Sometimes I get the urge to take pictures of people who are unsheltered, living on the street, or of buskers who look as though they live meager lifestyles.

I recorded some buskers performing on a drum in Santa Fe, but I did not take their picture.

Why? Because if a person is stripped of their possessions, all that is left in their ownership is their likeness. I do not feel comfortable taking any person’s last possession.

They may consent to a picture, but their consent would neither change their marginalization nor bring me any closer to understanding it.

Their consent would also not give me or anyone else the right to interpret their marginalization aesthetically, which is something that cannot be helped if I were to take a photograph of them.