Julian
This was one of the infrequent occasions when I saw a location for a photo and waited for a suitable stranger to complete the scene. It was a narrow laneway between office buildings in downtown Toronto. I’ve said before that I’m not very patient when it comes to street portraiture and it doesn’t take me more than a couple of minutes to start feeling like a lurker. I generally do much better when I’m on the move, making the best use I can of locations when I happen upon an interesting stranger. I had invested five minutes at this location without much success (suitable pedestrians seemed to be in a hurry and I was getting the hesitation blues). I almost moved on when this man approached and I found his face interesting. He wasn’t moving quickly and when I introduced myself and my project he said “Sure. I can do that.” Meet Julian.
I had taken a selfie in the mouth of the laneway earlier on this wet, overcast day and I knew it could work. Two office workers on a smoke break were in the background but I was able to “disappear” them behind Julian. Two other smokers arrived just as I had positioned Julian but a friendly request for them to step forward just a few paces met with their cooperation. There wasn’t a lot of fancy to the photo-taking. I took care with focus and checked exposure and soon was confident that I had a few good images to choose from.
Back out on the sidewalk, we chatted. Julian said he liked the photos but admitted that he wasn’t feeling very well. He went on to tell me that he has recently recovered from a painful bout of shingles and his high blood pressure was acting up, leaving him light-headed and a bit unsteady on his feet. I suggested he monitor this with his doctor and he admitted he’s supposed to take medication for the blood pressure but hasn’t been very consistent about it. I told him I thought it was really important and he said he has an appointment coming up and will speak to his doctor about it.
I learned that Julian is 57 and he was born in Baghdad. He proudly told me that he is a graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He taught art for a year but was then drafted into the army during the war with Iran in the 1980s. He didn’t believe in war and managed to escape to Turkey where he lived for two years before immigrating to Canada at age 30. His mother was British and his father Iraqi. I didn’t learn much about Julian’s work history but it seemed that a promising career as an artist had been disrupted and through it all he regrets that he lost the opportunity to have a family and a home. He now finds himself in poor health, living on disability in downtown Toronto. He feels, however, most fortunate to be living in a country that is peaceful and care about one another. His biggest challenge as he sees it now is loneliness. “It’s hard to be on your own without family and unable to afford a place to live where crack heads aren’t banging on your door at midnight.” I sympathized that Toronto can be an expensive city and when you are living on disability, you don’t have a lot of choice in accommodations.
I asked what activity I had interrupted with my project request and he said he had just come from a nearby mosque where he had hoped to borrow some money from a friend to get by until the first of December when his next check comes in. His friend, however, wasn’t there so now he was going to go to another downtown mosque to look for another friend. I offered him a modest donation for a cup of coffee and he almost declined. He felt bad that it had appeared he was begging when he wasn’t. I told him I knew he wasn’t begging and it was I who offered the money and I wanted him to have it. It wasn’t much but he said he would enjoy a cup of coffee. He asked which way I was going and I said I could walk him halfway to the mosque but then I was getting on the subway.
We had a friendly chat as we walked for 15 minutes and I discovered Julian’s sense of humor. He likes to tease doctors. He said his doctor asked if he drinks a lot and he said “not when I’m asleep.” He said his doctor almost choked on his coffee which clearly pleased Julian. While taking a physical prior to coming to Canada he had been asked if he’s had chicken pox. His response was “I had chicken wings two days ago.” We shared a laugh as we worked our way through a boisterous group of school kids on a field trip.
Julian said he had no particular regrets as to how he’s led his life but he did admit that things had not gone the way he would have hoped. When he found out I am 70 he said I seemed to be doing really well for 70. I said I appreciated the compliment and said “we do the best we can.” He said “That wasn’t a compliment. It was the truth. I’m an artist so I’m a good observer. I’m reporting what I see.”
Julian’s words of wisdom included “Be kind to others and always give more than you take.” His advice to the project was “Don’t fear falling down. All great people have fallen down. What makes them great is how they get back up again.” We parted with a warm handshake as he turned toward the mosque and I headed into the subway. It was obvious that we had both enjoyed our chance meeting.
