Let's take photos together: exploring asymmetrical interaction abilities on mobile camera phones

Mobile phones have become common tools for photography. Despite the fact that photos are social artifacts, mobile phones afford the act of photo taking only as an individual activity. Photo taking that involves more than one photographer has been envisioned to create positive outcomes and experiences. We implemented this vision with mobile camera phones, exploring how this would influence photo taking practices and experiences. We conducted a user study where altogether 22 participants (11 pairs) were using a novel mobile photography method based on asymmetrical interaction abilities, comparing that with two traditional methods. We present the collaborative practices emerged in different photography methods and report user experience findings particularly with regard to enforced collaboration in mobile photo taking. The results highlight benefits and positive experiences in collaborative photo taking. We discuss lessons learned and point out design implications that come into play when designing for mobile collocated collaboration.