Hobos of our time in the photographs of Michael Joseph.
Love tattoos and dogs — here is what little I know about these people the inhabitants of cities. In fact, what unites them is much greater: the desire for freedom, unwillingness to conform to social stereotypes, the passion for music and art and of course the passion to change places. Some people call them gutter punks (from the English gutter — “slums”), and photographer Michael Joseph refers to travellers. The main way of movement of his “models” — trainhopping (literally “jumping on a freight train”). In the way they find friends, join groups, become real families.
The appearance of these people is a kind of history of travel: from homemade clothing and jewelry to piercing and tattoos, which they do to each other in memory. The photographer sure that this is rude and sometimes a repulsive appearance, only the outer shell is a really kind and open people.
A series of photographs of Joseph is called “Lost and Found” (literally — “Lost and found”, also the so-called lost-and-found). In his pictures there are no canyons or beautiful mountain peaks is what attracts travelers. For them there is nothing superfluous. Black and white portraits give an opportunity to see the inner world of heroes, look into the very soul of the subculture, a society of people who for various reasons left their homes and went to travel.
Left: Spatch. New York, new York, 2014. Right: Urek. Austin, Texas, 2015
Left: Sophie. Austin, Texas, 2013. Right: Poppy. Austin, Texas, 2013
Left: Morgan. Boston, Massachusetts, 2015. Right: Nils. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013
Left: Tyler Closed. Austin, Texas, 2015. Right: Molly. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014
Left: Miranda. Austin, Texas, 2015. Right: Lerch. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2014
Left: Jake. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2013. Right: To Go, Pete. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014
Left: Irene. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014. Right: Dice. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014
Left: Blue-Eyes. New Orleans, Louisiana, 2013. Right: The Goddamn Dave. Austin, Texas, 2014
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