​Two volunteers are capturing the sights of the city and its residents through the eyes of homeless people.

Dr Zemirah Moffat and James Kriszyk have been running a photography workshop called Snapshot for people at the Gloucester-based homeless charity Gear.

As numbers increase week on week, the pair said they were keen to celebrate how the often-stereotyped group saw Gloucester.

“We hand the cameras out to those who turn up, and they snap away,” said Zem, who is also a lecturer of anthropology at Kent University.

“It really is great, not only are they getting some really good photographs, it gets them talking to one another, it becomes a social thing.”

Zem, who lives in Mitcheldean, added that they were trying to make homeless people look at themselves and their own lives.

She said: “We’re teaching our students to picture themselves.  Some 99.9 per cent of the time other people take pictures of them. No matter how compassionate and well intentioned this may be, it’s  not empowering. 

“Our intention is to facilitate them to picture their own lives, tell their own stories how they want them to be told.”

James, who lives in Stroud, finished a photography degree two years ago and has already picked up on some of the members’ talents at the classes, which run every Wednesday from 10am.

He said: “They have done some really good stuff. We put  their work up on a board and give them  a certificate and a copy of their best picture at the end of every session.

“The thing is we need some more equipment and we don’t want to rely on funding. If anyone can donate anything to help us that would be fantastic.”

The pair are asking people to come forward  with their old digital compact or SLR cameras with the right leads, any tripods, memory cards, and a working laptop.

“We have been given one camera already that a woman said she never uses so I imagine other people will have some too,” added James.

“Technology moves on so fast that a lot of people update their cameras and their old ones are just left lying around. So some people might want to donate it to a good cause to help out.”

Donations of equipment can be left at The Vaughan Centre, 159 Southgate Street, GL1 1EX.