Portraits Of Boston: 'We Both Grew Up Alone'

“This is the first time we’ve met in person.”

“She had a picture on Instagram with a massive ‘fro—much more massive than this one. In the caption she said that she hated people. I thought, Me too! We should be friends. So we started talking and realized that we have a lot of common interests.”

“Do you really hate people?”

“We hate people who make things complicated.”

“We hate it when people in our lives cause unnecessary problems. I think it has a lot to do with how we grew up. We both grew up alone, raising ourselves. I cooked for my little brothers and ate their leftovers. I’ve been in shelters a lot. I was homeless. I’ve been through just about anything.”

“In my case, it was just me and my mom. And we were always hungry. So I think we’ve both learned that you can’t expect people to help you. But when you realize that you don’t need people, that’s the best feeling in the world.”

Portraits of Boston is a project of independent photographer Ivan Velinov. He is regularly sharing some of his favorite portraits with WBUR. Visit his website to see the hundreds of portraits he has taken on the streets of Boston.