Self-taught photographer goes viral on TikTok with pictures of Glasgow

Andres McNeill started taking pictures during lockdown to learn a new skill but is now earning hundreds of thousands of views on his TikTok videos sharing his pictures of the city.

Andres, from Paisley, currently works full-time but now also works with commercial clients and hopes to make the transition to working as a full-time photographer.

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Picture by Andres McNeill

The 29-year-old said: "I just started making videos and then it just spiralled into making content for other people instead of myself and it’s all self-taught.

"I’ve always enjoyed taking photos on my phone and it’s always intrigued me being able to take photos and the art of photography, but I wasn’t really aware of how to approach it, especially with a full-time job as well.

"I never even really thought about taking the time or learning how to do photography but then I just kind of started watching some YouTube videos and got inspired by some other photographers and it’s spiralled from there to be honest, and I’ve not looked back since.

"Pretty much from lockdown there was a lot of free time, so it was the best time to start picking up a new skill."

Andres McNeill. Picture by Colin Mearns.

Andres now has more than 9000 followers on TikTok, with his videos earning him more than 147,000 likes, and more than 15,000 followers on Instagram where he often shares photos of Glasgow and its people.

He says he didn’t expect his photos to get so much attention and says "it's amazing".

Andres said: "When I first started social media it was sharing photos just for the sake of sharing photos and the enjoyment of it. I wasn’t really expecting it to pick up so much, especially on TikTok.

"I’d used TikTok before and never got much traction with it but when I started posting photos of Glasgow it blew up.

"It’s quite astronomical to be honest and not expected at all.

"I’m just a simple person from Paisley so hearing some responses of people saying it’s inspired them to take up photography, it’s really heart-warming and it inspires me as well to go out and continue to shoot."

Picture by Andres McNeill

Andres says he enjoys taking pictures of the city because of both its architecture and the diversity of the people.

"I always thought Glasgow is such an interesting place because it’s a really eclectic mix of people, especially depending on what part of Glasgow you’re in as well," he says.

"I feel like there’s maybe not enough of Glasgow street photography on display so I thought it’s maybe something that’s not been tapped into really as a niche and I feel like it’s a really good thing to see.

"Maybe 50 years down the line you can see what life was like in Glasgow in the years 2020 and 2022."

Andres McNeill. Picture by Colin Mearns.

He continued: "I do enjoy going round the West End area just because of the mix of people you get there, but I’d say probably my favourite is around Glasgow central area because you’ve got all this amazing architecture in the central area but then also it’s got that really nice city vibe where you’re going to see people in their day-to-day lives."

So what do people think when they spot themselves online?

"It’s happened quite a few times where someone will see it on TikTok and they’ll say ‘that’s my friend’ and then they’ll contact me and we’ll have a conversation and then I send them the photo and stuff like that," Andres says.

"Or sometimes after taking a photo I’ll go up and speak to the person and just get their thoughts on it.

"Most of the time they say 'that’s really good', then there’s the occasional time it’s like 'could you delete that', but it’s mostly positive."

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Picture by Andres McNeill

And it’s not just people in Glasgow enjoying Andres’ work, with Instagram followers from around the world being inspired to visit.

He said: "For the longest time, about six months ago, a lot of my followers came from Iran and there were a lot of people saying 'I’d love to visit here'.

"A lot of followers are from different countries, so it’s pretty cool."

You can see more of Andres’ pictures on Instagram HERE or on TikTok HERE.