Larchmont Chronicle, August 1992

Women In The News

Photographer Wins Grant to document Lives of Homeless

Jean Ferro, Rossmore Ave., began her career at the other end of the camera, as a fashion model.

Now a portrait photographer, Ferro has taken pictures of the rich and famous and has on a Cultural Affairs Dept. “Artists In the Community” grant to document the lives of homeless people.

Her project is titled “Through Our Own Eyes--Self Portraits by People Without Homes,” and she plans to provide disposable cameras to homeless men and women and pay them to take pictures of their world.

Each participant will receive $25 when they return the camera and an additional $25 when Ferro gives them an album with duplicates of the photos they have taken.

Ferro has complied a guide to picture-taking for the participants and will incorporate the photos in a half-hour documentary to be aired on public access television.

“The project will give these people without homes a sense of accomplishment plus a financial reward,” said Ferro.

A contributing photographer to Los Angeles Magazine, she is a member of the advisory board of Women in Photography. A lecturer on creative photography, she was director of photography for the 1990 Women in Film Festival.