Tag Archives: homeless

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Does there have to be suffering?


So the past few weeks have been busy, I have been trying to reflect on what it really means to be homeless. When I started out this project I just wanted to do some community service and take some nice pictures, but it became so much more. I realized that being homeless doesn’t just mean you don’t have a place to call home or a bed to sleep in; it affects and is your life. I also learned that there isn’t only one type of homeless, everybody situation is unique and everyone is homeless for different reasons. Throughout this project so far, the one thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of treating the reason why people are homeless and not just treating the homeless. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people so far, many of them homeless and they have all had a lot to say about the resources that are there for them. Many raved about how wonderful they all are and how they don’t know where they would be without them. then there have been so many people that I have met who don’t even know that resources that try and help get them back on their feet, give them food or a safe place to stay even exist. They have been thinking that they are completely on their own. What good are these places if people don’t know about them? But then that also leads to the problem of once everyone knows then there won’t be enough help to help all of the homeless people. All of this has made me think a lot about awareness and advocacy, because I know that right now I can’t help everyone even if I tried. Take a look around you, what little thing can you do? Something that should go hand in hand with awareness is consideration and being conscious of what’s around you.

Any can be an advocate, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you and make a conscious effort to at least think about things. I understand everyone can’t or won’t do everything to help homeless people, but being aware takes virtually no time and will cost you nothing. Because maybe everyone just being aware isn’t enough, but if more people are aware I feel like there is more of a chance that something or someone will do something about it. Homeless people aren’t going to go away and the reasons why people become homeless aren’t either, why does anybody deserve to suffer or struggle?

Stumbling Upon the Homeless

Today being the first day of non preparatory work for this project, I woke up early  to try and get some pictures of a known
homeless home. I took a brief walk about two minutes down a path to find a small tent with a homeless person living in it. I’ve never met the person that lives here but I see them walk down this hill everyday. It was a blue tent down by the railroad tracks with the obvious signs of inhabitants. Thrown about are food wrappers and general garbage. Since it had rained last night the ground was wet and spongy and I could see holes in the tent that must have let the water in. Its just like camping but with beat up gear and you have to do it everyday. I spent about two minutes taking pictures and then left not wanting to run into the person who lives there. That when I realized that they were in there the whole time, I could see a cat peer through the little window in the tent. I thought about how it might feel to have someone come and take pictures of me in my home. I felt like I was trespassing even though I was on a public path. All of the sudden that space that the city owns, he has claimed a stake to. I couldn’t tell if i was in the wrong or he was. Something about me being there felt weird. I felt bad for taking pictures of his tent and garbage like it was a zoo. I really with I could have known if anyone was there. At the same time it really made me think, is that how homeless people feel? Do they feel like people look and stare like a zoo? I would hate that. Or do homeless people feel normal? This really got me thinking
about how even though I’ve had homeless friends and know homeless people, but I have no idea what if feels like to be homeless. This brought up that if I am trying to create images from the homeless perspective how am I might need to do some more thinking before I go out and shoot ag
ain. My photos are very observatory, it doesn’t make you feel what it is to be homeless. All of this really gave me a lot to think about. It also gave me a whole new appreciation for this project.

I really hope I didn’t offend that man. This project is aimed at helping the homeless, the last thing I would want to to is cause harm.

                

Stumbling Upon the Homeless

Today being the first day of non preparatory work for this project, I woke up early  to try and get some pictures of a known
homeless home. I took a brief walk about two minutes down a path to find a small tent with a homeless person living in it. I’ve never met the person that lives here but I see them walk down this hill everyday. It was a blue tent down by the railroad tracks with the obvious signs of inhabitants. Thrown about are food wrappers and general garbage. Since it had rained last night the ground was wet and spongy and I could see holes in the tent that must have let the water in. Its just like camping but with beat up gear and you have to do it everyday. I spent about two minutes taking pictures and then left not wanting to run into the person who lives there. That when I realized that they were in there the whole time, I could see a cat peer through the little window in the tent. I thought about how it might feel to have someone come and take pictures of me in my home. I felt like I was trespassing even though I was on a public path. All of the sudden that space that the city owns, he has claimed a stake to. I couldn’t tell if i was in the wrong or he was. Something about me being there felt weird. I felt bad for taking pictures of his tent and garbage like it was a zoo. I really with I could have known if anyone was there. At the same time it really made me think, is that how homeless people feel? Do they feel like people look and stare like a zoo? I would hate that. Or do homeless people feel normal? This really got me thinking
about how even though I’ve had homeless friends and know homeless people, but I have no idea what if feels like to be homeless. This brought up that if I am trying to create images from the homeless perspective how am I might need to do some more thinking before I go out and shoot ag
ain. My photos are very observatory, it doesn’t make you feel what it is to be homeless. All of this really gave me a lot to think about. It also gave me a whole new appreciation for this project.

