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elus1v β Homeless in Romania I
Published: 2006-08-24 11:36:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 2835; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 11
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I just came back from Romania. Tough experience at times. I photographed some things I wish I had not even seen. But I know why I did it. I will not be posting any other pics the coming week(s), first I want to finish the whole series, and write text to accompagny the photographs.The kid on the left is mentally handicapped, the boy on the right has a skin disease. They have no homes. And there were many, many more kids like these. They live under bridges, in the sewers, at the railway station. During the day they are mostly high on glue, and they beg, prostitute themselves or steal. During the night they rape the girls in their group of homeless kids, fight with other groups, and try to rest amidst garbage and faeces in the sewers.
I wanted to take them to a hospital and pay for them to get proper treatment. Maybe I could have paid for two, or three, or even four or five of them. But I didn't. Instead I talked to them, laughed with them, cared about them... and photographed them. I know that once this documentary is finished and shown to the public, more money will be raised, and these kids might get proper care; not just once and not just two or three of them, but who knows, the whole group?
At the moment itself it is hard to press that shutter... Very hard.
But sometimes... you know exactly why you are doing it. And who you are doing it for.
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Comments: 40
You are very kind.
But you know, the autorities from here must do something and raise money (this place is full of corrupt people, who bath in money while these poor children live in the conditions you've mentioned), they would have it but they don't care. And they kind of have the reason for not doing that.
What you're trying to do is admirable, but look: you raise money, pay for the treatment for that group, and they'll let them out of the hospital, and they'll get back to what they were before you took care of them.
Some of them are very stubborn and they really got used to that living. I had the ocasion to see planty of them here in Romania, and I look at the news every day.
Poor children... There was just noone to show them the difference between bad and good things.Most of them get into child centers but they escape.
They won;t change.
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Dude,the photos are great,but why the hell you needed to take shots of gypsy kids? No a better question: They haven't steal something from you, like the wallet, even the camera?
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wtf?! are you fuckin kidding me?!
FUCK OFF.
did you travel from Belgium to Romania just to take photos of GYPSY homeless kids?!. who gave you permission to post this shit?! what the fuck is wrong with everybody?! does not Belgium has gypsies?! EVERY country does. they are fuckin EVERYWHERE.
i was surfing on dA and just wrote "romania" to search pictures of Romania. AND what did i see between the FIRST pictures?! THIS FUCKIN picture that makes me REALLY angry..
"During the day they are mostly high on glue, and they beg, prostitute themselves or steal. During the night they rape the girls in their group of homeless kids, fight with other groups, and try to rest amidst garbage and faeces in the sewers."
should i believe that Belgium HOMELESS PEOPLE get high on cocaine..maybe herbs or a little LSD ?! and they go to expensive restaurants to eat, and fuck ladies?!
OF COURSE THEY DON`T. because they are HOMELESS.. for god`s sake. BUT you definitely had to write it like " omggg, i went to Romania and saw homeless kids gettin high on GLUE! " wtf.
dude, this is fucked up. you gotta admit it!.
you said that you went to Brasov. HAVE YOU SEEN the BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES?! DID YOUUUU?! why the fuck didn`t you take photos of the landscapesss?! were the homeless stupid retarded kids more interesting?! I DOUBT!.
and here you are..posting this picture talkin trash, like you fuckin care about them and all that shit.
YEAH..RIGHT.
screw gypsy people. they should DIE.
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gee. people like Adolf Hitler think a lot like you.
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y thank you
w/e
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I like the way you think.
The fact,that you wanted to pay for them,proper treatement.. is amazing. Because,the people,in generality,the don't want to talk with them. Or even to care about them,about their life.
In Romania,in every city,many kids steal,and another things,just because they don't have money..or because their parents,don't have a job,and make them to steal.
I like very much your photos.
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yeah...they are so unhappy and i know that because i have some knowledge here homeless....but it's not everybody like this kids....i
'm from romania..and i am not like them....[romania is just a country..not a palace]
nice shot anyway...
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nice shot...Romania, unfortunately my country, is not the only one in this situation
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Ok.. welcome to romania.. i feel so ambarassed....right now.. because i`m romanian!
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50 % truth ...din punctul meu de vedere
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Hello!
Yes the picture is good, as are your intentions...
One important comment though (not necessarily to you, but to everyone who reads these boards)
I live in Romania and I feel the need to react when I read stories like that. Not that there are any lies in them. The only lie that is ... is not telling the whole truth. What you see on the news, what you see in this pictures is all that some of you will ever know about this country. Which is hardly all that is. Just so you get the full picture...
I didn't learn English under the bridge.
There are poor and helpless people in other countries too and I'd like you to think that this is not the most "exotic" scene you can find here...
The reason I react is because this is the usual way we are thought of and this is what press tells you, which is saddening, embarrassing or even revolting for people who live decent lives in this country.
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It seem like that most of the people like to show the bad parts of Romania and make everybody think that this country is full with this kind of things. This is so sad!
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may i use it in one of my arts? i can send here the link also..
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"I wanted to take them to a hospital and pay for them to get proper treatment. Maybe I could have paid for two, or three, or even four or five of them. But I didn't." Why didn`t you do that?
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Noble sentiments - I look forward to seeing more!
