I used to ride the bus to work (back when I had a job). The people who ride the bus in my city are mostly lower working class, contract laborers, homeless or students. They make for a visually interesting group, so I decided to photograph them – those who rode the bus and the very substantial group of people who just hung around the downtown bus stops all day, every day.

One day a young man walked up to me and insisted, "Take my picture, man! Take my picture!" I asked why since he would never see it. His response: "Don't matter, man. Just take my picture."

These are invisible people: the poor and homeless, many with no relatives and few friends. They just drift along, not doing much of anything, never creating, building or influencing anything that is theirs. Most people who pass by try to avoid them, don't look at them, try not to even see them.

That man wanted me to take his picture because it would prove that he was there. He had in fact been a real, living, breathing human being. He needed that proof. He needed the world to have that proof.