2 Months as a Homeless Photographer

Time on the road reflecting ...

July 27 and two months into my road trip. I have been living in my Dodge Ram 2500 which has a canopy on the back of the 8 foot truck bed. It’s way too tight for anything but sleeping in the back so I am either in the cab or in my tarped area over the back of the truck.

I worked for a couple weeks after my last post and left in mid-June. I have been driving around South-West British Columbia since. My aim was to explore more natural compositions and take some time out to reflect on my photography and life. A couple things here; I hadn’t considered how much time gets eaten up just surviving, finding overnight spots, keeping the cooler cold, and the price of gas today. Things are getting really tight and getting out of this situation isn’t gonna be easy.

So technically, I am one of the driving homeless. There are so many people doing what I am doing through low income, disabilities, health issues and addiction. Some spots I pull into are full. We are the ones caught between the street and a home. We are still working or capable of it, but can’t afford the rent or having no fixed address makes it harder too. My eyes have truly been open to how many people are transient or travelers and largely invisible because they’re not on the street in plain sight or panhandling. They are working minimum wage jobs.

Journaling this photographically feels exploitative and a few I have asked have declined because who wants photos of such a time in your life? I also do not have my editing suite and my laptop don’t have the ram to support Capture One in an efficient manner so I can’t edit. However, I have taken many natural shots and I have not reviewed any image over two days old so that I see them with a fresh eye when I can edit again.

One thing has repeatedly come to mind. The way social media and especially Instagram has created this whole world revolving around amateur and hobbyist photographers and models. Fifteen years ago, being a photographer or a model was an elite job. Freelance modeling didn’t exist as it does today and although there have always been photographers of art or glamour or nudes, the sheer number today supports the ‘internet modeling industry’. Model Mayhem, Purpleport, One Model Place have taken advantage of this phenomenon and cashed in on it.

Just as in the world of music and home production, photographic art has evolved into a digital world of home producers. Musicians took to this because they were sick of paying to play. That is, they were sick of paying to do gigs, being exploited by venues, promoters, and producers and having to pay to get their music out there. This photographic world involving models is becoming the same. I’ve seen many togs who only release on IG. I mean most shoots probably go unseen unless you are on IG. Photographers are bearing the cost of this platform. From models to workshops, studios to equipment stores; who is paying?

I am by no means saying models don’t pay for their work too but if there are costs to earning money (as there usually is) these costs are absorbed by the rate of compensation. Being involved as a manager of a couple smaller bands on the London gigging circuit, I know how much it costs both financially and time-spent to get music (which is an art too) out there. And I don’t want to do it with photography too.

This is only my viewpoint. I have never paid another musician to collaborate to record a piece if it was for release. We always split what was made but nobody charged me up front. I’m just saying…. I’m not trying to work with professional models for nothing. I am just becoming aware of the similarities between these two worlds and why the UK set up the Musicians Union.

So, I wonder how many models have their career or work largely supported by IG? I did a poll recently and although it was a very small cohort (10 models), 50% got most of their work from IG, 30% from Model Mayhem, 10% Purpleport, 10% other. I found that supporting to my theory about IG’s place in the market.

Another note is I am starting to refer to myself as a Life Photographer rather than Art Nude. I find the term carries less negative perceptions even when I explain it to non-photographers.

Well, that’s my update and maybe something for you to ponder. My battery is running very low and so I must go.

Until next time, stay hydrated my friends.