i take pictures, videos, and am learning how to draw.
by reading this you are lawfully required to be nice to me.


In the past few years I have taken up reselling as a way to make an income.

On a 2021 September morning I checked the local ads and saw a listing for an estate sale of a home that was soon to be demolished. Sounded interesting, I decided to go.

I had a conversation with the gentleman running the sale, due to my chronic goldfish brain, I cannot remember his name.

He told me that the demolition of his property was hours away.

We talked about the other homes on the street, which had all been abandoned at this point. He told me that they were built with granite foundations, which he suggested they were built around the same time at the Salt Lake Temple. Which dates them back to roughly around 1890. (I haven't verified this sorry for spreading fake news maybe)

A couple arrived and he invited us all to look around the property and make an offer on anything we found. I didn't find much, but I did come across a massive collection of pornography on VHS tapes, stored in 5 or 6 large moving boxes in the corner of a storage space.

I asked if he had any cameras, he pointed me to a milk crate of digital cameras that had been left out in the rain.

The subject of my photography came up, we chatted about it for a bit, my instinct kicked in and I asked if I could take some pictures, which he was happy to indulge.

He asked me to take his picture holding the street sign of the soon to be demolished neighborhood. I recall him saying something about it being for historical record.

I finished up with my photos, said goodbye, and drove out.

The homes were demolished shortly after. On Street View you can still see his RV as of June 2022. But looking at the aerial map reveals that the RV has been removed as well.

In their place I'm sure are going to be more luxury apartments that nobody can afford to rent, they will be built like shit and look ugly as hell.

As a general rule I try to not take photos of subject matter like this, my lizard brain kicked in and demanded that I did.

I hope he is doing okay.


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in reply to @GPN's post:

I've been thinking about how to answer this. The most simple answer I can give is that it can feel exploitative to photograph our homeless neighbors.

The rambling complicated answer:

Systemically the United States has failed it's homeless population and terrorizes them at every given opportunity. They did not pass the test of Capitalism and are now being punished for it.

I went to a talk by Alec Soth a few years back where he described the role the photographer takes is akin to a hunter. Taking shots and collecting those trophies. This creates a power imbalance between photographer and subject, whether it's a friend, family member, or stranger. He said it was a mindset that he wanted to steer away from. That stuck with me.

When you have A Guy with a camera who swoops into a situation like this, takes some pictures, then leaves and later posts the photos online with some "damn isn't this shit sad?" story, what is it accomplishing? It feels like punching down. It's not like I'm bringing awareness, we are all aware of how entirely shitty it all is.

So what am I posting them for? Clout? Likes? Upvotes? Hearts? Thumbs up? To get that endorphin boost from Engagement? That sucks. That is the hunter posting his trophy. I know that I have some deep rooted anxieties about becoming homeless myself in the future. So is this therapy? It's the best justification I can come up with. Even that feels bad.

It's possible I'm just digging a deeper hole trying to explain myself. Hopefully not! Not gonna mull it over just gonna mash submit.