Homeless Man Documents Life on the Street with Flip Camera

It's a shame that the Flip Video camera is no longer being manufactured. It's the perfect, basic imaging device for projects like this series of videos capturing what it's like to be homeless.

The videos (including the one embedded below) are being created by Henry Moses Thirkield, a homeless man known as Mo, who has been documenting his day-to-day life on the streets of San Francisco with a Flip camera.

The videos have been uploaded, by a friend, onto a YouTube channel called Homeless Mo. Mo's friend is Ryan Hupfer, who works at a Sillicon Valley start-up and gave Mo the Flip Cam.

Hupfer was recently interviewed by Mashable about the project.

"We [met when we] ran into each other in the San Francisco Caltrain station when I was coming back home from work one day,” Hupfer told Mashable. “He asked for money and cigarettes, but I was getting ready to grab a Subway sandwich, so I offered him something to eat instead.”

After the two kept running into each other, Hupfer gave Mo the Flip Cam to document his life.

“He creates the content and I edit and distribute, and it’s really worked out well so far,” Hupfer said. “I try my best to tell his story, and if anyone emails, I say that I’m posting on his behalf. One of these days I’ll get him on [the Internet], but that’s going to take some time.”

The videos are raw, often shaky (such as the time where Mo tries to help a car into a parking spot) but grippingly real and affecting.

Check out the below video where Mo interviews a man who has recently become homeless. There are more here and even a Facebook page devoted to Mo.

(Via Mashable)