100 weeks of Scotland: people pictures

I like photographing people and I like looking at photographs of people. I recently tried to compile a list of my top ten photographs (almost impossible – as difficult as compiling a list of favourite albums) but the one thing that stood out in almost all my permutations of images was that they were nearly all photographs of people.

Week 80

There are many ways of photographing people, from the controlled environment of studio portrait to the more reportage approach of street photography. What links all the images is the relationship between the photographer and the subject. Sometimes it can be as tenuous as stolen image grabbed quickly from the urgency of everyday life and other times there will be a relationship built up in order to try and capture that exquisite spark within us all.

Personally I find people photography the easiest type of photography. It didn’t take me too long to work out that with the right approach almost everyone is happy to have their photograph taken. What I like best is when someone looks incredibly interesting but is still genuinely amazed that anyone would want to take their photo. I often find those are my favourite images.

This week’s images are from Glasgow and Edinburgh and mostly consist of people carrying on with their everyday lives, be it working, travelling, relaxing or just hanging around with a giant dog’s head under their arm.

• Alan McCredie began the ‘100 weeks of Scotland’ website in October last year, and it will conclude in Autumn 2014. McCredie’s goal is to chronicle two years of Scottish life in the run-up to the independence referendum.

Alan says ‘one hundred weeks...’ is intended to show all sides of the country over the next two years. On the site, he says: “Whatever the result of the vote Scotland will be a different country afterward. These images will show a snapshot of the country in the run up to the referendum.

“The photos will be of all aspects of Scottish culture - politics, art, social issues, sport and anything else that catches the eye.”

Follow the project at www.100weeksofscotland.com. You can also follow Alan on Twitter @alanmccredie.