Photographer spends four years being snapped by roadside cameras for eerie self-portrait project

Artists can be a funny bunch, pushing themselves to extremes to find meaning, and bending concepts to their will. 

One such artist is Finnish photographer Tatu Gustafsson, who is about to finish a residency at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland. 

He graduated from the Turku Arts Academy in 2012, and since then he has been led by art in various different directions. 

This includes eccentricities such as living in a house that has no handles, existing without a phone or shoes, and traveling around Finland making self-portraits by being captured on weather and traffic cameras. 

Over a four year period, Gustafsson explored his native country, eerily posing in front of roadside cameras, capturing sinister, Blair Witch type images in various different locations. 

The project was born out of Gustafsson’s insecurities with traditional portraiture, telling Lithuanian website Bored Panda:

“I had just graduated from Turku Arts Academy in 2012, and I was in a situation where I had to look back on what I had done and decide if I wanted to continue in the same direction or start something different. 

"I never felt like I had the ability to make well-composed and beautiful pictures, so I thought that I wanted to do something that is more conceptual. I had seen one of the weather camera pictures somewhere and I thought that those are really interesting but maybe I could add something into them.”

He added that the project was inspired by a dislike of the control a photographer has when he or she is taking a picture, and a desire to let go of that control.

Gustafsson spent one week, every month, for four years living in his car, travelling around Finland to gather the shots, and the automated weather cameras served as the perfect tool for his project.

Every 12 minutes, over 700 roadside cameras all over Finland capture photos of their surroundings, which are then uploaded to the public Finnish Transport Agency website, where they are available for 24 hours.

Many of you will not be alone in feeling that this project has an air of pretension, however, speaking to The Creators Project, Gustafsson said:

“I have tried to find a way to make art that is democratic in the sense that everyone could do it,” adding that he is still looking for “a way to do an art piece that doesn’t need money or skill.”

More of Gustafsson’s work can be seen on his Instagram page.

If you prefer the more traditional way of taking a portrait, take a look at our guide to the best cameras for portraits. 

We've also put together guides to the best cameras for beginners, and the best cameras for professionals.