I really hope I didn’t offend that man. This project is aimed at helping the homeless, the last thing I would want to to is cause harm.

                

Stumbling Upon the Homeless

Today being the first day of non preparatory work for this project, I woke up early  to try and get some pictures of a known
homeless home. I took a brief walk about two minutes down a path to find a small tent with a homeless person living in it. I’ve never met the person that lives here but I see them walk down this hill everyday. It was a blue tent down by the railroad tracks with the obvious signs of inhabitants. Thrown about are food wrappers and general garbage. Since it had rained last night the ground was wet and spongy and I could see holes in the tent that must have let the water in. Its just like camping but with beat up gear and you have to do it everyday. I spent about two minutes taking pictures and then left not wanting to run into the person who lives there. That when I realized that they were in there the whole time, I could see a cat peer through the little window in the tent. I thought about how it might feel to have someone come and take pictures of me in my home. I felt like I was trespassing even though I was on a public path. All of the sudden that space that the city owns, he has claimed a stake to. I couldn’t tell if i was in the wrong or he was. Something about me being there felt weird. I felt bad for taking pictures of his tent and garbage like it was a zoo. I really with I could have known if anyone was there. At the same time it really made me think, is that how homeless people feel? Do they feel like people look and stare like a zoo? I would hate that. Or do homeless people feel normal? This really got me thinking
about how even though I’ve had homeless friends and know homeless people, but I have no idea what if feels like to be homeless. This brought up that if I am trying to create images from the homeless perspective how am I might need to do some more thinking before I go out and shoot ag
ain. My photos are very observatory, it doesn’t make you feel what it is to be homeless. All of this really gave me a lot to think about. It also gave me a whole new appreciation for this project.

I really hope I didn’t offend that man. This project is aimed at helping the homeless, the last thing I would want to to is cause harm.

                

Stumbling Upon the Homeless

Today being the first day of non preparatory work for this project, I woke up early  to try and get some pictures of a known
homeless home. I took a brief walk about two minutes down a path to find a small tent with a homeless person living in it. I’ve never met the person that lives here but I see them walk down this hill everyday. It was a blue tent down by the railroad tracks with the obvious signs of inhabitants. Thrown about are food wrappers and general garbage. Since it had rained last night the ground was wet and spongy and I could see holes in the tent that must have let the water in. Its just like camping but with beat up gear and you have to do it everyday. I spent about two minutes taking pictures and then left not wanting to run into the person who lives there. That when I realized that they were in there the whole time, I could see a cat peer through the little window in the tent. I thought about how it might feel to have someone come and take pictures of me in my home. I felt like I was trespassing even though I was on a public path. All of the sudden that space that the city owns, he has claimed a stake to. I couldn’t tell if i was in the wrong or he was. Something about me being there felt weird. I felt bad for taking pictures of his tent and garbage like it was a zoo. I really with I could have known if anyone was there. At the same time it really made me think, is that how homeless people feel? Do they feel like people look and stare like a zoo? I would hate that. Or do homeless people feel normal? This really got me thinking
about how even though I’ve had homeless friends and know homeless people, but I have no idea what if feels like to be homeless. This brought up that if I am trying to create images from the homeless perspective how am I might need to do some more thinking before I go out and shoot ag
ain. My photos are very observatory, it doesn’t make you feel what it is to be homeless. All of this really gave me a lot to think about. It also gave me a whole new appreciation for this project.

I really hope I didn’t offend that man. This project is aimed at helping the homeless, the last thing I would want to to is cause harm.