Made by Hamish: 2009

I like the way that the perspex I'd used in monotypes before was in many ways more interesting than the prints - mainly because there was a more subtle range of tones.

1) I also had something like this in mind - trapped inside/behind glass, an image built up by layers. The amazing pictures are by Xia Xiawon

2) Pen studies

3) Oil pastel studies

3) Three different monotypes

4) The perspex originals clipped together after prints were made. Look a bit more mental than usual and didn't quite work out how I intended originally or subsequently (I later started to think that different layered images could reflect different moods/characteristics inside but it turns ot there's only the same intense, miserable mood inside!)

1) The first stage is your starting point

12.33 pm I'm late - stuck in traffic. I text Elise to check if she's started but no reply, probably left he phone at home. Anyway, I couldn’t find our agreed starting point - the Royal Bank of Canada. It must’ve been some corporate office rather than a proper bank. Instead I found Bleeding Heart Lane to start which is appropriate as I am a bleeding heart liberal.

After the picture, a man coming out of the Bleeding Heart pub asks whether you can still get Polaroid film and so I fill him in before he runs away.

2) Walk in any direction for 50 to 100 paces, and then turn 180 degrees

I walked up Granville Street towards Hatton Market. Lots of young European men walking briskly along the street with small cases that I assume are filled with jewels. A leather-gloved security guard outside one of the shops says hello to a passing young woman (who he does not even know!) and she says hello back, smiling.

I turn round and see a row of motorbikes with a bright pink moped sandwiched in the middle. You can't really see it here very well (blame the old Polaroid stock) but there might be a surprise later on!

3) Continue walking in that direction until you see something blue

To be honest the first blue thing is a canopy of a jewellers, and so is the second thing. But I suddenly feel very self-conscious. A Polaroid is noisy beast anyway but here I am taking photographs suspiciously outside jewellers. I think they might think I’m casing the joint. I move on to a Jewish Chronicle display board outside a newsagents

4) Make a left turn and walk 50 to 70 paces

I am walking back the way I came now, I stop by a homeless man, give him some change and ask if I can take a photograph of inside his cup. I wanted to capture the cup and the tattoo on his right hand. He joking says it will cost me ten pounds. The picture doesn’t come out very well.

5) Walk in any direction until you see something that either is or looks like the number 7 or 11

Any parallel lines could be an eleven but I can do better. I take a left and walk along for a minute until I look up and see the angle of a the for sale sign forming a seven. Snap.

6) Take the first left, and continue walking until you find somewhere to sit

I end up walking for about 5 minutes. I decide not to chose some steps as I really want to sit down properly. Eventually I find a café. The two seats outside are taken so I head inside and order a coffee. Then I realise I’m hungry and so order a chilli con carne jacket potato. It’s an ordinary London café but as I flick through a copy of the Sun I muse how the randomness has taken me here and it’s nice to be caught up in the flow of the blind arrow. Two men come in and take a seat. After about five minutes they go downstairs with the man who served me into a private area. I realise they hadn’t ordered and imagine some shady deal taking place – I’m sure they gave me a funny look as they passed. A younger man has taken over serving.

7) Choose any direction and walk for 25 to 50 paces

I eventually leave the café and walk up to where the market is closing up. I see this stall where empty boxes have been wedged in until tomorrow. The grid draws me in but doesn't quite align with the viewfinder.

8) Continue walking until you see an unusual colour, shape or texture. Turn 180 degrees

A circle isn’t the most unusual shape I grant you, but this old-fashioned market stall wheel was interesting.

9) Keep walking in any direction until you see an archway or an unusual architectural feature

Down the street on the way to Chancery Lane and in the distance is this peculiar tower on top of HSBC. The building to the left was my first choice but I thought there's already been one upshot of a red building today!

10) Head for home, but continue looking for something that catches your eye

First thing I take a picture of is a garage full of army trucks that a man in a green boiler suit opens up as I pass. This time I ask him and he says yes, slightly bemused. Then as I back across the road I spot a chalk join the dots on the floor using chewing gum. I like this - possibly my favourite shot of the trip.

Epilogue

All in all this has been a fun way to look at somewhere close-by but with fresh eyes. Discovering the little visual curiosities that are so easily passed over when we are not new to a place. But also seeing ways of life that I might not give a second thought to – the jewellers, the homeless, the market stallholders, the café owner...

I felt a bit like a character in a film. Perhaps because I was interacting with lots of parts of one small community albeit in a superficial way. A visitor with a mission rather than an idle pedestrian.