On Monday and Tuesday of the first week, I sent out emails to contacts. I heard back from all but two which was great. The first interview I did was with Jim Stewart of First Church Shelter. Though I was very happy with the interview it was much different from my last one. In the first interview, I asked him a list of questions that I had prepared. I photographed the shelter and later went back to take a portrait of him. These first photos were very literal and were meant to give context for the article. While this is good, I wasn’t thinking too much about things like shapes and light when I took them. As I did more and more interviews, I was more familiar with what I wanted to know and I let the conversation flow more. I asked questions that came to me based on what we were talking about at the time. I think this is a much more effective way to interview people.

In terms of interviewing people on the street, it was scary at first but I tried to make people feel comfortable and I had some good conversations. I really enjoyed meeting strangers who I never would have come into contact with had I not been doing this project. Everyday I would write up the interviews and pick out quotes that I liked. In terms of photography, I learned to take more pictures, “work” a situation, and look for interesting shapes and nice light. I wanted the picture to tell more of a story based on how I chose to take it. Starting on Wednesday of the second week I started outlining my article and filtering through the tons of information that I had. Thursday and Friday morning was a whirlwind of writing the article. I ended up staying up really late on Thursday night to finish it.

At first, I wasn’t sure where to go with the article. I didn’t know whether to use it to simply inform people, to talk about the stereotypical image of a homeless person and what the real situation is, or to tell the individual stories of the people I had talked to. I ended up doing a combination of the three, but really focusing on the individual stories. My goal was to write about things that I had only learned from the interviews and that only I could talk about from those experiences. I didn’t want to include too many stats or things people could find out for themselves on the internet.

My final project consisted of an article and a collection of photos. In the article, I addressed the issue of homelessness in Cambridge by writing about how the situation has changed over the years, the services provided to homeless people in Cambridge, what still needs to be done, where the issue is going in the future, and the factors that contribute to and/or cause homelessness. I interviewed directors of shelters in Cambridge, the property manager of Central House a single room occupancy building for men, an employee of the Multi-Service center, and employees of Homeowner’s Rehab which is an affordable housing non-profit organization. Also I interviewed a few homeless people on the street. I photographed the facilities and the people I interviewed.

This studio was a great experience. I learned a lot about photography and more about how to write in a concise and clear way. It was really fun to get to go out in the middle of the day and do the interviews and take photos. I also really enjoyed meeting the people I interviewed, though not everyone I approached on the street wanted to talk to me. Even though it was disappointing it was a good lesson to learn to be able to brush it off and try again. I was glad to hear from everybody that I interviewed that Cambridge provides a lot of services for homeless people, though there can always be more. However, because of sequestration and budget cuts, there’s going to be a lot less affordable housing options for homeless people which is depressing. I want to continue to find more about the homeless situation in Cambridge, especially since it is predicted to get worse. I think that this kind of work is very important. When I asked what was the best way people can help the homeless situation, almost everyone said educate yourself about the issue. A lot of times people tend to jump to conclusions and judge others, which is a totally ineffective way to help the issue. It is important to be informed about what is actually happening which is the importance of journalism.