“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”
Photo: 'hot' Tucson July 4th 2017
July 4th, 2017 - Tucson, Arizona
streets and sidewalks bare of cars and pedestrians
temperature 105 degrees
I had reservations about posting this image. It’s not so much the man or the ethnicity that is the subject of the photograph but it is about the condition – the moment. Obviously, I was not able to ask for permission for this photo without waking him.
I hesitate taking images of people sleeping in the streets suffering the worst time of their lives or lingering in parks waiting for a feeding. Photographing homeless people makes me uncomfortable. Some photographers pursue these types of photos because their goals are to draw attention to the challenges of homelessness, to petition change and to solicit action through their images.
I understand that the homeless occupy their own private space on the street. Some believe that shooting a photo of a homeless person is a violation of that person’s privacy and is creating illegitimate work. I find it difficult to agree with the entirety of that thought. Is there any situation where privacy is voluntary and privacy is relinquished?
I avoid obvious shots of intrusion and regard the homeless as unfortunate souls who deserve respect and privacy. It is a challenge to respectfully photograph scenes that characterizes the human condition within public places creating photographs that tell a story and leaves us curious.
In 2016 Tucson reported that out of 1762 homeless people in shelter and housing: 211 were chronically homeless, 479 were chronically mentally ill, 460 with a substance use disorder, 90 with HIV/AIDS, 333 were victims of domestic abuse, and 281 were veterans - by no means, do these numbers give an accurate picture of homelessness overall.
The image of this man, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag on a 105 degree day, sleeping on a hot steel bus stop bench, leaves me distrubingly curious about his story..
What set this man on the road to homelessness? Is this man ‘chronically homeless’ – does he have a medical, mental or addictive condition? Did he step out of a mental health program? Did he find shelters too difficult to live in and then determined that the safest place to sleep was on a sidewalk bench?
What responsibility does society have for our homeless? Do we fear homelessness? Do we worry that homelessness could happen to us?" Do we judge the homeless, sometimes in disdain or disgust, wondering, "why aren’t they working? can they do more than just beg?".
Every day we pass people on the streets but do we see them?
If I were on the streets, with no hope, would I lose my mind, start taking drugs or drinking? Have the homeless become so invisible that we might not notice our own family members living on the street? Would I too become invisible?
From sorrow and despair to compassion and respect, I sit in tears over this image.
. . . photography - the art of capturing life, culture, and humanity