Q&A with Mikaël Theimer

Montreal’s answer to Humans of New York

I first came across Mikaël’s work from a Bored Panda post. Being a big HONY fan myself, I was instantly drawn to his efforts to use street photography as a means to tell the stories of the homeless in Montreal.

While the stories on his “Humans of the street” photo-blog may appear heart-wrenching at first glance, some of them offer a real sense of hope. My favorite is the story of Gaetan:

“I was raped at the age of 12 with a 303 under my chin. I could go to court and report the guy, but he asked for forgiveness the next day. After that I slept with men, I slept with women, I prostituted myself, it got serious. It fucked me for life, I swear. At 27 I became schizophrenic. Instead of helping me my family wanted to send me to foster care. In order not to go, I married a woman I didn’t love and stayed with her for 20 years. On Christmas Eve I found her in my bed with her best friend, doing coke. I took my stuff and got the hell out. I ended up in the street for 3 years. But I’m doing better, and I’m proud! I managed to get through, I’m proud of myself.”

Browsing through Mikaël’s work got me thinking a lot about life. His photos can be haunting, funny, but most of all, they’re as real as it gets. So we’re super-psyched to have him come on our app, ridiQ. Here’re some great Q&As from him on the app:

What’s the most memorable story you captured ever since you started shooting street photography?

Is it difficult for you to approach strangers and take photos of them or even have them open up to you with their life stories?

Do you have a favorite photograph that you’ve taken, and could you share the story behind it?

How did you get started on street photography?

What motivated you to take pictures of strangers and tell their stories?

Do check out more of Mikaël’s work, or ask him questions directly on ridiQ!

Dear Internet, we’d love to feature more awesome people doing awesome things like Mikaël. Give us a shout in the comment section if you want to recommend anyone to us for a future blog post!