Carlos Gonzalez Perez has been selling The Big Issue, on and off, for a decade. But he is also a self-taught photographer whose work has been exhibited around the world, documenting city life, exploring architecture, searching for unusual subjects with an eye for interesting angles and unlikely juxtapositions.
And his latest assignment was to shoot fellow vendors in London locations – William Herbert near Angel station, Sharon at London Bridge and Roel in Victoria – all of them sporting brand new jackets courtesy of Belstaff.
“The three vendors were honestly like models,” says Perez. “They were so charming, so natural. They made it extremely easy. One or two were a bit shy, but they were so easy to work with.”
Perez credits the flexibility of The Big Issue with giving him the space and time to follow his photography work. “But as a very social person, I also enjoy meeting new people,” he says, before explaining how he met one of Belstaff’s directors while selling the magazine, told her about his photography, sold a few pieces of work to her and eventually landed the job of shooting vendors on the quiet streets of London just before the second lockdown.
“When some people there heard a Big Issue vendor was also taking the photographs, I’m not sure what they expected,” says Perez, who scouted the locations a few days before the shoot – choosing classic London architecture, autumnal colours and trains to represent the journey a Big Issue vendor can take for his backdrops.
“I think maybe I broke a stereotype about Big Issue vendors. Some people were quite surprised to hear about how many exhibitions I’ve had, how much I’ve travelled for my work. I don’t know if they were shocked by the quality of the photographs but maybe they were by how seriously I take the work and how professional I am.”