Our Favorite LGBTQ Photographers And Stories From Years Gone by
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June is Pride Month. And it’s a great opportunity to reflect on the work created by LGBTQ photographers. But it’s not the only time to do it. Our stories, features, and interviews are all year round. And we should remember the photo industry’s representation of the community should be a constant – not just a trendy thing to do one month of the year. The Phoblographer has been committed to highlighting the work of LGBTQ photographers ever since it started. We’re pleased that we’ve been able to create a nice catalogue of work by LGBTQ photographers that people can go back to and enjoy. And that’s what we’re going to do in this piece.
Lyndsey Weatherspoon is an LGBTQ Photographer Focusing on BLM
Lynsey Weatherspoon is a documentary and portrait photographer. She’s done important work, highlighting the fight of the BLM movement. And her body of work has lead her to become an official Canon L series photographer. As her career continues to grow, Weatherspoon wants to be a voice for the black and LGBTQ communities.
Adam Poco is an LGBTQ Photographer With a Unique Project
Dating apps have promoted a generation of hook up culture. When Adam Poco started his series Tryst Pic, he wanted to show a different side to his community. Instead of hooking up, he wanted to create meaningful connections with the people he met on the dating apps. The result of the series is a delicate set of images that project genuine connections.
Jonathan Higbee is a Mainstay on The Phoblographer
Readers of the site will know that Jonathan Higbee has been a constant on the site. That’s because he has a range of fantastic work. From street photography to personal projects, he never fails to deliver. He has a lot to say on a range of topics, making him an engaging interviewee!
Ryan Ochoa Explores Mental Health on Film
“I am a young queer boy who deals with Borderline Personality Disorder,” wrote Ryan Ochoa. In his 2017 feature, Ochoa shared set of portraits of the people he loves. His objective was to represent authenticity in his work. The highs, lows, struggles, and wins. We think he did a remarkable job!
Annie Flanagan Documents The Tough Topic of Domestic Abuse
Annie Flanagan is a non-binary photographer that created the project Deafening Sound. It certainly wasn’t an easy feature. Flanagan worked alongside women who had suffered both physical and mental abuse from their partners. One of their subjects was their best friend, making the work even more challenging to create. But they did a fantastic job of covering an emotional and difficult subject.
Tom Selmon Focused on The LGBTQ Community in China
Tom Selmon first became connected to the LGBTQ community in 2014. While there, he started focusing on what he describes as “Queer London.” When we published his work in 2016, it was a set of images that focused on the drag community in Beijing. On the work, he said:
“Opposed to traditional Chinese societal norms, the generation born post-1990 are far more open, and open-minded, about the concepts of gender, sex and sexuality. Which, in turn, is great for me as a photographer who aims to document all sorts of people”
Bodie Strain’s Photos for an LGBT+ Community Magazine
Australian photographer Bodie Strain creates edgy and creative portraits that focus on the underrepresented. He describes one of his bigger jobs as being for a LGBT+ magazine. On the topic, he told us, “it’s meant meeting and working with lot of people from often less visible communities, and trying to get a shot that is both representative and striking for the story.”
Share Your Favorite LGBTQ Photographers and Stories
Above are only a handful of fantastic photographers and stories within the LGBTQ community. Please let us know in the comments below what work you think we need to see that’s representative and inclusive of the community.
Lead photo by Tom Selmon.