Photographs of homeless people and their childhood dreams

Pops was in Vietnam war also. He was an engineer, he started to do drugs and he lost his job. He was addicted for 12 years and he was in a rehab clinic. Unfortunately, he is now an alcoholic.

Henry is a former drug and alcohol addict. He is selling news papers now for an organisation that takes care of the homeless people. He is from Mississippi, at a point in his life he had to choose between his mother and father and that marked him.

McKayas lived very close to Haight Street when he was a kid. He is proud that his parents were part of the hippie movement in the 60’s. He lived in Mexico, Hawaii, Indonesia, Panama, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Peru and he plans to visit every country in the world.

No one chooses to be homeless. No one wants to be without a home to call their own. A string of bad luck, a few wrong turns, a few bad choices, and then wham—you’re flat out on your ass. I ended-up that way after the apartment I lived was destroyed by fire. Escaped with my life and little else. No insurance. No income. No nothing. Quickly found there was only so long I could kip on friends’ floors or sofas before there was nowhere left to go. But I was lucky. I got back to where I’d been.

Horia Manolache photographs homeless people in and around San Francisco. He does more than just take their pictures. He creates portraits of each of these homeless men or women as they are today and who they once imagined they would become when they were children.

Horia is an award-winning photographer. His intention in taking these photographs was to make these homeless people’s stories heard. He photographed them in a hotel, garages, building sites and out on the streets. He met “people with guns and people with golden hearts.” He ultimately made a mobile studio, where he could create these unique portraits.

His wife was his helper—cutting hair and beards, applying make-up. Horia spent time getting to know each of his sitters. He listened to their stories, heard about their dreams. Then he sourced the clothes and materials to create a portrait for each person. Imagining them as they once dreamed they would become—a chef, policewoman, clown, parent. Horia plans to make a book of his photographs called The Prince and the Pauper—more details here. In the meantime, here are Horia’s photographs and the stories behind each picture.

Photos by Horia Manolache

Tammy is a star on Height Street in San Francisco. If she can’t bring a smile on your face, then nobody will. Her biggest pain is that her grandmother and her first husband took the kids away from her.

Mike was the first to be in this project. He comes from Ohio, he had to run from there because he used to smoke weed and the police caught him so he was arrested. He is now rebuilding his life, he has a place to stay and he started to work, thanks to an organisation from San Francisco.

Honey run away from home because of her violent husband. She had a car in which she slept but it broke and the police took it so she had to sleep in the park. She learned how to play ukulele by herself and she knows how to sing with spoons. She is called Honey because of her sweet voice.

This photo is somehow symbolic for me for the times we live in. His identity was stolen, his girlfriend stole his wallet, his credit score went down and so on till he got homeless. He realised that his life was so overwhelming so he didn’t have a moment to stop and think what his dreams were.

Bill had to run away from the state he was living. The reason he had to leave seems unjust but his alternative was jail. He wished to send these photos to his mother because she has Alzheimers and in this way she will recognize him when he will be back.

I met Michael twice, first we couldn’t do the photoshoot and he was really angry. I met him again after several months and he seemed reconciled with himself. In this photo he shows me the tattoo with his son’s name and he tells me that he misses him. He lost his mom, his job and his house in two days.

Jennifer from the McCloud family. She came from Ireland along with her husband but somewhere in the way they got divorced. She is very shy when she is sober.

Dan had a tumultuous life, he ended on the streets not long ago. He is a writer and the chance made to find out that we have friends in common. He will use this photo for the next book he will publish.

Max is a Vietnam and Gulf war veteran. He’d been serving the army for 43 years. He says that when he returned he gave up everything and went on the streets. He has now problems with alcohol and he barely walks because of the health problems. He traveled a lot. A regret that he has is that he doesn’t speak with his daughter anymore.