Blog #228  10/24/17

 

We are happy to announce the publication of our new book

One of the 100 images from “KINK”

Natalie Grace, 29, personal assistant, from Australia.

Photographed September 24, 2006, at the Folsom Street Fair, San Francisco.

“Snow White with a “twist” is how I  describe my persona. She’s innocent yet cheeky,  just like me. I consciously present myself in a way that sets me apart from those around me, whether it is my vintage attire in a corporate environment,  being “high femme” in a
cookie-cutter lesbian community or being a queer woman in a heterosexual society.”

A note as to how and why this remarkable adventure, came about:
About 25 years ago, on the last Sunday in September, Beverly and I drove from our home in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco to drop off some film from the previous day’s shoot at a color film lab at 8th and Folsom Streets in the commercial area south of Market Street.

At Eighth Street, one block north of Faulkner Color Lab, traffic barricades blocked all cars; we parked and walked toward the lab. As we got to Folsom Street, we saw an astonishing scene of a sort that neither of us had ever previously encountered. There was what seemed to be thousands of people, many in elaborate costumes and makeup, and some totally or nearly naked in sandals. Here were men and women (though precise gender was, with some, not easy to determine) taking part in a theatrical world of countless fantasies and for many stunning reality.

We learned that the Folsom Street Fair is an annual event, held every year on the last Sunday in September, celebrating the world of kink and BDSM. As many as 500,000 people gather to see and be seen by their friends and peers, showing off, as we later learned, makeup and apparel that many had spent months creating.

There were at least as many onlookers as there were participants, the spectators and the enthusiastic revelers (true exhibitionists) clearly a match made in heaven. A spirit of joy permeated the atmosphere, created by happy people, many apparent friends, content, in their chains and bridles, piercings, leather chaps, vinyl, straps and whips, to be in a place where what, in another context, might be called “outrageous,” was the norm.

Like other onlookers, I observed, amazed. I am blessed (though sometimes it can be almost a curse), with an insatiable curiosity about people. In all sorts of situations, I find myself wanting to know, everything. Seeing what I saw on Folsom Street that Sunday (and after a bit of research) was enough for me to commit to a serious photographic exploration.
Almost every year after that first encounter, I have rented an exhibitor’s space at the Fair, built an outdoor studio and made portraits of attendees, the more fantastic the look and relationships, the better.

A few weeks after each year’s event, I sent out the photographs along with a questionnaire. I promised that I’d send a second photograph if they filled out and returned the questionnaire. We asked them to tell us their age and occupation; we asked what the Folsom Street Fair meant to them; we asked them to discuss their relationships and their lives beyond Folsom Street. Not everyone responded to the questionnaire, and many who did asked us to use their “scene” names, or, in some cases, no name at all. The information contained in the questionnaires gives a deeper dimension to the portraits, our attempt to get beyond the very dramatic surface the participants present to the congenial world of the Fair.

I am a photographer, not an anthropologist, and my primary interest is in making images that reveal things in ways not seen before. The Folsom Street Fair assembles a demimonde at least as remarkable and irresistible (to the curious eye) as any gathering of humans, anywhere.

Assistants preparing my outdoor photography studio in the morning of the Folsom Street Fair.
Hanging images made from previous years (note: “Snow White”).

Making pictures in the enclosed studio.

Here are 9 more images from the 100 in “KINK.”

Gina Yusypchuk (left) and Anthony Brusco, from Washington.
Photographed September 29, 2013.

Mumman Mark (left), 57, semi-retired, from California, and Miss Miranda, from Australia.
Photographed September 29, 2013.

Mumman Mark

“I’m a straight heterosexual guy, married until very recently. I love bondage! I’m a bondage-loving guy, always have been, and I’m an extrovert about it. I love to see people’s reactions to public heavy bondage. This depicts my strongest fantasies of being controlled in helpless bondage situations, which I do live out on a regular basis.”

Note: Mark is solidly bound in a blue plaster cast.

John Connolly (left), Amanda Moore (center) and Penny Royal, from California.
Photographed September 27, 2015.

Tilda Ampersand (left), 57, retired technology specialist, and Lizzie, from California.

Photographed September 27, 2009.

Tilda Ampersand

“Tilda is an adult little girl who loves pink, soft, fluffy, cute things and pretty, swirly dresses; she’s sweet and very friendly and trusting. As difficult as it may be to believe, the truth is that I am more or less like that all the time. I was married once, horribly, and have a 25-year-old son with whom I am on friendly terms. I’ve been a lifelong cross-dresser and I’ll dress up as just about anything as long as it’s a female. I absolutely adore all things feminine and especially cherish its most politically incorrect aspects: girlishness, softness, weakness, sweetness. Since most women seem to despise these qualities, somebody has to preserve, maintain and cherish them, and apparently this has fallen to me.

I am not a transsexual woman, but I was never a man; my sexual appetites are simply as unmanly as anybody could possibly conceive and that did tend to make living the straight, male life a bit of a sour joke.”

Two years ago “Tilda,”  dressed conventionally as a man, came to a presentation of my work that I was giving at The School for Visual Arts in NYC. After the talk he introduced himself, complimented me on the presentation and reminded me where we had met once before!

JG-Leathers, 66, retired, amateur writer and inventor, from British Columbia.
Photographed September 25, 2011.

Don “Piggy” Olszewski, 66, from California.

Photographed September 23, 2012.

“I am a single white male sub, straight, and have been playing with Mistress Yuki now since June 2007. I have a personal relationship with her—treat her more like my daughter than my play partner—and enjoy the freedom San Francisco offers. I am very fortunate that the relationship is comfortable
for both of us. Part of the relationship is me being a sugar daddy to her, taking her shopping and in other ways keeping her happy.”

Sister Candy Cide (left) and Sister Hava Nagila, from California.
Photographed September 23, 2012.

Melanie Stewart Smith, from Scotland.
Photographed September 25, 2011.

“The fair was the first time my husband and I had ever experienced the opportunity to fully embrace publicly our naughty side, and to be able to do it without any hang-ups was wonderful. It’s a chance to reveal a part of myself without being judged and therefore to relax and enjoy a side of my life that very few friends and family know about. An opportunity for the “Bad Girl” in me to get out and for my master to publicly humiliate and punish me for it. We have a master-slave relationship which is not only kept for the bedroom. I’m his naughty girl who needs to be spanked and brought into line, although sometimes I’m more naughty than others. As I have gotten older, I have been able to discover that I’m probably bisexual; we have been lucky enough to have a ménage à trois, and the extra lady was more a bonus for me rather than for my lovely husband.”

David Faulk, from California.
Photographed September 23, 2012. Note:  David Faulk came to the studio a few times over the years, each time with a new incredible “creation.“

Audrey Angel, from Oregon.
Photographed September 27, 2015.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve photographed as singles, pairs or groups about 250 individuals at each of twenty Folsom Street Fair Sundays.

That’s about 5000 expressive, inventive, imaginative people, all creative artists in their own unique way. This exploration was a joyous treasure hunt for me—it was so much fun, and so revelatory.  I learned so much about diversity and the astonishing spectrum of love. And sex.

The book KINK is 7”x9” and contains 100 photographs in 200+ pages.
It comes as a limited edition of 500 copies (200 of which are reserved for museums and galleries).

It will be available only at Amazon and can be preordered:
https://www.amazon.com/Kink-Howard-Schatz/dp/0971021015