Captured: The faces of London's homeless population

For most city-dwellers homeless people are a part of everyday life and, as a result, are all too often ignored.

After encountering Steve, a homeless man who had not spoken to anyone in days, photographer Shine Gonzalvez, 45, set out to capture the faces of London’s forgotten population - the homeless.

The London-based photographer dived into her project after Steve’s story gave her a new perspective on the plight of homeless people.

She said: “When you see photographers around they photograph everything but the homeless, they are kind of invisible to a lot of people.

“I felt like I needed to bring out the beauty of them.”

A vast majority of the homeless people Shine encountered were military personnel who became homeless after finishing their service.

Photographing her subjects is not always easy and Shine has adopted the technique of lighting up a cigarette nearby and allowing them to approach her first.

She said: “A lot of them are concerned that I’m police or media and don’t want to be involved in that, but once I tell them what I’m doing they’re nearly always interested.

“They need to talk, it’s not me talking to them about how warm my home is. It’s about them talking to someone for once.”

Along the way Shine has met some memorable faces, including Paul, who she found suffering from mild hypothermia on a dismal night in Brighton.

She said: “It was chucking down with rain and he was sitting there shivering on the floor. He obviously hadn’t been drinking.

“The story went that he’d been to A&E but they said homelessness wasn’t their problem. My cousin tried to flag down a police car and they drove straight past us.''

Eventually Shine was able to get him medical help and she bumped into him the next morning and after taking him for breakfast he let her take his portrait as repayment.

Shine always endeavours to pay her subjects and if she can locate them again she will give them copies of the photo to sell.

The photographer has also had far less eager models, including one individual at Mornington Crescent in London.

She said: “He was so scared of me. He wanted the money, but didn’t know what I was going to do with the photos and I couldn’t get many shots because he was so fearful.”

Although she has often dealt with reluctance from her subjects, Shine hopes that her work will help to bridge the gap between the homeless and the rest of society and give the homeless population a voice.

The power of her subject’s stories pierce the lens and the photographer hopes her photos will encourage others to change their views on the homeless.

She said: “It’s an odd feeling looking at everyone around me eating coffee and cake etcetera, because now I wonder - why can’t you got out and spend half an hour of time with the homeless?

“I think I’ve become far less materialistic since I started.

She added: “If you have got a little bit of time, instead of sitting in a coffee shop for half an hour on your phones, have a chat with these guys, if appropriate. Just give them some time.”

An exhibition of Shine’s work will be displayed at Artful Pelican in London between 8 July and 24 July.

Artful Pelican in South East London are also opening up a space for the homeless to come and do their own artwork during the exhibition and a proportion of the proceeds will go towards helping the homeless.