36/36 2021-
Before we begin, you can look through the viewfinder and see exactly what is in the frame and what is outside it.
I will sit beside the camera with a timer. Every minute, on the minute, I will press the shutter. I won't announce when. You'll notice it from the sound of the camera and from seeing me move towards it.
I'll also record the audio on my phone, though there's no expectation that we talk.
From that point on, the space is yours to use however you wish. You can move yourself, objects, furniture, or nothing at all. The camera will remain fixed. You don't need to stay in the frame. You don't need to face the lens. You don't need to follow any of the usual habits of being photographed. Distance, visibility, posture, orientation, presence or absence are all open.
What interests me is not the documentation of an activity that would have happened anyway. The frame is there first. It creates a temporary situation, a small stage, and whatever takes place within or around it becomes the work. That might be something deliberate, improvised, playful, practical, repetitive, or almost imperceptible. There is no need to arrive with a plan.
Equally, there is no obligation to be visibly present. If being photographed feels uncomfortable, that discomfort can become part of the process. You might hide, leave the frame, cover yourself, obscure the lens, build barriers, or find other ways to negotiate your relationship with the camera. Choosing not to appear can be as meaningful as choosing to appear.
For thirty-six minutes, the camera remains still and time passes. The photographs are simply traces of whatever relationship develops between you, me and the frame, in the passing minutes.
To participate (for free) email hamishmacpherson.x@gmail.com