Diary Entry, Changing My Mind

Photographing Homelessness

11 December 2023

Bristol

Throughout the year, I’ve been talking to people about their experiences of homelessness. People I have met at the dropin café and the food bank. I have taken their photograph in those places and that feels fair, appropriate and dignified.

I have always thought I wouldn’t photograph a person homeless, sitting on the street. I’ve seen many photos like this. Photographing someone who is so exposed and vulnerable has never sat right with me. But now, as homelessness has increased on our streets and is so visible, and the situation has got so much worse, I have been questioning that decision. This feeling has been building. I am also aware that by not photographing people who are actively experiencing homelessness and are rough sleeping, I am leaving those people out. I am excluding those voices.

I had seen Ramsey a few times, but never when I had my camera. This time it was his hat with coins on it that caught my eye. I rushed back to my studio and picked up my camera. I asked if could photograph his hat and afterwards if I could photograph him with his ferret. I’ve put the hat photo in the exhibition edit, without showing Ramsey. But now, it doesn’t feel right for me to exclude him from this work. I’ve since been back and shown him the photos. He is happy for me to use them in the book. Ramsey lives in a tent, on a nature reserve on the edge of the city. It’s near a friend’s house, where he can get water and use the toilet. He only comes down to East Street some days when he needs cash. The people in Greggs look out for him.

This is an extract from my book The Magic Money Tree, published by Bluecoat Press .https://bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/the-magic-money-tree/

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