Hunting vs. fishing

I like photography; especially street and documentary photography. I have always enjoyed watching people, and that’s what it is about. There’s something about being able to look back at a time and notice how it’s different from now. The work becomes a time capsule, capturing moments that otherwise would have been forgotten.

A woman stands still with earphones in while a cyclist blurs past her on a Skanstull street

But I have recently ended up a bit in a rut with it, which has probably been tied to my approach to it. I started my journey with it about three years ago when I purchased my Fujifilm X-T5. It’s a camera I very much enjoy, despite the internet’s obsession with teasing Fuji users for having piss filters. It’s just plain fun to walk around with.

In the beginning there was a novelty to it. I was shooting things I saw around me; like I was seeing the city in a new light. I was hunting moments.

A person in a white shirt seen through the holes of a perforated metal screen, a blurred railing crossing the foreground

This kept me going for a while, a solid year in fact. In my second year I shot less, but still a lot. And it kept declining. This had me stumped. I would go on walks and just not find anything to shoot; but when I was travelling I photographed a lot. I concluded that Stockholm was just boring.

But I don’t want it to be that way. Recently I have been quite keen on analog photography. It’s helped me shoot more and had me longing for those moments where I see my surroundings in a new light.

Two people climbing out of a metro entrance into low sunlight, past a wall of Swedish election posters

After thinking a bit I have concluded three things:

  1. I have been hunting images, and when I can’t find images to shoot that’s frustrating.
  2. I have no project to give the hunt a greater meaning.
  3. I should fish more.

And when I say “fish” I mean that I would like to stay in an area longer and explore it properly. Find the angles you don’t usually see. Instead of looking for a moment to capture, I wait for it to happen. I get fewer steps in, but it’s helped me with some motivation.

A man in a cap and sunglasses checking his phone, framed by the gaps in a rusted yellow perforated wall

But I have also started a project where I document my daily commute. My goal is to run it for six months and, almost daily, bring a camera on my commute to and from work. Hopefully we get to see how the route changes over the months.

Back to writing