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Portrait Without A Person?

from Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com)

Homeless Man, Copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

Can a portrait exist without the physical presence of the person?

Photographs of homeless people usually evoke pity or horror. I've thought for a long time about photographing the things that homeless people care about in order to show something more. But I'm not sure if the result can be considered a portrait. And most homeless people don't feel good about how they look and resent being photographed.

I was at the Santa Barbara Mission, one of the Spanish missions built by Indian slave labor under the direction of Father Juniper Serra (well my political views are probably something for another time) and there was a man sitting on a bench outside, sporadically writing on a piece of paper. I went over and talked to him for around an hour, he told me he was homeless, I asked about the writing, and he told me it was his journal. Eventually, I asked if I could photograph it. He got up, walked away from the bench, and this was what I got.

I feel as if this is a far better portrait than showing his face (which was quite interesting). But maybe it isn't a portrait...

(posted 8568 days ago)

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