97 Color Photographs of Unhoused Man Outfitting His Cart, Dumpster Diving, & Recycling

Item Details

Well, here is one of my most unusual offerings! This small photo album has 97 color snapshots on Kodak paper depicting an anonymous unhoused man and his activities in San Diego, CA. Starting in the back, the man is seen building and outfitting a large wooden push/pull cart, filling it with his belongings of boxes, bags, a rake, a bucket of pens and scissors and much, much more. He starts off and collects more on his journeys, including a plastic frog, a stuffed chimpanzee, and some artwork. He visits Old Town Recycling Center with a load of bottles and cans, and there are several photos of that venue. In two photos, he holds a wallet with a gold star badge.  

The holiday season rolls around, and our man’s cart is his home, so he decorates it with a felt Christmas stocking, a paper snowman, a fabric Christmas tree, photos and more. Much of his loot seems to be acquired from dumpsters, and six photos depict this activity. The last few photos show him pulling and posing with his now burgeoning cart. Also included with the photos is a note to “Joan” about meeting up, so apparently she was the photographer documenting this phase of his life.

This album was obtained from a San Diego estate sale with a few other photography items, including my other listed photo book showing photographer Mike Robinson making daguerreotypes. I contacted Mike about that book and he said it was the work of his friend Joan Crone, who lived in the San Diego area and made photography books with Irving Pobboravsky.