I photographed this man for almost a year. At first, I noticed him frequently at the central subway station (Nevsky Prospekt) in St. Petersburg, and then I began taking pictures of him every time I saw him, usually very late, between 23:30 and 24:00. The topic of homelessness has always left a strong impression on me. Since childhood, I have felt an overwhelming sense of injustice, a desire to help, guilt, responsibility, and an inability to enact change. My only recourse is to document it. I have taken many pictures of homeless people in different places, countries, and cities, but they were usually single, situational shots.

This situation was different because he was always in the same place, giving me the opportunity to photograph him frequently. He was always writing something in his notebook, using various pens and markers of different colors. One day, I decided to ask him what he was writing, but he was clearly not open to conversation and just said something like, “It’s my business.” I might have continued this series of observations, but I had to leave the country. I don’t know what happened to him, what he is doing, or if he is even still alive. In a sense, this document represents not only a year of his life but also of mine—a year that has already passed.

In St. Petersburg, it is not common to see homeless people in public, especially in the city center. This makes it a rare case compared to some European cities. The difficulty in finding and documenting the homeless population made this man’s constant presence an exception.