Homeless Photographer

...it's that time of year - the days are short, darkness sets quickly, the dread of Christmas consumerism is in the air and photographers generally tend to feel broke and exposed as work quietens down during the festive period. It just so happened that I went 'round a friend's house (who also happens to be a photographer), and his hallway was clogged with a huge cardboard box, discarded packaging for a piece of furniture or something.

We joked that this would soon become his new domicile if things continue to slide the way they have done for years - i.e. if more clients start demanding 'all rights' or ask for reduced fees, refuse to pay post-production, or simply go to cheaper photographers who will shoot any job for £ 150.00 'all in'.

There was a good deal of black humour in our reasoning (more like, lamenting the same story year-in, year-out) until I said that I have a little Powershot S70 on me, and so why don't we go outside and shoot a few pictures with it and the cardboard box?

My friend gladly obliged, insisting that he didn't want to be recognised, pulled a hat over his face and duly laid down on the pavement and made himself at home in his new-found portable budget-residence. It was predictably dark and cold, and my little gizmo being limited to low ISO settings and long shutter speeds produced fairly smudgy pictures. Those that were usable from our five-minute madness appear here, and they are worth more to me than the last few portrait sessions taken together.