>"Ahead of his exhibition "Night, Life," Stanley Stellar shared the stories behind his portrait of Marsha P. Johnson, a leather contest, and some "man ass.""

>"Ahead of his exhibition "Night, Life," Stanley Stellar shared the stories behind his portrait of Marsha P. Johnson, a leather contest, and some "man ass.""

PHOTOGRAPHER STANLEY STELLAR ON CAPTURING NEW YORK’S QUEER AND GORGEOUS “TOTALLY SECRET SOCIETY”

>"Ahead of his exhibition "Night, Life," Stanley Stellar shared the stories behind his portrait of Marsha P. Johnson, a leather contest, and some "man ass.""

In the pre-cell phone era, most gay men wouldn’t have minded having a handsome or sexy picture of themselves,” says the queer photographer Stanley Stellar. Though not much has changed when it comes to gay men and their sexy pictures, much has happened for the LGBTQ+ community in the post-cell phone era. Luckily Stellar, a native New Yorker and longtime fixture in the queer scene, has been there to document the sensuality, playfulness, eroticism, and beauty of queer life in Manhattan for nearly five decades. “In 1976, when I got my first Nikon, I knew the world just didn’t need another gay man to be a fashion photographer,” he says. “I was proud and happy to be a gay photographer.” Though the world, and friends like the great late photographer Peter Hujar, warned him of the zealous path of being a gay photographer, for Stellar it was about showing the beauty of the world he had discovered after coming out and exploring the West Village—a secret world filled with gorgeous men, barbershops with disco lights, long nights at the pier, and of course, sex.

For a while there was this biweekly, serious gay newspaper in the late ’70s through ’80s called The New York Native and I was one of their staff photographers for years. I mean, I had to make money somehow. They would send me on all kinds of assignments, this event or that event. I went and photographed the governor. I went and photographed the mayor. I went and photographed ladies who own gay restaurants. I went and photographed sex researchers. Whatever. I felt very comfortable looking at someone’s leather crotch. I didn’t feel embarrassed by it. Whether they knew it or not or whether they knew who this guy was, this bald guy pointing the camera at them, I knew I was transcending whatever cliché was in their head. I knew what I was seeing. I don’t know what they were seeing in me because I didn’t even have to talk to them. They were up there on the stage. I loved being the mirror for 40 years of gay men. It was just beautiful.

That’s a Gay Pride Day photo taken on Gay Pride Day—it wasn’t a week or month. It wasn’t even Pride. It was so little. Some gay men would hang out on that Sunday, and please God, it shouldn’t rain. That’s always surprised me, people’s reaction to that picture, because I remember when I approached them, thinking, “Well, haven’t 30 people already approached them about this and said, ‘Can I take your picture?

This post waste my 2days of time kindly check this

👍👍Good

Not do 'Nice'