London Index Project

For the last few years I've been working on a street photography project of London.

I've lived here for over thirteen years and for the majority of that time my main mode of transport has been Public. For the first few years, the only physical knowledge I had of the city was measured in time and by the tube map.

Since then, my current job has allowed me to travel through the streets on a daily basis, seeing its people and its buildings in relation to one another and to photograph the fleeting moments that happen while history is slowly being made.

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The viewpoint I've had is from the passenger seat of a vehicle, which has made this city into one long film. I'm being dragged through an endless projection of events which sees time marked in both its ephemeral immediacy and its grinding unstoppable plod. I've made myself a custodian of both by recording some trace elements of the millions of events that happen every single second, of every single minute, of every single day. A tiny fraction of the hundreds of years of things happened, happening and about to happen.

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Each image is layered with strata of time. I've caught the present by freezing an individual at a particular moment in time, who is then set against the background of the city which could be weeks, months or even centuries old.

London, like any city, is like an organism; constantly in a state of decay and regeneration. I've tried to make a document which reflects that change while considering the possibility that the pictures I'm taking may be viewed by an audience decades from now.

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I've titled each picture with its date stamp. The exact moment in time it was taken.

This collection is intended to be a book. Hopefully, one of many books called London Index.

I'll be adding these and other images to my website in due course. Check here.

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Cardboard camera build

I was given a Sharan Wide 35 for my birthday. Now, I'm a sausage fingered idiot when it comes to making stuff like this. I also have a tendency to read instructions so carefully they become slightly meaningless - then go ahead anyway - fucking it up to a start again level or bodging it as I go along. Neither of these are great, but at least by starting again I avoid the feeling of bitterness towards the thing I know is... not quite right... for as long I own it.

It's a build-your-own pinhole camera made from card. It comes as die-cut sheets of black card, some plastic bits and two handy sheets of sticky tape, pre-cut into the correct sizes for the build. That's a nice touch. A)  You don't have to provide your own materials and, B) Peel off sticky things please me. There's also the pinhole made in a thin piece of plastic. It's F120 sized...Man, I'm already looking forward to seeing the prints... and there are a couple of elastic bands to keep the camera from popping open while loaded.



Here we go...

Christ! There's a good chance I'll be putting a squashed cardboard mess in the bin tonight.

We start by making the film holder. Pretty straight forward, but I have a niggling doubt about the orientation of the component in the back of where the canister is going to be. I feel like I'm forcing it, but nevertheless, it goes together and the bits which are supposed to move, do.

Putting together the front case is equally straight forward. I'm actually finding the Ikea style graphic instruction pretty easy to follow. They're very efficiently designed and flow easily between steps.

Hold on. Oh no. I've been using the wrong size bits of sticky. I've got to a point where starting again is not an option without potentially tearing something...Balls...I realise the black tape I've been using has been made to fit the joints exactly, but I reckon it's finished construction is going to prevent any light leakage anyway. It's cool.... It's cool....

It's not cool.

This is the detail that could forever taint my enjoyment of it. It's a horribly tense moment. I'm half way through so it's going to get freaking finished whatever.

Now the internal box which holds the pin hole. It's starting to look like a camera that might possibly work. I was wondering how a cardboard box stood a chance of being leak proof enough for use with film, but it's turning into something sturdy enough to cope if I'm reasonably careful with it.

Done.

Dammit! I've put the dark slide in back to front! I can live with this.

It's my fastidious attention to detail that gives me the greatest pleasure. I've also just noticed I've left a coffee mug in shot above. My God. This is why I can't have nice things.

I've loaded it with some out of date colour negative film. I'll post the results.