MICHAEL

hands cameras TO THE HOMELESS

It was years ago when some guru first asked Michael, “How many people have you served in your life?” 

He had to pause to think over the question. With a shrug he said, “Maybe two?”  

Now let me tell you, this isn’t the first story to have sprouted from a Vipassana or Ayahuasca retreat.  

Flashback a decade, Michael began tapping in and out of his 9-5 city grind after finding himself restless and wanting more from life. He quit his job and over the next few years travelled to places like Colombia and Peru, and attended various retreats around the globe. He stayed on a Harikrishna farm where he lived the life of a yogi, tended to veggie gardens and decided to dedicate his life to the art of writing.  

“Well, that was my plan,” he said. “I was going to abandon the world, be super idealistic and just write forever.”  

In between travels and retreats, Michael made attempts to return and readjust to the western world. His hope was that his more passionate, more curious, more confident self could bring some life into it.  

He wrote for a few months, then tried a few other things, but in the name of money, kept finding himself back behind the desk, quickly in the same old state of discontent. It was a game of tit-for-tat; back and forth; city, mountains, city, sky, city, temples, city, city, city.  

Then one day in a hungover state somewhere on the rabbit hole of the internet, Michael came across people in London rallying together to help the homeless.  

Something clicked and he knew he had to do something. 

With that, he headed to Officeworks, stocked up on disposable cameras, went to the streets and started handing them out to homeless people saying, “Here... take this... you've got a week.” 

The most common response: “But I’m not a photographer.” 

Most were excited to receive the cameras, but some were limited to enthusiasm.  

Michael was doing this to give them an opportunity to tell their story, to show the public the places, people and things that were important to them.  

“When they’re told that, when they’re told they don’t have to be photographers, most of them take the camera,” Michael said. “Because for a week the focus is taken away from how shit life is to being able to tell part of their story and to who they are as individuals are. The fact that receives interest is enough for some people. It’s just what they need.”  

For those who returned their cameras a week later, their photos were printed and showed to strangers in Bondi and Sydney to partake in an anonymous vote. Then there was an exhibition where the homeless people came to showcase their photographs all jazzed up in A3 frames. The winning photos were printed in calendars that the participants sold in the city.   

The first year Michael ran the project it was all very experimental. But with a team, fundraising and a few hundred extra cameras from Fuji, the project went on to be a hit.  

While half of the cameras were never seen again, Michael says nothing was wasted. “You never know, there might have been a day or two they enjoyed it - or even a minute - or even the conversation when we gave it to them. You just never know.” 

Take Ian for instance, this big-hearted guy in his 50s. When he was given the camera he was properly down-and-out, on methadone, living in a tent in the park. Somehow he snapped a self-portrait. His film must have been damaged because the photo came out distorted with funky effects. But it helped paint the picture of his homelessness perfectly. His photo won the critics prize and then for weeks on end, Ian sat at Martin Place selling the calendar he featured in. He’s no longer in a tent on the park. The disposable camera was enough to spin his life in another direction.  

Other participants continue to be involved in the yearly project and many have since formed a community around it, where once their only connection was their homelessness.  

Michael saw there were a lot of organisations helping with the basic needs of food and shelter for those on the streets. But he also saw these people had a bigger need, one which was much the same as what he had been searching for in the mountains, the temples, and the far away villages.

“It’s not the emergency needs that are the problem,” he said. “It’s the lack of connection. It’s the lack of purpose. It’s the lack of empowerment. This project fills those gaps.” 

Since Michael started the project, over 350 cameras have been given to the hands of the homeless. Fuji has run dry of disposables. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see an Instagram star rise from the streets.  

If the guru were to ask again, “how many people have you served in your life?” he could probably respond, “more than two... less than four hundred.”  

And that’s Michael. He gets a badge for handing out disposable cameras and a gold star for looking out for those we so often walk right past.