Joan Zhang,  Gary McLeod

This paper investigates the possibilities of consumer diagnostic thermal imaging for visually understanding a photographer’s gesture during a rephotographic experience. Gesture is a complex concept that conveys meaning through body action. A photographer’s gesture refers not only to the technical action of operating a camera, but also to a visual relationship formed between a photographer’s body, the camera, and the surrounding environment. Rephotography has been seen as photographing the same thing again. Although previous research has explored rephotography experiences, visualizing the role of gesture (including its formation, variation, and interaction with environmental conditions) has received less attention. Unlike previous studies that use regular cameras to examine gesture, diagnostic thermal imaging using an off-the-shelf consumer thermal camera allows for the observation of information that precludes interference with the photographer and background environment, and thus allows for gestures to be revealed as unique objects of analysis. If gesture in the rephotography experience is a contextualized and non-linear behavior (a visual language of sorts) that expands understanding of photographic practice beyond an act of image making, diagnostic thermal imaging presents a contactless way in which to understand photographic practice creatively.