I work close to The World's Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street and I've often thought about trying to capture a shot that relates to the bold words written on its red walls. There are often panhandlers on this street and I spotted this man looking for a handout from my vantage spot across the street. I took a few shots looking for some interaction with people passing by and I overheard him asking for viagra so I thought this guy had a pretty interesting sense of humour. So I went over and asked how he was. He asked if I could buy him a bottle of wine and then noticing my camera asked if I wanted to take his photo in exchange for some change. I asked him his name and introduced myself. His name is George and he's been living on the street since 1982.
I've taken a few shots of homeless people from afar in the past and struggled with the difficulty of asking for a photograph with expectations of a donation. But George seemed pretty at ease and we got chatting and I offered him some loose change and started taking some shots.
George told me a little about himself, he has a pacemaker, is suffering from a hernia and a recently injured and badly swollen ankle. I asked him about his Real Madrid shirt. and he said Cristiano Ronaldo gave it to him when he was here in Toronto for the film festival. He said hockey star, Matts Sundin once gave him $50 as well ! He asked me about my English accent, his dad was from Manchester. George was previously a salvage contractor, and he told me he has an 18 year old son. I found it very easy talking with George, while chatting he continued to ask people for a variety of serious and joke handouts and favours. I like his sense of humour, perhaps his way of dealing with his difficult circumstances. I'm sure I'll give George an occasional donation and see how he's doing in the future.
George almost didn't make it into my daily photo project. The shots were taken late in the afternoon and he was facing the setting sun. In-camera, the shots looked ok, but when I looked closer at home, there was lots of overexposure on his face and I'd lost some nice detail. I could easily recover the shots using the RAW versions and I was really pleased with some of the results. So much so, I wasn't sure if an unedited shot was worthy of George and my daily shot. I chose this unedited casual shot because I wanted George in the project (and on my blog) and the shot did capture the initial intention of showing some context with the store's wall of words.
George is #74 in my 100 Stranger project. For more shots of George, please view them here.
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