ST. LOUIS (KMOX)--While St. Louis reporters stood around anticipating the removal of the homeless encampment outside City Hall Tuesday, a photographer was walking around taking pictures of the building as a "point of interest" for the Expedia travel website.
Dale Reubin has been traveling the world over nine years, taking fresh photos of major cities for Expedia and he says, at times, he has to get creative.
“Sadly, I come across it quite a lot,” Reuben said. “I was just in Denver and it’s the same story there–a lot of homeless on the street. Yes, I’ve been tasked and been paid to commercially produce the best of what a city has to show. I'm also on a schedule so I can't wait for things to clear up and be perfect.”
The photographer tells KMOX News he was not commissioned by the City of St. Louis or given direction by city officials on where to shoot. Reubin will be in St. Louis for a week adding to the catalog of images of the city on Expedia.
Before the homeless encampment was removed, he was taking pictures of City Hall’s exterior.
“Unfortunately, it's a compromise,” says Reubin, who doesn’t photograph things like the homeless encampment that was next to City Hall. “I sort of angle up and shoot up and it makes City Hall look big and proud or I'll go much further away with the tents kind of get lost behind any bushes.”
While walking around downtown St. Louis to capture the highlights on Tuesday, Reubin was surprised by the lack of foot traffic.
“I did find myself thinking 'where is everyone?'” Reubin said. “I walked outside and I could probably count about half a dozen people at 9 a.m. this morning–which is crazy for me for a big city downtown.”
This isn't Reubin's first trip to St. Louis. He was last in St. Louis in 2019 for Expedia and compared the foot traffic to now calling it "a night and day difference."
Expedia recently sent him to the downtowns of Denver, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Reubin tells KMOX he could tell those cities were struggling with homelessness but still had a steady flow of foot traffic.