Homeless photography tips

<p>Hi all,<br>

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips or advice on photographing the homeless. I know I don't want to take your cliche portrait that portrays sympathy or any photograph that gives off any mood of that nature. I want to photograph the homeless in a way that can let an audience perceive them as a normal human being and not as an outcast or someone lower in our society. I'm just not finding ways to successfully get this idea across, although I know it would be difficult. Any help is appreciated.<br>

Thanks</p>

<p>Justin,<br>

I'm not going to offer any advice myself except to say "Welcome to PN" and "Please be prepared to hear some harsh questioning along with any good advice you get". The concept of homeless photography comes up every so often here (and on other photography forums) and can elicit some fairly strong reactions and opinions.</p>

<p>To our regulars,</p>

<p>Keep it mellow. You are all smart and can make your point without being a jerk.</p>

<p>OK, I'll be the first to jump in.</p>

<p>You may have difficulty "finding ways to successfully get this idea across" because you "want to photograph the homeless" rather than "a normal human being". You wish to portray them as such which is good but you still identify them, even unintentionally, as a different subject matter.</p>

<p>Photographic technique is not the issue. Its the mindset, benevolent as it is. When you shoot them with the same intent and approach as any other "normal human being" and not" to get a message across" for an audience, THEN the message will get across.</p>

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<p>I'm just not finding ways to successfully get this idea across, although I know it would be difficult.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Justin, out of curiosity, what "ways" came to mind? I can only think of one way to achieve your goal, and that is to spend lots of time getting to know the subjects on a personal level. How well you know them, may be the determining factor of whether you get your message across to the audience.</p>

<p>Just be prepared to have your photograph taken in return ;-)</p>

<p>Step 1: declare bankruptcy. 2: divorce your sig. other, leave your children and pets. 3: throw away your 'nice' clothes, keep something warm and durable... pay attention to shoes! Good shoes are your best friend. 4: stake out a spot, refrigerator boxes are at a premium, I suggest you find an old tent from Wal Mart or something. Keep a P&S camera, of course. 5: get to know the people around you, earn their trust. 6: if you still feel like taking pictures of 'the homeless', you'll understand how to portray them as human. Whatever you do, don't take your cues from Mel Brooks or Eddie Murphy or any of the Hollywood portrayals of 'forgotten men'.</p>

<p>Alternate: leave the camera at home, spend a few months volunteering with soup kitchens and charities that supply winter coats and sleeping bags for the homeless. Go to step 5 above.</p>

I like Jody's recommendation a lot. That would the approach I'd start with if I were going to cover that

subject.

<p>As a person who has been working with homeless folks since October of 2000, I have learned and seen allot in all that time. In addition to my personal ministry with those less fortunate than I, I am also a volunteer and donor to the Union rescue mission. (Skid row in L.A.).. Having said that, it took me 10 years to even think about photographing them and when i did, I turned it into a positive. Even at that, I only have a few. Those that I do have I know pretty well. I hope your motives are well intended and not for personal gain. Here are the most important things that I have learned when dealing with them.</p>

<p>1) They are no less of a human being than you or I.</p>

<p>2) God loves them the same as you and I.</p>

<p>3) Always ask them their name. I can't stress how important this is because it will give them a sense of identity. Do not forget their name. I always write it down in my prayer book and pray for them.</p>

<p>4) Don't preach to them. They hear enough of that. What they need is clothes, hygiene products, chap stick, tooth brushes, tooth paste, socks especially. Food is also important, but not the most important. Most can feed themselves. Let your good deeds do the preaching.</p>

<p>5) If you take their picture, be sure and go back and give them a print. You would be amazed at how much this will mean to them and again, call them by name....</p>

<p>6) Listen to what Jody said.....</p>

<p>More info here. click and scroll down to Julian and work your way down.<br /> <a href="http://jgredline.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html">http://jgredline.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html</a></p>

<p>You might check out the book by Robert Bergman "A Kind of Rapture" and also go to the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art podcasts for a great interview with him--as well as a reading by the author that wrote the forward to the book (not really much about the work, more her reading of the poem that opened the book). By the way, there are a lot of great podcasts there, including many on Robert Frank's The Amercians.</p>

<p>There is a YouTube video someone made of another of his exhibitions in New York, just search his name there.</p>

<p>Here is a link to a discussion of a photographer's work who has been photographing the homeless for years. This thread started to have a tone that often arises about exploitation and the photographer did come and join the discussion to explain what she does and why: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pndissidentcafe/discuss/72157624427215889/?search=andrea+star+reese</p>

