A Kinross man has spoken of how a photography project stemmed from losing his job after just one day.
Ross Mitchell, 42, began taking pictures on his daily walks after lockdown forced the closure of Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling, in March 2020.
The freelance photographer had only just started working there, meaning he was ineligible to receive furlough pay.
But it gave him the time to begin the project, which has since yielded around 4,500 photos of people (not including pets).
The project is still going strong and is now being displayed to the public for the first time.
More than 1,000 of Ross’s photos are currently being beamed at night onto St Paul’s Square in Perth.
The pictures will be shown until February 12.
In this feature Ross talks about how his project has changed over time and why he would love to have the photos displayed in Kinross.
Lockdown at the worst possible time
When Ross began working at Blair Drummond on March 21 2020 he had an inkling that it wouldn’t last long.
“They seemed to think Covid wouldn’t affect them and that those affected would just be people travelling into Scotland,” he said.
The safari park closed on the 22nd.
It left Ross, who was previously the head photographer for House of Bruar, with plenty of time to fill.
From April 1 2020 to March 31 2021 he went for a walk in Kinross every single day, taking photos of people he saw on his travels.
For each photo on his trusty Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II he was given consent.
“I just documented what I saw,” Ross said.
“At the start it did not have a consistency – it was spontaneous.
“But as it developed it got its own path and direction.
“Everyone was pictured on the centre of a path, with the idea that we are all on a certain path and don’t quite know where we are heading with the way the world is.”
No one is ‘singled out’ in photos
Ross feels privileged to have met so many people during the project.
“I don’t just take photos but also speak to people,” he said.
“I ask them how they have been, how they have managed through lockdown, how they have coped.
“We have all lived through this weird time so we have all had our experiences.
“I feel quite fortunate because people were lonely during lockdown and did not have much communication.
“They have not been able to engage with families and kids and babies have not had the same engagement they would have had.”
Ross’s photos go online without any individuals being named. “No one is singled out,” he said.
“It is all of us together.”
Award-winning photographer
As lockdown measures eased, Ross got a job looking after racehorses at Lucinda Russell Racing in Milnathort.
But he still continued his daily walks and photos until the project’s one-year anniversary in April 2021, when their frequency reduced.
He has still been out on 490 days though.
“I am hoping to get the 500 days,” he said.
It is not the first time Ross has done a multi-year photography project.
As a degree student at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh he documented the final days of his grandparents Bill and Rose Entwhistle between 2001 and 2003.
“My gran and grandad stayed in Portsmouth and every time I went down with my mum I would take my camera,” he said.
“Grandad had dementia so was put in a care home. Then gran was put into a care home as well.
“I documented their departures.”
The project earned him first-place in the 2003 Fuji-Film Student Awards and first-class honours in his course.
Aim is to display images in Kinross
The Kinross project is Ross’s biggest yet.
But his ambition to have the photos displayed in the town remains unfulfilled. He also wants them published.
They were due to be shown on the façade of Kinross Parish Church in November 2021, only for the plan to fall through due to the projecting company doubling its costs a week before the show.
“I have been trying to get it shown in Kinross but nothing has developed, which is heartbreaking,” he said.
“It is a project and for the community and I wanted it to be shown to them because it is part of their story.”
Nevertheless, he is grateful to have the pictures shown at St Paul’s Square in Perth.
“The project has helped me build a relationship with people in the community,” Ross said.
“I have photographed people at the beginning of lockdown and seen them three years later and they’re asking me, ‘Are you still doing this?’ It’s been good to catch up with them.
“I now need to decide if I will keep documenting the people I meet. I don’t know.”
Conversation