Some of you have heard me talk about my friend, Jo O’shaughnessy before.  She’s a fabulous photographer that I met here in Bogotá.  (Told you there are always interesting and great people to encounter in this city.)

Jo has started a new blog, but she’s still getting the hang of it – so when she sent me one of her pictures of ‘Bogotá life’ – I told her I will be thrilled to share it.  She is more than a photographer – she has the instincts and the artist sensibilities to see what other people overlook.

The next picture is a perfect example of that.  On a rainy day in Bogotá – Jo looked out the window of a coffee shop and saw this man.  He’s one of hundreds of scrap collectors in the city – people who make their living, and eek out a survival by collecting and reselling much of what the rest of the city regards as garbage.  Like garbage, most people don’t even see the scrap collectors. They just become part of the city landscape, pulling their carts through traffic and enduring all sorts of conditions.

Few people stop to think about it. Fewer still can capture that daily struggle.

And then there’s Jo – whose heart is so big – and is practically chasing the man down the street to offer him her husband’s coat..