<p>The most important thing, IMO, is that if you are going to do it, have a purpose and actually do it. Taking some photos here and there doesn't do anything for anyone. If you are serious, be very serious.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Well I have been working with this gay homeless couple by the names of Rich and Rey both 49 years of age and a african american woman by the name of Wilma. I honestly have spent time with my subjects. I like to get to know who I work with before I even take a photograph of them. I have gotten to know these people who I work with well, up to a certain point, but I just don't feel like I'm photographing them succesfullly and the way my intentions are. <br>

Most of the people I have worked with don't have many activities to do during their regular routine day. I realize that more now so then before after time spent with them. Either they observe or pan handle or fly signs, which I understand.<br>

I just still get that same sobb story photo. I realize that their life is not easy and I don't degrade or look down upon them like theyre any different from me. Maybe just my idea is ignorant or not realistic. I just don't know how to portray them in a different way. I don't want people to view them that way.<br>

Unfortunately, yes these people live a life they don't like and some mostly forced into. I just can't find a way to do what I want without going to extreme measures and making them pose or do something they do not want to do. It would not make the photo real and the emotion real it would be fake. And I want the emotion and feeling of the viewer to see the photo of this person as a normal regular human being. After all each person who has lived a life of hardship started out somewhere like everyone else. </p>

<p>But I agree with all of you, maybe I should spend more time helping and spending time with my subjects, rather than photographing. It would most likely help me understand how to do it affectively.<br>

Thanks to all for the responses by the way, all great. I appreciate.</p>

<p>I think John, B. Christopher, and Jody S. all gave really good advice. Most practically, I think if I were going to do this I would follow Jody S.'s advice. Another possibility is to ride the night owl busses if you have those in your area. You will find a whole world there.</p>

<p>If you are trying to portray them as a "normal" person then the only thing that should be setting a photo of a homeless vs a non-homeless person apart is the outer appearance of the person in question. In other words, you are looking to find those non-homeless behavioural qualities (i.e. forget what they look like, look for their expressions) and capture them on film. With that in mind, you should be able to just take a picture of them as you would any other person, which goes back to one of the first responses regarding your personal mindset. You need to get over the idea that they are a homeless person. Spending a lot of time with them and getting to know them is a way but it will probably take a while before you are on a level where they are good friends to you and not just a "homeless person you happen to talk with".</p>

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<p>I just don't feel like I'm photographing them succesfullly and the way my intentions are.</p>

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<p>That's the problem. You have intentions. If you had none, knowingly or even approaching subconsciously, you would have wonderful images of your friends with the full spectrum of emotion with other aspects as incidental but, maybe useful, afterthoughts. Instead, you have images of your homeless friends.</p>

<p>First of all, are you doing this as paid assignment? If so, check with what they are looking for. Often times publications don't allow for a lot of wiggle room creativity wise. Find out what exactly they want and judge for yourself how creative you can be.</p>

<p>Second, forget the notion of portraying them as normal people. Portrayal is something actors do. Your concern should be to photograph them as they are. Are you yourself homeless? If not then they are different from you, me and most other people. Are you mentally ill? If not, most of them are different from you, me, and most other people. Are you addicted to dugs and/or alcohol? If not then most of them are different from you, me and most others. See where I'm going? They are different. Does this mean they don't deserve the same respect bestowed upon others? Absolutely not. Does this mean they should not be treated with dignity? Of course not. Therefore unless you are being retained to produce a body of work, I suggest you really think about why you want to go down this path. There are so many photographers taking homeless people photographs that it seems to have become some sort of rite of passage to anyone who, after picking up a dslr, suddenly wants to be a photojournalist. So really think about your motives. Many such photographers conveniently sidestep the exploitive nature of what they are doing by calling it "compassionate social concern" photography.</p>

<p>Now then have I photographed homeless people? Yes, I have. However on these occasions I was asked to. As someone who decided early on to avoid the homeless photography route, I was a bit surprised at first when these opportunities arose. However, obviously something about my previous unrelated work and/or my personality made these organizations feel that I was the right person for the job. It was while working on these that I discovered that homeless people are in fact not like the rest of society. They may have been at one point in their lives, but they are not now in the present and photography is about what is right now. At least that is the way it is for me. They have made choices in their lives that have got them to where they are. Sure there are those that blame capitalism or or some other social/political movement. However, I believe that we are responsible for our own destiny. As you sow, so shall you reap as the old saying goes. So again, I suggest you seriously examine your motives. If you really truly concerned about these folks (and you are to be commended if you are) then take a more grass roots approach to it: Donate food, clothing, personal hygiene items, etc to your local shelter. Volunteer in a soup kitchen. Offer to tutor those who may need a GED to look for a job. I think doing these will have a more positive effect then being just another homeless photographer.</p>

<p>You've had some sound advice already which I wont repeat.</p>

<p>You want to:</p>

 

