Several weeks back I volunteered to shoot photos at the Colorado Springs Diversity Prom sponsored by Inside Out Youth Services. Here are a few shots from the night. How times have changed. I can’t even imagine a GLBT prom twenty years ago. In ‘87, I went to prom with my best “boy” friend. Same goes for the Ring Dance at the Air Force Academy in ‘92. Hopefully twenty years from now there won’t be a need to have a separate prom.
Sadly, I’ve neglected this project for almost a year. I’ll be posting some new photos shortly. In the meantime, here’s a fantastic video I saw today that inspired me to get back to work on this project. This Idaho Challenge video was put together by gays.com in support of the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia.
A few results from my first official shoot for the project. Wow what a day. Thanks to all those who participated! And a special thanks to Kreteaka, Heidi, Angie and Val who were so sweet to help me out. Between holding the background, corralling various participants, getting model releases signed and shooting it turned out to be quite a small production.
In preparation for my first photo shoot I did a few test shots. My idea was to use natural light and shoot people against a black background. I was lucky to have to friends, Heidi and Kreteaka, volunteer to “model”. Incidentally one of them is a lesbian and one is not. So I guess that would make this shoot Face of Gay and Friend of Gays.
Hello out there to everyone on the interweb! I’ve been tossing around the idea for quite sometime to start a personal photo project centered around the GLBT community. I get so irritated by people who say things like “so and so is gay? He doesn’t look gay.” Or “so and so has to be a lesbian, I mean she is wearing a sleeveless flannel and has a mullet” (or a “bi-level” as my friend straight friend Michelle, who has a mullet, would say). And my blood absolutely boils when I see members of the extreme religious right out at a Pride event with their video cameras filming the floats with the practically nude and extremely sexy go-go dancers. I myself am a nevernude and could never imagine shaking my business on a float in public but I can certainly appreciate those that have the courage to show their stuff. Anywho, I digress…why doesn’t the religious right film “average looking” families to take back and show their congregation?
Within the GLBT community we are as diverse as any other, from the families with the two kids and dog that live in the burbs and go to church every Sunday to the party going, pill-popping, sex addicts. There are stereotypes in every community. I came up with the idea to photograph the Faces of Gay, to show that we are indeed, pretty much just like everyone else. To borrow a phrase I recently learned while traveling in Thailand, you know “same same but different”.
