Claude Cahun, Vivian Maier, and Any Warhol, photographers throughout history have captured their essences in some pretty eccentric self-portraits – but the weather camera self-portrait project by Finnish photographer Tatu Gustafsson has re-invented this genre in an eerie new way. Gustafsson has traveled across Finland posing in front of roadside cameras for over four years in a photography project that is unlike any other. Each image shows an almost ghostly image of the photographer in varying scenes around the country from desolate highways to roundabouts.
Little planning went into the ghostly portraits for the series said Gustafsson, “One day I just went to the web page where you can see all the cameras and found out there are a couple of them quite near where I live. I spend the day driving around and made something like five pictures.” The photographer was able to retrieve the photos thanks to the Finnish Transport Agency, who captures photos every 12 minutes on over 700 roadside cameras around the country, which are then uploaded to their website for 24 hours.
With a grant from the Kone Foundation: “an independent non-profit organisation with a mission to make the world a better place by advancing bold initiatives in research and the arts” Gustafsson was able to continue his exploration into this new form of self-portraiture.
As delightful as this journey has been the artist has more projects in store for viewers, “Right now I’m working on an exhibition that’s in August. It’s totally different body of work.” So keep your eyes open!
Ha ha. Beat me to it!
You mean with someone that has good ideas?
Why should I feel uneasy??
I think that meant "cringe" instead of "uneasy"