This is my 379th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
Julian
This was one of the infrequent occasions when I saw a location for a photo and waited for a suitable stranger to complete the scene. It was a narrow laneway between office buildings in downtown Toronto. I’ve said before that I’m not very patient when it comes to street portraiture and it doesn’t take me more than a couple of minutes to start feeling like a lurker. I generally do much better when I’m on the move, making the best use I can of locations when I happen upon an interesting stranger. I had invested five minutes at this location without much success (suitable pedestrians seemed to be in a hurry and I was getting the hesitation blues). I almost moved on when this man approached and I found his face interesting. He wasn’t moving quickly and when I introduced myself and my project he said “Sure. I can do that.” Meet Julian.
I had taken a selfie in the mouth of the laneway earlier on this wet, overcast day and I knew it could work. Two office workers on a smoke break were in the background but I was able to “disappear” them behind Julian. Two other smokers arrived just as I had positioned Julian but a friendly request for them to step forward just a few paces met with their cooperation. There wasn’t a lot of fancy to the photo-taking. I took care with focus and checked exposure and soon was confident that I had a few good images to choose from.
Back out on the sidewalk, we chatted. Julian said he liked the photos but admitted that he wasn’t feeling very well. He went on to tell me that he has recently recovered from a painful bout of shingles and his high blood pressure was acting up, leaving him light-headed and a bit unsteady on his feet. I suggested he monitor this with his doctor and he admitted he’s supposed to take medication for the blood pressure but hasn’t been very consistent about it. I told him I thought it was really important and he said he has an appointment coming up and will speak to his doctor about it.
I learned that Julian is 57 and he was born in Baghdad. He proudly told me that he is a graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He taught art for a year but was then drafted into the army during the war with Iran in the 1980s. He didn’t believe in war and managed to escape to Turkey where he lived for two years before immigrating to Canada at age 30. His mother was British and his father Iraqi. I didn’t learn much about Julian’s work history but it seemed that a promising career as an artist had been disrupted and through it all he regrets that he lost the opportunity to have a family and a home. He now finds himself in poor health, living on disability in downtown Toronto. He feels, however, most fortunate to be living in a country that is peaceful and care about one another. His biggest challenge as he sees it now is loneliness. “It’s hard to be on your own without family and unable to afford a place to live where crack heads aren’t banging on your door at midnight.” I sympathized that Toronto can be an expensive city and when you are living on disability, you don’t have a lot of choice in accommodations.
I asked what activity I had interrupted with my project request and he said he had just come from a nearby mosque where he had hoped to borrow some money from a friend to get by until the first of December when his next check comes in. His friend, however, wasn’t there so now he was going to go to another downtown mosque to look for another friend. I offered him a modest donation for a cup of coffee and he almost declined. He felt bad that it had appeared he was begging when he wasn’t. I told him I knew he wasn’t begging and it was I who offered the money and I wanted him to have it. It wasn’t much but he said he would enjoy a cup of coffee. He asked which way I was going and I said I could walk him halfway to the mosque but then I was getting on the subway.
We had a friendly chat as we walked for 15 minutes and I discovered Julian’s sense of humor. He likes to tease doctors. He said his doctor asked if he drinks a lot and he said “not when I’m asleep.” He said his doctor almost choked on his coffee which clearly pleased Julian. While taking a physical prior to coming to Canada he had been asked if he’s had chicken pox. His response was “I had chicken wings two days ago.” We shared a laugh as we worked our way through a boisterous group of school kids on a field trip.
Julian said he had no particular regrets as to how he’s led his life but he did admit that things had not gone the way he would have hoped. When he found out I am 70 he said I seemed to be doing really well for 70. I said I appreciated the compliment and said “we do the best we can.” He said “That wasn’t a compliment. It was the truth. I’m an artist so I’m a good observer. I’m reporting what I see.”
Julian’s words of wisdom included “Be kind to others and always give more than you take.” His advice to the project was “Don’t fear falling down. All great people have fallen down. What makes them great is how they get back up again.” We parted with a warm handshake as he turned toward the mosque and I headed into the subway. It was obvious that we had both enjoyed our chance meeting.
This is my 379th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.