Photographer Lee Jeffries takes portraits. He's traveled through London, Paris, Rome, New York, Miami, and other cities taking up-close-and-personal portraits of the people he meets.
But he doesn't just photograph anyone. His subjects are the ones whose faces are overlooked, forgotten, and avoided…
They're the homeless of those cities, the people many avoid looking at too closely, and whose lives are lived on the fringe — often in dangerous and unhealthy circumstances.
Jeffries has made it his personal mission to bring their faces — and their stories — to the rest of society's attention. By really seeing the homeless, he believes that more people will be moved to help out, even if it's just by providing some of the basic necessities for someone in need.
Take a look at the powerful photographs below, and remember that even if it's something small, a simple act of kindness can make all the difference.
(h/t: Ufunk, The Huffington Post)
The portraits are powerful and haunting, capturing the raw emotion of these forgotten people.
In each face, you can see a lifetime of hardship, but also a living, breathing human being.
Many of the people he photographs — like this woman from Miami's dangerous Overtown area — struggle with addictions that have cost them everything.
It's easy to judge if you've never lived through trauma, addiction, mental illness, or any of the other things that can lead to homelessness — but judging never helps anyone.
One of the people Jeffries met in Miami was Margo Stevens, who was a fairly famous adult film star in the 1990s. She eventually fell into drug addiction, and today lives on the streets in Overtown. She sleeps in a garage and looks after other homeless women.
This woman is also from Overtown. Many of the women Jeffries met here use sex work to survive, but Lee stresses the importance of reserving any judgment and seeing all people as human beings with needs.
Homelessness can affect anyone, old, young, or in between. This young woman is homeless in Stockholm.
Cycles of abuse can lead people to homelessness, but on the streets, they're susceptible to violence, too.
Through his photographs, Jeffries hopes that he can show people that homeless people are just as complex and varied as anyone else.
But he also wants to show how profoundly devastating homelessness is.
Despite all the shame and stigma surrounding homelessness, Jeffries hopes that his photos will inspire people to help the less fortunate in their communities.
Proceeds from sales of his prints and book recently raised 20,000 Euros for a charity organization dedicated to helping the homeless in Paris.
To see more of Jeffries' work, visit his website, Facebook, and Instagram, and check out his book, Lost Angels, a collection of portraits of the homeless.
That's why it's important to SHARE information about projects like this — it really can change lives!
