Photojournalism

This week, we had to shoot a photojournalism assignment while on our field trip to this year's OCAD Grad Exhibit. We had to take a photo that somehow told a story about our day, and this was my final result. This picture was taken with a Nikon D3100 camera and 18-55mm lens, with an aperture of f8 and shutter speed of 1/125

  I really love this photo a lot. I met this man on Queen Street and asked him if I could take a picture to document a topic that I feel really strongly about, which is the way that society regards homeless people. A huge percent of the population looks down on the homeless and acts as if they are always at fault for their misfortune, when that is often not the case at all. A common myth in regards to homelessness is that the majority homeless people are schizophrenic and therefore dangerous, or lazy and unwilling to find a job. Both of these are not true. In fact, only 6% of the homeless population in Toronto is reported to suffer from schizophrenia, and 26% of Canadian families with employed family members do not make enough money to be able to afford a proper home. The most common reason for homelessness is lack of ability to pay rent, which is true for 53% of the homeless population, while reasons such as drug and alcohol abuse are only about 8%. People automatically assume that any money the homeless receive from begging they will use negatively, and use that as an excuse to not give them anything. I think, however, that if you have the opportunity to help someone out and it will cost you literally a few dollars, then there is no reason that you shouldn't take it. It could help them out in a huge way, and will have little to no impact on your life. A large population of the Canadian homeless do not have access to basic human necessities and consequently die from conditions such as lack of food or extreme heat/cold. Many of them also suffer from various affective disorders such as bipolar disorder and are simply not getting the amount of help they need from mental health institutions, preventing them from being fully functional members of society. To them, just a few dollars could make a big difference.

     The man in this photo was incredibly kind, and I was so glad he let me take a picture of him. He was super funny and told me that he charges $50 per photo, but I did not have that much money so we had to compromise a little bit. However, he was very nice about it and as soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was the one I was going to use for this assignment. I love the honesty of his sign, that he wants people to know that he is a good person who has just fallen on hard times and not a bad person attempting to take advantage of people. It is kind of hard to see, but there is also a little note on the sign that reads "Hoodie was gift!!", which I also love. It makes me so so happy to know that there are people in the world who are so abundantly kind to others, and also inspires me to better myself in that way too. 

   I can definitely see this photo on the front of the Toronto Star, as I think that this issue is one that people need to be made aware of. As a society, we should be working supporting these people who are being denied basic human rights and working to abolish homelessness altogether. Instead, however, we are ignoring them and pretending that they don't exist, as if that will make the problem go away. I think that this shameful behaviour needs to stop now, and we as a society just need to focus on helping to solve this problem instead of stupidly hoping it will fix itself. This picture conveys this message perfectly to me, and I hope that others can look at it and see the meaning behind it too.