Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out

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help the homeless

when i was at college we were encouraged to photograph everything and everyone: happy times and bad times

but i was always against photographing homeless people, which felt exploitative.

at college i volunteered at a homeless centre and did a story about homelessness which didnt feature the people on the streets, but the places where they slept and the graffiti they left behind

years later i was asked to curate an exhibition of photos that homeless kids had shot of their lives: their lives through their eyes, shot on camera phones they were given.

they almost all immediately went and sold the cameraphones for other more immediately useful consumables

and i ended up having to do some photos myself so there was an actual exhibition.

which was not the plan but i got spend some weeks with young homeless kids in Manchester, Liverpool and London etc.

and i tried to photograph the kids with the same respect as i would photograph a celebrity.

and they apparently wanted to be photographed by me, as i'd been on tv and they knew i'd photographed lots of celebrities they knew.

this guy currently lives in my town, and sometimes near my house

a lot of people are trying to help him and gift him clothes, food and drink but he doesnt seem really interested.

i feel extremely uncomfortable photographing this guy outside in the cold, from my warm house, on a long lens

but

maybe its good to show this picture, to remember that we have it good and not everyone does, and people need our help...

donate some HERE

Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: December 04, 2023