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<p>.......photograph the homeless in a way that can let an audience perceive them as a normal human being and not as an outcast or someone lower in our society. I'm just not finding ways to successfully get this idea across</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ok how about photographing people who used to be homeless but have now got their lives back together and in every respect look exactly like the rest of us.</p>

<p>Dont underline the differences, underline the similarities, what we have in common - and the human qualitites of tenacity and resilience. Make this a piece of work thats REALLY of value to people who are homeless, or to the rest of us who look on them with disdain/disgust/empathy/sympathy/love/devotion/despair by showing that the desperately difficult journey for many people in that situation can have a destination. These stories are important ones - for us, maybe for other homeless people, certainly for the subject you are photographing.</p>

<p>Of course that raises the immediate problem. They dont look like homeless people. How do you get around that major visual stumbling block. That's the challenge for you.</p>

<p>I'm not sure I get it. You want to make homeless look like normal human beings. Well why don't you just shoot normal human beings? I mean if you were successful in your objective, would we be able to tell that the subjects were homeless? And if we could tell the subjects were homeless would you have succeeded? I might be inclined to spend a little time considering my objective in more detail or at least how that objective can be articulated. IMO you might not have a real idea yet.</p>

<p>Taking John's point a bit further, if you can identify individuals who were homeless and who now aren't (big if, that one) why not take them back to the environment they lived in whilst homeless and photograph an obviously conventionally homed and jobbed person in a homeless environment? Or equally interesting but just as difficult, shoot clearly homeless people in the spaces they inhabited before becoming homeless? At least in both these cases the type of imagery required in clear from a one-line description. </p>

<p>You also might consider looking for work yourself at jobs likely to employ the homeless or recently homeless. If you yourself worked at such a job for a while, you would gain some insight into the character of the situation that these low paid workers struggle with that you would not acquire by simply showing up one day at a work site with your camera, asking some casual questions like "who here is homeless?", and then snapping away with your camera.<br>

You can find such jobs at employment agencies that supply day laborers for manual labor for jobs such as assembly line workers, traffic flaggers, etc. These jobs typically pay 8 dollars an hour, but are much in demand among workers struggling with homelessness or near-homelessness.</p>

<p>Javier you are right on target. well said</p>

<p>Hey Justin,</p>

<p>You got lots of sound advice here- I am not going to add anything else. But there was a recent article in B&W magazine about Bill Jay and his new book "Men Like Me." You may want to check it out, I feel Bill did a great job of photographing people in his neighborhood that he had gotten to know over the years, and the photos are great. Certainly not your usual homeless portraits/grungy street life stuff. The article in B&W was good too.</p>

<p>Matt</p>

<p>My advice, don't shoot pictures of homeless people. Haven't they been photographed enough without another photographer invading there privacy just to photograph the same old tired cliche.</p>

 

<p>as Marc already implied many of them suffer from (severe) mental disorders and have a long history of substance abuse. Some of them can get extremely aggresive at an instant for no reason that's apparent to you. Watching out for your own safety is perhaps the best tip anyone can give you.</p>

<p>Shooting homeless people is frowned upon sure, I see it here and elsewhere on the internet but I think there's also a lot of hypocrisy floating around. Or are it all just tourists that I see shooting out there and posting photos on the internet?</p>

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<p><em>The most important thing, IMO, is that if you are going to do it, have a purpose and actually do it. Taking some photos here and there doesn't do anything for anyone. If you are serious, be very serious.</em><br /> John A</p>

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<p><br /> a piece of very good advice</p>

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Justin, it sounds like you have already given a lot of thought and time on this project. I think, as long as you continue to have a genuine desire to photograph those around you, and are honest with your photography, it is the best you can do. The photographer's story of contemplations, the struggles, achievements and failures, the joy and suffering, and everything else he experiences in creating the picture, is very much part of the picture. A photograph is only "worth a thousand words", not the entire story, as it were.

<p>Maybe start with getting to know "the homeless" as individual people first rather than a social stereotype? Do some volunteer work. Hang out and have conversations. Buy cups of coffee and lunches. Demonstrate an interest. Go back to the same places on a regular basis. Be friendly and, when possible, helpful.<br>

I find that when you take time to build relationships, even short ones, the photos come much more easily</p>

<p>My personal opinion?<br>

I think it goes into the same box as"photographing dead people". Sure, its a meaty subject, but I wouldn't do it. Now perhaps you might consider volunteering in one of those vans that goes around at night giving homeless people clothes and food. Then, when you are known and trusted by both their clients and the other volunteers, you might take a small camera along, ask politely and then do it.<br>

Apart from that, I don't think the "make more awareness, to attract more assistance" excuse stands up to scrutiny.</p>