written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, later covered by Cracker on their album Kerosene Hat.

photographed in Chicago, Illinois on March 16, 2008

An Act to amend the first and second sections of the act entitled “An act to authorize the Board of Education of the incorporated village of Wapakoneta, in the county of Auglaize, to borrow money and issue bonds to build a school-house, or additions to the school-house in said town.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That sections one and two be amended as follows: That the board of education in the incorporated village of Wapakoneta and territory thereto annexed for school purposes, in the county of Auglaize, be and they are hereby authorized to build a school-house in said village, or build additions to the school-house now therein, as in their judgment may be deemed most for the public good, at a cost of not exceeding twenty-eight thousand dollars.
Sec. 2 That said board of education shall have power to issue bonds of said village and territory thereto annexed for school purposes, in sums not less than one hundred dollars each, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding eight per cent … Such bonds shall be countersigned by the president of education and countersigned by its secretary, who shall keep a record of the same; and the said bonds shall not be sold for less their par value.
Sec. 3 That said original sections one and two of the act to which this is an amendment, be and the same are hereby repealed.
Sec. 4 This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Geo L. Converse, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Alphonso Hart, President of the Senate

Excerpted from the chapter ‘Local and Special Acts’ in The State of Ohio General and Local Laws and Joint Resolutions, Volume LXXI. Printed by Nevins & Myers, State Printers, Columbus, Ohio, 1874.

photographed in Chicago, Illinois on December 12, 2008

Talking to a very clever young person, you do not stick at hard words; on the other hand, you do not seek mystery. In the course of that meeting that never happened, that meeting whose scene remained inside Leopold, she would have told what she had done without looking for motives. These he could supply, for he would understand. You suppose the spools of negatives that are memory (from moments when the whole being was, unknowing, exposed), developed without being cut for a false reason: entire letters, dialogues which, once spoken, remain spoken for ever being unwound from the dark, word by word.

That is, in effect, what she would have to say.

Excerpted from The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1936.