An article in the Daily Mail drew my attention to the photography of Lee Jeffries. Having worked with the homeless on two continents, I found his work compelling.
The homeless rarely find themselves in the limelight, but amateur photographer Lee Jeffries has made them the focus of his work.
He’s produced a haunting set of black-and-white portraits of people living on the streets of Europe and the U.S.
Every face is shown in incredible detail and is full of emotion.
Forty-year-old Jeffries, from Bolton – who’s an accountant by day - first began photographing the homeless in 2008 while visiting London.
While walking through Leicester Square he took a picture of a homeless girl in a sleeping bag from a distance without her noticing, but she spotted him.
His initial instinct was to slip away, but instead he decided to strike up a conversation with her.
‘She kicked up a right fuss! I was incredibly embarrassed and was faced with a decision - walk away, or go and apologise,’ he told Lomography.sk.
‘I chose the latter and her story and subsequent images I took of her changed my approach to street photography forever.’
There's more at the link.
The pictures above, and many more, may be viewed in larger sizes at Mr. Jeffries' Flickr photo stream. I highly recommend clicking over to it to view his photographs for yourself. They're worth your time.
Peter
1 comment:
In black and white I see their world.
Their faces calm, resigned.
Behind the lens their lives are what?
Damn, you! Guess!
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