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i hope your aims would come true..i want to believe that photography can still change something..Great series!
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Great photograph - and haunting. A child's eye's should never show that much life experience and understanding.
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Thanks. Sorry for being so late reply but.. I've been thinking of your comment. I think you hit the nail on the head. The sights their eyes have seen... would drive anyone mental. But they... they bear it and keep fighting.
Welcome to deviantart.
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its really amazing actually being around them..u do feel a sort of fear the first time u find urself around them..but its actually really interesting what you see and hear..they're not actually as dirty and scary once u get to make them talk seriously..but it is very sad..the truth i mean..my last visit to Romania (2 months ago) was really an experience..i mean ive been going to Romania since i was a little girl, and ive lived there in my youth, and all id hear about them is "avoid them, stay away from them, dont speak or look at them.." people really dont think beyond their noses..really..ive learned more from them then visiting "the Romania" people go to see..I LOVE what you do to these shots..and black and white, its just great!!
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thanks. and... you're right, you're absolutely right. thanks for sharing your thoughts. you're lebanese and you grew up in romania? or are you romanian and did you move to lebanon later?
i was going to lebanon this summer, august. before the isrealis begun the... festivities. so i went to romania instead.
i can't begin to understand what life in lebanon must've been like at times during the conflict. wish you all the best. i hope you and your dear ones are unharmed.
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Sure
Well I really hope u're still planning on coming to Lebanon,there's really a lot to see here, u just have to look,I personally find the looking part really fascinating!plus Lebanese are really warm and welcoming!
Well yes fortunately no one dear to me was harmed, but unfortunately many people I know have..but now thankfully its over and life here goes on!
i really appreciated ur reply
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i'm from romania and have to say that they're situation is very sad, unfair and inhumaine. you're photos are full of meaning and heart-touching and your intentions even more so. best of luck helping these kids.
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indeed!!its just sad how few people admit this..
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I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. This touches my heart greatly.
Money being raised?
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I like that the only things that are really in focus are the boy on the right's facial features and then, it's his eyes that stand out the most because they overcome the grain. As a poster above said, his eyes are haunting. I think that's because they're so piercing and they look straight through the image at the viewer. I've always thought that when you can't discern pupils in eyes, that makes them so much more frightening as well.
The grain compliments that so well too, it really enhances the mood.
I also like that the focus in the picture isn't really on their misfortune, but it is still something that comes through. I think sometimes photojournalists do their subjects a huge disservice by overemphasising the negative aspects, but you have kept it brilliantly subtle. It's so much more touching that way, because it is not so easy to distance oneself from them.
Well done. I look forward to seeing what more you post from the series.
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thanks karyn... especially for understanding my intent with this picture (and the series as a whole, but that's for later), to show misery and misfortune, but also hope and brotherhood.
And you're right: something strange did happen: when you were typing your first message I swapped the image with another version... At first the very shallow focus in the first picture appealed to me, but after seeing it for a few days it looked a bit gimmicky to me, and it didn't really fit the rest of the series, so I replaced it with a more traditionally focussed image (I bracketed two or three shots to make sure I got the focus correct, it was dark and raining, and the kids were moving when I was taking the picture). The grain should be the same though (well, maybe I applied some more unsharp masking to the first image, can't remember), it's both Tri-X at 1600 in microphen... (doh, silly me, they were taken a fraction of a second after each other so it would be weird if they were on different rolls... oh well).
thanks. I appreciate it!
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Something really strange happened...I swear the image was much more grainy and the boy on the left was out of focus when I first saw this, but after posting my comment it's much sharper... Most of my comment still stands though, becaust the shadow from the cap makes the left boy's eyes disappear, which automatically shifts the focus to the other boy.
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there are a lot of kids like that here in the philippines too.
about the photo, i think you did a pretty good job...you captured the expression well.
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Wow I can't believe you actually hang out with them! I think I would be scared as hell that they would try to rob me or something...
But anyway, I can't wait to see the reportage. Do you have an exposition of it too?
About this picture, I like it that everything except the eyes seem to be out of focus. It fits the sadness of the subject. I hope the other pictures come out as great as this one, and I hope you have an exposition
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Heh I wasn't scared of these little ones, but the local NGO who looks after these streetkids started work six years ago, and the little ones back then were now adults taller than me and armed with knives... but... It's amazing what a little bit of attention and compassion, combined with a big smile, can do. (Sounds like a clichΓ©, I know, but it is true!)
I did upload another version where more is in focus - I liked the eyes-only focus when I first saw it but after a couple of days it seemed a bit gimmicky and this one fits more uniformly in the rest of the series. Once everything is finished I'll put the complete series on DA... It's done for a few NGO's but will probably also be published in a few (small) independent mags, as for an exposition, I'm not sure yet. After talking to some people I'm thinking along the lines of a smaller presentation (20 pics + text) travelling between schools or other organisations to start fund-raising projects... at the moment I couldn't care less about the 'artistic' aspects, it's the humanitary and documentary side I'm concerned with.
Thanks for the support & sorry for the late reply!
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Love the expressions, the eyes on the kid on the right are haunting. Hope your documentary goes well.
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You never cease to amaze. The story that comes with this photograph is touching and yet frightening. A different reality to me. Outstanding work.
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