Why would a photographer to the stars turn his lens on homeless young people living on the streets of Liverpool?, asks Laura Davis

THE backdrop was one he had used many times in fashion shoots – an abandoned factory, fascinating in its decay, which provided a dramatic contrast with the designer dresses he aimed to show off.

This time, however, the fierce expression on the face of Perou’s subject came from months of living on the street, rather than hours spent practising in front of the mirror.

“We were standing next to a palette board that was covered in dried blood and faeces and needles,” says the photographer, who has snapped sports, music and film stars including Cate Blanchett, Samuel L Jackson, Daniel Craig and Katy Perry.

“It was beyond disgusting – like being in a wartime field hospital. This 18-year-old kid we were with pointed to it and said, ‘That’s my bed’.”

Perou’s own bed is situated within his comfortable home on a 39-acre farm in Kent. By his own admission, he used to walk past homeless people on the street, sad for their predicament but convinced any money he gave them would be spent on drugs or alcohol.

Then he was invited to take part in the Homeless & The Arts campaign, and was suddenly confronted with the issue face-to-face.

“I feel embarrassed,” says Perou, whose photographs of young homeless Liverpudlians are being displayed in an online gallery to raise awareness.

“That’s one of the reasons that, in the past, I’ve looked in the opposite direction when someone’s asked me for a couple of quid.

“It is embarrassing that I have more space than I need for me and my family. I’m not encouraging everyone to sell their houses and live in Communist-style blocks where we all have the same, but we do have a social responsibility to people who are less well off than ourselves.