I was walking down Parliament Street past Regent Park when I heard a voice: Excuse me. Excuse me. May I ask you a question? There was a man sitting on some steps. He held out his hand and asked for money. I gave him a twonie. He asked if I had any more so I gave him a loonie and told him that was it. I kept walking south, and as I was passing the apartments at Moss Park, I heard footsteps rushing up behind me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I ask you a question? I stopped and turned and said: You already did. He said: I know. So I cut him a deal. If he let me take his picture, I’d give him the rest of the change in my pocket.
This is Abdul. He’s lived in Toronto for 16 years. He says he lives near Danforth and Broadview. I asked if he was getting cold now that winter’s here. He says he doesn’t mind the cold as long as he can eat. He likes Toronto because he can eat here. When he was a child, he sometimes went three, four, five days without food. Now he eats all the time.
An hour later, I came back the same way. Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I ask you a question? I told him I didn’t have any more change. I already gave him all my change. A different question. Can you take my picture again? So I took this picture of him sitting on the steps.
When I was done, I showed him the photos. He seemed pleased.
I had a real interest in photographing the homeless and still might get into it one day. Initially I didn’t pursue it because I was afraid I might be exploiting them. You have definitely not done that. You have captured people with respect and sensitivity.
Thanks for bringing them to life David, it’s such important work.
Diane
Thanks, Diane. The ethics of street photography, especially when you’re shooting homeless people, is tricky. There’s the whole do-I-ask-permission/lose-the-spontaneity-of-the-moment debate. Personally, I think it’s a false debate. Since, either way, there are no consequences to photographers (the homeless guy isn’t going sue us), all the responsibility rests with us to look at the resulting images and decide whether the people in them have been accorded dignity. Even then, I’m not sure dignity is the ultimate measure of an ethical photo. What if our aim is to critique systems that strip people of their dignity? Maybe, sometimes, we need to record people in less than dignified situations. As for exploitation, I see it as an absolute rule: don’t sell the photos. Don’t make money off their backs.