The Sunday interview: 5 question for Olli Thomson

Today I will present Olli Thomson, the author of Pixellany where he likes to share his thoughts on photography. Olli is a serial expat and amateur photographer, originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland and currently living in Guangzhou in China.

1. Why photography? 

I first got interested in photography in my teenage years, though thinking back I'm not really sure there was any reason why. My interest waxed and waned over the years without ever becoming particularly serious. Around 2005 I joined the ranks of the world's global expats and bought my first digital camera with a view to recording my new home - Albania - and providing images for my blog about life in the country. Two years later when I moved to Germany my focus had shifted to the pictures more than the words and I picked up my first DSLR. I've been photographing and travelling ever since. Photography for me is my way to encounter and record my impressions of whatever place I find myself in.

2. What is your favourite gear? 

While I like reading about new cameras and other photography gear, I don't buy much. I tend to hold onto my cameras for many years before changing them and also prefer to work with a limited range of lenses. Currently I have a Fujifilm X-S10 with five lenses, mostly primes, and a Sony RX100 v. Looking back over the limited number of cameras I've owned I'm not sure I can pick out a favourite. I did have a Panasonic LX3 and of all the cameras I've sold I think that is the only one I regret selling, so I suppose that might count as my favourite. I do also have two film cameras, a Nikon FM2n and a Minolta XD, which I rarely use but would never consider selling. My affection for these derives from my teenage interest in photography when these were two cameras I coveted but could never at that time have afforded. 

3. What are your favourite subjects to photograph? 

Urban life and urban space. I've always lived in cities and find them much more visually stimulating than any other kind of environment. Currently I live in Guangzhou in China, a city of around 18 million people. For me, this is about as good as it gets photographically. By urban life I mean anything about how people live in an urban environment. You could call it street photography, but I lean much more towards a documentary approach. Urban space is more about the structure and infrastructure of the city - anything from a soaring skyscraper to a collection of bins in an alleyway.

4. Can you name a few of your favourite photographers?

There are too many to mention. Starting with the big names: Daido Moriyama, Martin Parr, Don McCullin. In addition to Moriyama I do like quite a few Japanese photographers: Yasuhiro Ogawa, Takehiko Nakafuji, Michio Yamauchi, Rinko Kawauchi. I also like British documentary work: Paul Graham, Niall McDiarmid, Mahtab Hussain, Kavi Pujara and many more. A few more random favourites: Vanessa Winship, Krass Klement, Mark Power, Eamonn Doyle, Ragnar Axelsson, Michael Kenna. I tend to find my favourites through books rather than online. Unfortunately that means that hundreds of great photographers whose work has never been published have passed me by, or having seen their work online I have then forgotten it.

5. What can the Substack community expect from me in the future?

I don't know. I don't have a plan for my Substack, I only started relatively recently so I'm still working out how best to develop it. At the moment it's largely a place where I publish random bits and pieces of photography related writing I've produced over the years, in addition to new pieces. I see it as a useful space to get my thoughts on photography out of my head and into some sort of order, but not in any strategic or planned way. I'm still undecided on whether it's a place to publish photographs.