If photographer Andy Parker had £1 for every time someone said his pictures were rubbish he’d be a rich man.

The 27-year-old has developed a penchant for bins – and he just can’t stop snapping them.

The unusual choice of subject matter came about when Andy took a creative photography course at Garage Studios in Vine Street, Brighton.

He picked bins as the focus of his two-month project on street photography.

Andy, who lives in Kemp Town, Brighton, admitted that at first he was sceptical about the project as he was more interested in snapping bands and documenting the city’s vibrant music scene.

But as the project progressed, Andy found himself becoming increasingly interested in the subject matter.

He said: “I used to really despise street photography, all those photos of people sitting on park benches eating their lunch or whatever.

“We looked at other photographers’ work where they had taken a photo every day for a year or sometimes a selfportrait every day.

“They are essentially fairly boring photos but when you put them together you can really admire the collection.

“After I started photographing bins, I could see that they had started to evolve in my mind and get their own characters.

“I started seeing them in a new light and would spend ages walking around looking for them and taking photos.”

He added: “People would come up to me and say, ‘You realise that photo is going to be rubbish’.”

Andy took about 500 pictures for the project but whittled them down to his favourites for his online Flickr album.

He named the collection Trash Flavoured Trash = Trash Flavoured Trash after a song by American band The Blood Brothers.

But although the project has now ended, Andy is unable to escape the allure of the bins.

He said: “I tried to stop and for a few months I didn’t put any more images up on to Flickr but they still went on to my laptop.

Everywhere I go I see bins and I’m still fascinated by them.”

Click here to view the full collection of Andy's bin photos.

Have you got a strange collection of photos? Tell us below or email news@theargus.co.uk.