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The impetus for Stories Behind The Fog is to challenge a single-minded view of homelessness by rendering its entire spectrum, one story at a time.

When ‘the homeless’ become a generic label in our minds, we have a hard time seeing the individuality  –  the unique and complex story  – of every single person living on the streets. In a metaphorical way, this stereotype blocks our perception of the countless nuances of homelessness, just like the iconic fog of San Francisco shrouds the city from onlookers.

Based on our personal experience with Moses, the unhoused man from San Francisco who inspired this project, we learned that human interaction has the potential to change people’s lives.

That’s why we not only share stories, but also encourage other storytellers to connect with the people we feature and take their narratives further, through any form of art. We believe these stories have the power to make the public connect with one of our most critical domestic issues, and to add to the dialogue on homelessness held by politicians, public and private agencies, educators and activists.

SBTF originated in San Francisco, California, where we are documenting and collecting the stories of one hundred people who have experienced or been affected by homelessness in the Bay Area. Our process to gather stories involves the collaboration of documentary writers and photographers, and homeless advocates. Partnering with homeless outreach organisations to help facilitate connection, each story is collected with an individual field interview by one of several photographers and writers.

Stories Behind The Fog has been created by Free Range Puppies, a San Francisco-based creative shop sprinkling their love for storytelling across films, campaigns and interactive projects that stand for a meaningful world.

Read the stories behind Dianna, Queen, Indian Joe and Terry (pictured below).

Juli is an award-winner Director of Photography and Producer based in San Francisco. Juli would like to think that his career is more of a story that you tell than a career per se, maybe not, but let him believe it anyway… A story of coincidences and choices that reveal that the path is more important than the result.