Qualitative research projects have traditionally involved employing established data collection techniques such as observation, interviews and focus groups. Alternative methods have often been perceived of as unreliable, invalid and unorthodox and as a consequence have remained marginal to the accepted social science investigative tradition. However, this may be a rigid and limiting position towards what counts as data in social research. As the search continues for meaningful description and analysis of evolving social institutions, mechanisms and experiences, so to does the demand on the techniques researchers might use to augment our knowledge and understanding of the social world. There has been an increase in the employment of visual methodologies within the social sciences in order to support attempts to frame and interpret the social world, which partly reflects the perceived failures and shortcomings of written or verbal methods. This paper discusses an experiment with a visual methodological tool and considers the challenges and possibilities associated with visual ethnography, particularly with regards to photography as a legitimate data source. The context of this paper is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) peace building project staged in Liberia in 2006 and managed by UK personnel. The initiative involved using football to promote co-existence and support the re-integration of child ex-combatants into post-war society. Twenty images of the project are presented here, each of which offer an insight to the project with a level of richness that may be unavailable via alternative means pertaining to the underpinning values, socio-political context, personal experience, inherent weaknesses, and logistical challenges of the programme. The paper concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and limitations of using photographs as data in qualitative research.