This article reports findings on a case study of Ellie as she participates in a language arts curriculum that incorporates multimodal literacy practices--including photography, drama, and art--to teach reading and writing. Our study was informed by the theoretical framework of multimodal social semiotics, which provides insight into how mediational tools allow for greater complexity of thought while engagement within the modes expands the potentials for learning. Multimodal interaction analysis (Norris, 2004) was applied to video data from this study. Findings reveal the significance of using photographs for Ellie's meaning making in the third grade classroom. In addition, we were able to observe how Ellie's responses at times conflicted with the intentions or expectations of the classroom. This study reveals the significance of multimodal video data analysis as a way of understanding the complexity of literacy practices in the classroom.