A little ‘light work’? Children's images of their labour

Photographs of labouring children are common, but their capacity to provide unique sources of evidence of the working lives of children remains neglected. Studies of children's work and labour tend to relegate the value of still photographic images to a place on the front cover of books or perhaps to the occasional in-text illustration. As this paper argues, the potential of still photography does not stop here. By drawing on a qualitative research project exploring the work of children in England and Wales, this paper argues that research employing photo-diary techniques can add much to our knowledge and understanding of children's working lives.