Capture beautiful and intentional photographs for documenting young children’s lives

Author Ron Grady invites teachers to reflect on their own practice of photography. Photography is an accessible and powerful tool for reflection and documentation, and children’s day-to-day experiences in settings of care and education deserve to be captured with intense attention. The book leads early childhood educators through a course in photography, considering its history and practice, its documentational potential, its aesthetic and logistical challenges, and its creative possibilities. .

REVIEWS

"One of the surefire ways to keep my attention is to salt and pepper your book with the importance of curiosity and how it fuels discovery and connection. In A Way of Seeing, Ron Grady positions curiosity not just as a trait of photographers, but as an essential mindset for anyone working with young children. By inviting readers to reflect on the why and how behind each image, A Way of Seeing encourages educators to consider how images shape relationships and to see photography not just as a method of documentation, but a powerful tool for connection, understanding, and intentional practice. " —Lisa Murphy, MEd, author, speaker, and early childhood specialist

"Ron’s book is a compelling and deeply thoughtful exploration of photography, not simply as a tool, but as a relational, ethical, and meaning-making practice. Written with palpable passion and enthusiasm, the text is grounded in a profound respect for children and the experience of childhood, inviting educators to reconsider both how and why they take photographs." —Jen Selbitschka, Teacher Education Program Director, Boulder Journey School

"Take care, dear reader, to allow this book to work its magic on you. If we understand ourselves as engaged in an artistic endeavor along with a documentary practice, how might we be changed, how might the role of the educator be reimagined? Grady suggests if we slow down and remain reflective, photography can deepen understandings of ideas, people, places, histories we have not yet recognized. A Way of Seeing can help us find our way to a new world, a new sense of agency as educators who are both archivists and changemakers." —Margie Carter, coauthor of Art of Awareness, Designs for Living and Learning, and The Visionary Director

"Although observation and taking photos for documentation, study and reflection have been central to my work with young children, the depth, inspiration as well as practicality of Ron’s book goes beyond what I have tried or even considered.?This book will be valuable to study?with other educators to dive deeply into the history, skills and joys of photographing young children’s remarkable ways." —Deb Curtis, coauthor of Art of Awareness, Designs for Living and Learning, and The Visionary Director

"By juxtaposing photographers’ work with images from classroom contexts, the book compellingly enacts its central claim that educators are artists, elevating documentation from a routine task to an act of creation. Even for those of us long immersed in pedagogical documentation, this book offers subtle provocations that linger, opening fresh ways of seeing childhoods in action, and inviting a slower, more careful way of being with images." —Lisa Goddard, MEd, PhD Fellow, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Board Member, Boston Reggio-Inspired Network