Aberdeen Photography Project

Two years a go I came to the realisation that I couldn’t continue to use large camera equipment a due to chronic illness and arthritis. I needed a small camera for holiday and bought a mirrorless camera to try and improve my street / documentary photography. I had a succession of small P & S cameras over the previous 3 years but was never truly happy with the motorised mid range zooms.

Aberdeen city is my place in the World, and I had a loose idea to document the city as I saw it during my life. with these pocket sized cameras I shot Black and white candid and abstract images. I extended this genre to include more street oriented images. Rather then constricting my vision to purely street I would define it as documentary photography, which ties back to the vision of the urban Flaneur. I’ve always admired the work of Edouard Manet and Gustave Caillebotte and their candid depiction of the modernity and urban alienation of 19^th Century Paris. I think that there is an element of this in street photography in general and my work in particular. I set myself a limit of two years and switched from photo specific journeys, to always carrying a small camera and fast prime with me. In this case the Fujifilm X-T10 and Fujinon 27mm F2.8 pancake lens, latterly I used an X-T1 and kept the X-T10 as a back up. I have tried some different lenses but the 27mm pancake is very versatile and fast enough for my needs.

In a typical week I’d be out with the camera for 1-2 hours 2 times. I am reliant on my car and tend to pick an area and wait to see what develops without influencing the outcome. Sometimes it is planned, other times spontaneous. I usually use relatively high ISO to keep the shutter speed up but occasionally will use long shutter speeds to introduce more abstract elements and feelings of motion. Click here or the main menu to see the project.