07/04/2026
With age comes many things. Wisdom, Knowledge, but the glazed over eyes and worn and withered skin tells a story. One of laughter and tears. Of loved ones long gone… Of survival. It’s a badge of honour and getting old, regardless of the road you walk along the way, really is a blessing.
This is ‘Ratty’ (that’s the name he gave) 👌
Every time I’ve passed though Leeds in the last few years, and I’ve done it a lot, I’ve seen him every time. Usually we just share a passing ‘Hello’ as he stands in the same spot feeding the Pigeons and playing his pipe.
I’ve always wanted to not just photograph this man, but to spend some time talking to him about his story. Where he’s been and what he’s done. So, I bought him a coffee, gave him some money for his time and asked him if he minded if I took a couple of photos. He was a true gentlemen 🙏🏻
Like most street people, his life has been laced with chaos. He comes from a very privileged background but, his parents went bankrupt, lost everything and have since passed on. Losing his parents in close proximity to each other sent him down to rock bottom and he’s struggled to cope ever since. We spoke in depth about other aspects of his life and I asked him what advice he would give to his younger self and his reply was simple:
“Smile as much as you can, even when grey skies surround you. Your always going to have to deal with sadness in your life, so you have to balance the scales” ❤️
See, there’s always this misconception that street people are in that position as a result of their own actions. This is very rarely the case.
Life throws us curve balls all the time and the only thing we can do when this happens is manage the best we can.
📸👣
