Photos of Things That Matter
Community-based photography and visual literacy project in collaboration with Street Roots Vendors and Gwen Hoeffgen
Portland, Oregon
2025
2025
Every Monday at the Street Roots’ School in the Sky, vendors gather for a photography workshop led by Gwen Hoeffgen and Domenic Toliver. Using provided 35mm black-and-white film cameras, participants explore Portland and document the city from the perspective of those who know its streets better than anyone.
The project emerged from conversations with vendors George McCarthy, Daniel Cox, Street Roots intern and collaborator Mac McDonald, and Street Roots Vendor Program Assistant Valencya Valdez, around access, representation, and authorship. In response to vendors’ interest in photography, the workshops focused on basic camera techniques, visual literacy, and narrative development.
Each session began with group discussion—examining well-known photographs and considering how composition, lighting, and conceptual intent shape meaning. The group then moved through downtown Portland, applying these ideas in practice. Meeting weekly, participants documented everyday details, challenges, and small moments of beauty encountered in the city’s public spaces.
The resulting photographs reveal a side of Portland that is often unseen. More about lived experience rather than distant observation, the images center vendors as image-makers and authors—trusting that those who live the stories are the ones meant to tell them.
The work culminated in forms of zines, handmade photo books, personally made by each vendor and photos printed. These works were displayed at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon in their Community Wall Exhibit for the Decmeber 2025 Show. The work was selected and curated by the Vendors based on availabilty and access.