STREETWATCH MIAMI

"DC" is a television director for a public broadcasting station in Miami and an amateur photographer who started shooting the prostitutes who work around his office in 2007. Almost all of his shots are taken with a telephoto lens from his car or office window, but most of them have a well-composed and almost staged-seeming quality that make them look less like police surveillance photos and more like fashion spreads from one of the harshest lookbooks of all time.

We're not sure if we agree with spying on members of one of the world's most awful professions in one of the US's most awful cities, but ever since discovering DC's tumblr where he combines his daily photos with mugshots of drug and prostitution arrests from the area, we can't stop not looking away. Try yourself.

We called DC up to see if he could tell us what's going on with us/him/you.

Why'd you start taking pictures of streetwalkers?
They live around my work in Downtown Miami. I've been seeing them every day for more than 20 years. One day I asked a friend of mine to loan me a camera and that's how it all started.

How long had the urge to spy on them been brewing before then?
I don't consider my photography "spying." Every subject is photographed in a public space and has no expectation of privacy. I'm doing this so that people can see what a tough life really is. I think that my photos give people a glimpse into lives that are hopefully nothing like theirs. I have a quiet life with a wonderful wife and a nice home in the suburbs--I couldn't imagine the hardships or trials of someone that lives on the streets and is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Think of what it would be like not to know when your next meal is coming, or your next drug fix.

Have you ever talked to the women and drug addicts you take pictures of?
The people of the neighborhood don't interact with the office workers as they cross paths.

Do you ever feel bad about photographing them without trying to get in touch or help any of them with their situation?
There are at least three different aid agencies providing services to the homeless within a mile of my office. The fact that the same people survive in the area for more than three years and are continually getting arrested for drugs and prostitution shows just how hard it is to get off the street. My wife and I do donate to several of these agencies that provide assistance, but otherwise, what am I going to do?

What is the worst thing you've witnessed?
One day I watched a woman's "boyfriend" slap her bloody during a fight on the corner.

A lot of the girls in your photos are doing crack and heroin in the middle of the street. How do the office people and business owners in the neighborhood react to this?
I haven't seen arrests in person, but the police force is very active in this area.

You also check the county corrections' website to find mugshots associated with the girls you photo. When did you start doing that?
I saw another photographer post some mugshots on his website, so I wondered how long it would take to find some of the subjects that I had photographed. The first time I searched it only took me five minutes to find someone I had already photographed. The saddest thing about all this is I keep seeing the same people in the area. There's just no escape from the cycle of crime, arrest, release, and back to crime again.

What is the usual feedback you get for these shots like?
Most people are amazed that this activity goes on in broad daylight. Others mention how "perverse" they feel this type of photography is. I would like people to view these images and feel gratitude that their life is a lot better, safer, healthier than others' in this world. But I can't spend my time worrying what people think of my photos, you know? I enjoy taking photos and I appreciate other photographers' work as well, but at the end of the day photography is just my hobby. It would please me if my images would be considered art, though.

INTERVIEW BY CLARISSE AND PAULINE MERIGEOT-MAGNENAT