Whenever Hollywood studios want to reboot a superhero franchise, they invariably retell the character’s origin story. A bite from a radioactive spider, the destruction of the home planet, both parents murdered in a dark alley … such events are part of their DNA, their raison d’être.
At the end of 2024, I retired my weekly photojournal, The WIP, to focus on documenting The Golden Z. I wanted to be more intentional with my photography. My theory was that, while we find pleasure in individual images, there is often a higher order of meaning in a sequence.
However, an origin story rarely comes from good intentions. An origin story is also a fatal flaw, an Achilles’ heel.
In my case, the origin story of The WIP ensues from my ambivalence to algorithmic social media, especially Instagram.
We know the arguments against Instagram by now:
It is incredibly addictive.
Frequent use leads to distress and anxiety.
It is a leading source of misinformation and disinformation.
Meta tracks/sells huge amounts of your personal data to advertisers.
I was prepared to put up with all of this because there are people I like on the platform. But Instagram is now almost entirely focused on short-form, brain-rot video.1 I’m out2 … and reviving The WIP.
The WIP is my attempt to solve the problem of social media: how to stay current without being lost in ephemera. It will be a quick, light read—the week in photos and my work in progress—that links off to longer pieces on The Crop.
This week, for instance, I wrote about the best books I read in 2025 and my ten favourite films.
The topic of origin stories was on my mind after visiting The Well, a new mosaic that entices viewers to look down into the place where Glasgow was born. It’s tricky to capture the sense of depth, so I made a video throwing a coin into the well:
Otherwise, I have been enjoying the lull between Christmas and New Year. I checked out the weird Bonnie Blue aesthetics of the fun fair.
I cleansed myself of this experience by walking around the Necropolis. Saying hello to the industrialist Charles Tennant, a man who built an empire by finding a better way of bleaching cloth. His notable descendants include the Bright Young Thing, Stephen Tennant, among many others.
After spending Christmas with my in-laws in Spain, I got back to Glasgow and took a final walk along The Golden Z in 2025. At the start of the year, my photography was distant and alienated from my subjects. By the end, I felt just about comfortable engaging with them.
Earlier in the day, after seeing a photo of him with Stephen Fry, I had been wondering why Michael Pedersen is not more famous. He is one of the best-connected writers in Scotland, getting blurbs from Alan Cumming and hosting events with Shirley Manson and Nicola Sturgeon.
And then, quite by chance, I saw him on Sauchiehall Street and said hello. We had a lovely chat about Oscar Wilde, being a cat, and the extent to which morality influences our view of artists.
He is a thoughtful, funny man who looks you deep in the eye when having a conversation. I asked if I could take his photos as part of my Golden Z project, and he kindly consented. However, I found it difficult to capture the person I had met rather than the flamboyant public persona. The double exposure above is an attempt to show the two aspects.
One person who has been ever-present during my Golden Z project is Muyiwa Olawumi, a busker who is almost always to be found on Buchanan Street. Originally from Nigeria, he plays music for a church in the East End of Glasgow, and is constantly changing his busking set-up, going from traditional African drums to karaoke from a laptop.
Finally, wishing you all a very happy New Year. Here’s me on 1 January taking a plunge into the icy waters of 2026.
When you download the app, the subtitle is “Videos, creators & friends”. Photography is gone.
Happy New Year! I admire your dip and look forward to seeing your posts in 2026! The double exposure is very cleaver and effective. Nice!
Happy New Year!!