I took photos of 36 electric boxes in Buenos Aires and made some decent dough from them. Odd subjects often pay better than postcard views

While most visitors in Buenos Aires point their cameras at the colorful houses of La Boca or the tango dancers in San Telmo, I spent my time photographing something far less obvious. Electricity meters. Thirty-six of them, to be exact. 

Hardly glamorous, but this typological way of working not only feeds my creative curiosity but has also become my most profitable body of work of 2025. Prints have sold at the Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair, through the gallery that represents me, and through online sales. Not bad for some scragglly little electric meter boxes. 

I was drawn to these meters because repetition has its own magnetic pull, and it’s something I seem to do a lot of. Like a collector.  A single box is nothing. A grid of thirty-six suddenly becomes a study in form, character and place. Each meter offered its own quirks. Weathered paint. Exposed wires. Stickers and tags. Put together, they formed an informal and slightly unusual portrait of the city. Locals and tourists watched me with a mix of confusion and amusement, although a couple ended up photographing the boxes too, which I will take as a win.

What really surprised me was the commercial response. I guess some people want work that feels rooted in place but not clichéd by it. These meters are everyday features that residents barely register, yet seen together, they become something larger. They carry texture, humor, and a kind of rough honesty. That seems to resonate.

The idea has continued to ripple outward. On a recent trip to Lisbon in Portugal, I photographed thirty-six gas meter boxes using much the same approach. They have already begun to sell and look set to be another oddly profitable chapter in this growing series. It turns out there is a healthy appetite for images that sit outside the predictable travel portfolio of touristic imagery.

There is probably a similar typology waiting on your own doorstep. Doors. Air vents. Garage gates. Drain covers. Anything that repeats is worth a second look. Odd subjects deepen your ability to see. Every now and then, they can maybe boost the bank balance.