Fishhead Magazine Wellington Homelessness Feature

 

Back in July I was commissioned to take portraits of social workers for some of Wellington’s leading NGO’s working  in the field of homelessness and mental health. I was given three days to photograph five people. You may think three days is a long time, but when you combine it with a full-time job, five portraits can be a tight squeeze to arrange in three days! Especially if you don’t want all of your portraits shot at night. Luckily it provided the opportunity to test my new camera’s low light capability by shooting most of the shots in available light. Coupled with a 50mm 1.4 lens, I think the camera did quite an amazing job. The majority of these shots were completed in 20 minutes, having squeezed them in either before or after work, or during my lunch hour.

Manager of the Wellington Night Shelter, Mike Leon, chats to a guest outside the night shelter on Taranaki Street, Wellington. Mike has worked for the shelter for over 17 years and says working with the homeless is an expression of his faith and personality.

Mike displays one of the small cubicles where a night shelter guest will sleep.

Acting chief executive of Wellink Trust, a mental health charity based in Wellington. Shaun has been working in the field of mental health for 25 years and immigrated to Wellington from Scotland for this specific job.

Echo Brooke-White is a volunteer and chairperson of Catacombs social centre on Manners Street, Wellington. Catacombs provides refreshments and a place to relax and stay warm for Wellington’s marginalised communities.

Philippa Meachen, manager of the Compassion Centre Soup Kitchen on Wellington’s Tory Street, poses for a portrait in the waiting room while guest’s wait for breakfast to be served.

Director of Downtown Community Ministry, Stephanie McIntyre.