LGBTQ Portraits
Portraits of Lesbians in the 1990’s Using Polaroid 4 x 5 Film
In 1994, I made portraits of lesbians at the 25th Anniversary of Stonewall women’s dance, sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center, in New York City. At this point, I decided to shoot four by five Polaroid Type 55 film, as I could give the Polaroid positive image immediately to the sitter(s) in a folder. The negative would be processed on the spot to be enlarged later, in the darkroom. Two shots were made with one of them always the best. I was on a roll and shot during the entire summer, flying out to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival where I made over one hundred photographs under a tree with a black backdrop and very simple lighting. One or several assistants processed the negatives on the spot using Hypo and Perma wash in small trays. In Michigan, we slept in a small tent for five days, hanging the negatives on a clothes line to dry in between enjoying the festival. I went on to shoot the annual fund raiser for the North Fork Women's group on Long Island and continued in 1995 at one more event at the LGBTQ Center in New York.
