Despite a contemporary socio-culture revolving around cultural consumption of imagery, metaphors, representations and "gaze", photo-elicitation is a rarely used method for social scientists and planners to acquire knowledge. In this paper, we discuss participant-driven photo-elicitation, a process in which participant photos are paired with in-depth interviews. Based upon a review of the literature on photo-elicitation and our own transnational fieldwork experiences with it, we argue that this method has four primary advantages: photos can provide tangible stimuli for more effectively tapping into informants' tacit, and often unconscious, consumption of representations, images and metaphors; produces different and richer information than other techniques; and may also help to reduce differences in power, class and knowledge between researcher and researched. Finally, we argue that this method has unique potential to empower participants' involvement in activities related to local planning for sustainable community development and natural resource management efforts.Keywords: photo-elicitation; public participation; sustainability; community IntroductionNo matter how familiar the object or situation may be, a photograph is a restatement of reality; it presents life around us in new, objective, and arresting dimensions, and can stimulate the informant to discuss the world about him as if observing it for the first time. (Collier 1957, p. 859) In an era in which consumption of imagery, "gaze" and metaphors are central to individuals' construction and comprehension of themselves (Urry 1990), of nature (Sack 1997, Macnaghten and Urry 1998), of rurality (Urry 1990, Crouch 2006, and of social life (Rose 2001), it is paradoxical that photo-elicitation is so seldom used. If people understand their world more and more through images, using graphical representations as stimuli for reflection would seem to be a logical development in social science research and participatory planning.Our particular focus is on better understanding the interplay between people and their natural and built environments, which is central to many issues facing communities impacted by tourism, resorts, summer communities, recreation and retirement migrants. Amenity-led development relies on natural beauty and resources to produce what it sells, but the production of amenities may threaten those same resources (Urry 1995, Goe et al. . Simultaneity also characterises social life; migrants often choose to live in amenity communities to enjoy the quality of life, which can lead to population growth and economic diversification (Krannich and Petrzelka 2003). Increased seasonality and extra-local investment, however, may reduce the year-round availability of goods and services and undermine local influence over the shape of the community (Luloff and Bridger 2003).In this context, research methods must capture the visual, so that perceptions of amenities, of changes, of people and their various and conflicting roles can be explored. Power is central ...

Food's role in tourism is multifaceted and complex. Food is not only essential to the body but is also integral to the experience; moreover, it is elusively embedded within society, culture, politics, institutions, and economy. Although food's complexity is conceptually explored within tourism studies, empirical investigations into the consumption of food are few and far between. In this study, we contribute an empirical analysis that employs both quantitative and qualitative data from fieldwork in a rural Norwegian region where there have been sustained efforts to develop and integrate "local food" and rural tourism. Three research questions are investigated: to what extent is "local food" consumed by tourists? What factors affect tourists' consumption of local food? For tourists interested in local food, what purpose does the consumption of "local food" serve? We find that only a minority of rural tourism's tourists have a special interest in food. Nonetheless, for those who possess this interest, we find that local food plays an important role to their tourist experiences. Furthermore, the study suggests that local food is a means employed by parents to educate their children in the ways of "the rural idyll".

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