I met Henning and Michael today during my street walk testing out my newly acquired X100T. I had actually seen them last week by the abandoned building behind the busterminal in down-town Aarhus, but time was sparse that day, so I didn’t make any contact. Today was different, however. I had lots of time, coming from my nightshift with no apparent agenda except documenting the streets on this particular tuesday. I had a talk to Michael and Henning, and took their portraits.
In Denmark as general, poverty is very modest compared to other countries. We have a well established wellfare system that keeps even the homeless equipped with at least some sort of income, as to buy food and other necessities. It can seem strange how people can be pushed to living on the streets in such a system.
I asked Michael about this, and his answer was short but very precise. “It just happened. And now I’m stuck”
Battling an obvious alcohol addiction, that might be the sole reason why he isn’t getting back into a place of his own. His addiction has him prioritise differently.
Same thing with Henning. Suffering from an obvious addiction that seem to have him tied down as well.
They found in each other a companion through hard times. A good friend that can help keep up moral when the addiction takes over. They do not want to sleep at the local shelters, since they tend to lose their possessions to theft at night. Instead they have their sleeping bags, their radio and each others company.
As Michael said.
“We won’t complain. Life is good. The sunny days we keep with us, the rainy days, we forget.”
Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it.
X100T and X-T1 w/35mm f/1.4
But for the Grace of God…there go I.
There are as many different stories about becoming homeless as there are homeless on the streets. It would be interesting to compare the reasons why this happens in a place like Denmark with the causes in the US.
An aside – how did you like the X100T? I’m on the fence at the moment, trying to justify the cost.
Yeah. I guess you’re right. Could be interesting, especially on a large scale. Maybe someone has already done some stastistics on the matter. I should lokk into that!
As far as the camera go: Wow! I must say that in terms of upgrade this feels way more significant to me than going from the X100 til the x100s. Everything just feels right this time! Button layout is great. And it’s actually snappier at focussing believe it or not.
/Jonas
These are beautiful photographs.
Thank you /J
Love your blog Jonas…both the photos and the stories behind them.
Thank you very much Benjamin. Glad you stopped by.
/J
These pictures ARE worth 1000 words, but I liked the words as well. Thanks Jonas.
Thank you Grant! Thank you for reading/watching. /J
The story broke my heart but its not just because of the story but the ability to pass it through our hearts and minds with your strong photos and telling.
Great work and great story behind it. Sad, but I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing!