Ever since the camera was invented people have been using it as a tool to reflect and record the world around them. Photographic images have great potential to investigate different social practices and phenomena in the world.Photography, in its own right, is an extremely large area of study. Despite its relatively short history, photography has undergone a broad and complex evolution since it was invented in 1840. This paper does not aim to cover the comprehensive history of the development of photography in its many facets, it aims however to concentrate on a specific area of what has come to be termed visual sociology and the potential of the still photographic image as a primary tool within the field.Visual sociology is a marginal, experimental area of sociology, it is a field which has not been given due consideration by many sociologists due to its unscientific nature and one which remains unfamiliar to many social documentary photographers.This paper traces the history of visual sociology and explores its roots and links with social documentary photography. It explores the established methods of visual data collection that are utilised within the field of visual sociology. It also explores a further sub-discipline, urban sociology and the role of the image in investigation of urban phenomena.The resulting practical component of this research is an extensive urban photographic investigation shot over the period of one month in the city of Tokyo. The resulting series of images exist as a type of photographic visual map of ‘city creatures’ ubiquitous in the urban environment. The series aims to constitute as a visual, cultural survey about an aspect of social life within the Japanese urban context.
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