Dedication

Quietly helping others

This past week, I had the privilege to document something that has happened every Tuesday morning, between 4:00 and 6:00, for over 20 years. I made photographs of my friend Cal as he cooked soup, and prepared food for a local soup kitchen.

Cal and I worked together for fifteen years in government communications. During that time, I was vaguely aware that he got up early every Tuesday to prepare food at a local soup kitchen. He didn’t talk about it much, it was just part of his weekly routine.

Recently, he asked if I would like to document a typical morning of soup prep. Of course I said yes. After getting up at 3:00 and spending a couple of hours with Cal, as he prepared soup, hard-boiled eggs and other food, I have a much better understanding of what he had been doing every week, for twenty years. I am impressed!

Cal and I get together regularly for coffee and a chat. We talk about the poverty business and how distressing that there is an increasing need for soup kitchens and food banks in a country as wealthy as ours. I think that he would be happy if there wasn’t any need for him, and the others who cook on the remaining weekday mornings, to volunteer their time in this way.

These images and this post is dedicated to Cal, for all of the years of providing a hot meal for Victorians.

NB: Images captured with a Fujifilm X-T5 and X-H1, fronted with a Fujinon XF35mm f/2 and a Sigma XF16mm f/1.4 lens respectively. Last year, the soup kitchen where Cal volunteers served over 38,000 meals. The kitchen relies upon over 100 volunteers to prepare and serve those meals.