3.9 seconds
While driving around Milpitas, I was in a frantic search to look for one of the side of the road folks that have been hanging around over the last couple of years. The Milpitas Post sent me on assignment to photograph them so that they could use it for a story, and I realized that I was about to hear a story too.
In the lessons I’ve learned from photography and working with people is quite extensive. I would never photograph someone from afar, and I would never photograph someone without first saying hello to them, and starting some kind of conversation, especially if I am about to ask for their portrait. My views about street photography are slightly different but in cases like this I wanted to get to know the subject as human first.
Meet a resident of Milpitas known as Big “O” or at least that is what she goes by around her friends. She’s been in Milpitas for sometime but has struggled over the last few years to have even the simplest needs. I introduced myself and she introduced herself and immediately we both started talking. We commented both on the beauty and yet the windiness was so in the way.
Soon after we began to talk about the struggles, and the issues Big O was facing. She quickly brings up that she’s been on the home list but that it takes 3-5 years to even hear from the city. Big O also mentions that she’s been featured in another local paper over some of the same issues of homelessness. She’s not been able to sustain herself, and that’s her biggest concern. She receives SSI but that’s been cut back and she can’t even make enough to pay rent in a shared living situation. Her only comfort is that if she panhandles for awhile near the McCarthy ranch intersection the people of Milpitas are generous enough to help her out when they’re stopped at a red light. Did you know the average time at a red light is 3.9 seconds? She stands in the middle of McCarthy Ranch and hopes that in those 3.9 seconds someone will stop and give her some financial help. I stood right next to her and watched people driving by. One guy stopped right in the middle of a yellow light and almost got rear ended to help her out. At one stop there were three cars in a row that honked at her and she quickly jumped around the cars. Sometimes the 3.9 seconds came and went and no one rolled down a window to help her out.
I asked her several question and most importantly I asked what the city and residents can do to help until she does find permanent housing. She said that the local shelters mostly only take men, and if she does she take them, the men outnumber the woman. The showers in the shelters are dangerous and unsanitary. Big O tells me that the shelters are only open for 3 months during the winter. She could use help with personal hygiene products, undergarments, and size 6 shoes. The average cost of a motel in Milpitas is $56 a night so she stands there hoping to earn that money before a bully comes a long and steals the money or bumps her off of the corner.
She looks at me straight in the eye and says “I need help”, and “I don’t want to be doing this.” She excuses herself and goes over and stands again with her sign up, and her face turns a shade of red, and she says that she’s so embarrassed. Something inside me wanted to give her a break and hold up the sign for her. I was almost curious to find out what that would even feel like. But I didn’t. I figured it would be too awkward of an experience for the both of us, and I also wondered if I would get arrested. Big O said that the cops in Milpitas were really nice to her, and that they help her out a lot. They come around and make sure that there isn’t anything shady going on and find out if their ok or need a doctor, etc. She’s hoping to only have to ask for money on the sides of the road for a little longer and hopefully one day she could find a little studio of her own someday.
I learned so much from her in just a few passings. I was honored that she let me share a bit of her earth with her and document her work day for a few 3.9 seconds.
In the lessons I’ve learned from photography and working with people is quite extensive. I would never photograph someone from afar, and I would never photograph someone without first saying hello to them, and starting some kind of conversation, especially if I am about to ask for their portrait. My views about street photography are slightly different but in cases like this I wanted to get to know the subject as human first.
Meet a resident of Milpitas known as Big “O” or at least that is what she goes by around her friends. She’s been in Milpitas for sometime but has struggled over the last few years to have even the simplest needs. I introduced myself and she introduced herself and immediately we both started talking. We commented both on the beauty and yet the windiness was so in the way.
Soon after we began to talk about the struggles, and the issues Big O was facing. She quickly brings up that she’s been on the home list but that it takes 3-5 years to even hear from the city. Big O also mentions that she’s been featured in another local paper over some of the same issues of homelessness. She’s not been able to sustain herself, and that’s her biggest concern. She receives SSI but that’s been cut back and she can’t even make enough to pay rent in a shared living situation. Her only comfort is that if she panhandles for awhile near the McCarthy ranch intersection the people of Milpitas are generous enough to help her out when they’re stopped at a red light. Did you know the average time at a red light is 3.9 seconds? She stands in the middle of McCarthy Ranch and hopes that in those 3.9 seconds someone will stop and give her some financial help. I stood right next to her and watched people driving by. One guy stopped right in the middle of a yellow light and almost got rear ended to help her out. At one stop there were three cars in a row that honked at her and she quickly jumped around the cars. Sometimes the 3.9 seconds came and went and no one rolled down a window to help her out.
I asked her several question and most importantly I asked what the city and residents can do to help until she does find permanent housing. She said that the local shelters mostly only take men, and if she does she take them, the men outnumber the woman. The showers in the shelters are dangerous and unsanitary. Big O tells me that the shelters are only open for 3 months during the winter. She could use help with personal hygiene products, undergarments, and size 6 shoes. The average cost of a motel in Milpitas is $56 a night so she stands there hoping to earn that money before a bully comes a long and steals the money or bumps her off of the corner.
She looks at me straight in the eye and says “I need help”, and “I don’t want to be doing this.” She excuses herself and goes over and stands again with her sign up, and her face turns a shade of red, and she says that she’s so embarrassed. Something inside me wanted to give her a break and hold up the sign for her. I was almost curious to find out what that would even feel like. But I didn’t. I figured it would be too awkward of an experience for the both of us, and I also wondered if I would get arrested. Big O said that the cops in Milpitas were really nice to her, and that they help her out a lot. They come around and make sure that there isn’t anything shady going on and find out if their ok or need a doctor, etc. She’s hoping to only have to ask for money on the sides of the road for a little longer and hopefully one day she could find a little studio of her own someday.
I learned so much from her in just a few passings. I was honored that she let me share a bit of her earth with her and document her work day for a few 3.9 seconds.
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