Thomas: 6 months later.....

I managed to track Thomas down in Paris over the weekend.
I searched the Left Bank (his patch) for a day, to no avail, and then approached waiters and shop keepers, showing them a small picture of him.
A dear chap by the name of Sami, who serves ice cream, eventually came to my rescue....
Thomas now lives in a small tent on the paved section in the middle of Rue Flandres in Crimee, which is in north-est Paris. Awfull location that he picked, as traffic passes very close by on either side of the tent, and pedestrians have to walk around his tent and scattered belongings.
However, although he would have preferred a quiter location, he feels safe here as he is visible to the locals and there is constant movement, especially as there is a monoprix immediately opposite.
He has made enemies in the Left Bank, as some other homeless persons apparently became jealous of the fact that he managed to obtain a mobile phone and number, and recently....wait for it....an used Nikon D80 with a broken lens.
He is now shooting pics of passers-by, and of his animals, which are now down to two dogs (both overweight), and a cat.
He showed me the lens - some part inside has come loose, and partially obscures the image. So now he has to shake his camera and every 20th or so pics works.
His dog that featured in my previous upload of Thomas was stolen. He thinks that he knows who did it, however, is too terrified to approach the person or area.
There is a floral shop across the street that he uses as his postal address. They also keep his camera when he's not using it.
The same people who forced him from the Left Bank also cut the tires of his bicycle contraption that I have referred to previously, however, he is planning to have that fixed soon.
I have now forged a trusting relationship with Thomas, and shall continue to pay visits to him every time I manage to visit that wonderful city.
I do not know how Thomas survives financially, as he never begs. I suspect that he receives a hand-out from the council.
I spent a few hours with Thomas, chatting mainly about photography, teaching him a few things with the camera. I managed to do some shots as well, however, difficult, as you feel that you are in a fish bowl, with everyone staring at you...
I showed him a PDF print-out of all the comments from EPZ members etc, and he was very taken by this.
The prints were immediately cut to size (with a very blunt scissors), and pasted into his album that materialised from somewhere under the sleeping bag.
Regards
Andre

Tags: Black and white Portraits and people

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