While the kids were detailing the car, I got out with my camera. There were some men sitting in the shade under some trees near where the driveway met the street. They saw the camera and started hooting and hollering. "Common over and take our pitcher!!"
I waved and walked over.
"OK." And I started rattling off a few frames. It's digital, so it's not like I was burning film or anything. When I'd finished shooting I showed the men the pictures I'd taken using the little LCD monitor on the back of the camera. We talked a bit; about selling newspapers in the Arizona heat and about taking "pitchers". They were homeless and they were impressed ... not so much by the pictures as by the fact that someone would actually respond to them.
Billy, The Invisible Man
I particularly liked this shot of Billy. He's a Vietnam War vet who never quite made it back.
I posted this picture in a photography forum that I participate in from time to time ... along with a little of the story of how the shot came about. I was surprised several weeks later to get a note from a girl in the Boston area. She thanked me for posting the shot and telling a little of Billy's story. She told me her father was in a similar situation. He was a vet who'd had a good job until one day he just couldn't handle it any more and walked away from everything.
She she told me her father still lives in Boston. He sleeps on park benches and takes odd jobs whenever he can find one. She sees him every now and then. When she has the chance, she takes him out for lunch or dinner. She tries to slip him a little money, too. She said he's invisible to most people. She said she was grateful that I was able to see Billy and that Billy reminded her of her father.
I've been haunted by this picture ever since I took it.
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