Pride Month, now a global celebration attracting tens of millions of people has its roots in New York City, growing out of the Stonewall riots in June, 1969 when the West Village gay community decided that they had had enough of being hassled, shaken down and arrested by New York City’s vice squad. Instead of cowering in shame and fear they dared to fight back, and in doing so launched the modern gay liberation movement.
While I wouldn’t say that the long struggle against oppression is by any means over, the gay rights movement has been incredibly successful and won many incredible hard fought victories and changed society along the way. For the better, in my opinion.
Growing up as a straight male in a fairly conservative suburb of Pittsburgh, it took me a long time to even become aware of homosexuality, other than the odd celebrity of the era like Liberace or Paul Lind who managed to thrive in a more repressive and closeted era. It took me even longer to understand how incredibly common and part of the fabric of everyday life homosexuality is, even in my provincial home town with its marching bands, not unlike the ones in these photos, but flying flags without quite as many colors. I still have some regrets about crude jokes I made during my high school years among friends who not much later came out as gay.
In the years since I was in high school, gay people have won major victories against workplace discrimination, in favor of marriage equality, and their advocacy helped revolutionize the practice of medicine to accelerate the development of effective treatments for the devastating HIV virus.
At the same time, the movement has also helped liberate people like me from our fears and anxieties about our gay friends, co-workers and family members.
Gay people aren’t just all around us, they are us.
2026 was the second year I joined the city wide celebrations of Pride with a film camera. In the morning I shot the official parade on 35mm with a Leica M3.
In the late afternoon/early evening I took my Hasselblad 503CW to do street portraits amidst the giant, loose free flowing street party that takes over the same Greenwich Village streets where the movement began 50 years ago.
I had a great time and am happy to share some of the photos here.
Being there in the park was fun chaos, packed with people expressing their joy, and yes, pride.
Trying to convey dynamic energy and motion was a challenge, with people moving around in every direction. Avoiding foreground crosses was a challenge.
So I ended up doing more posed portraits amidst the chaos as the right way to use the Hasselblad in this particular shooting situation.
I was surprised how calm and composed these images feel when I got them back from the lab, because that’s not how they felt to me as I was shooting them.
Hasselblad 503CW, Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.8, Kodak Tri X
I hope you enjoyed this meditation on liberation. I’ll be back next year!
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cdlinz on Faces of Pride — NYC Pride, 2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Art Meripol on Faces of Pride — NYC Pride, 2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
David Pauley on Faces of Pride — NYC Pride, 2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
So nice to see your Pride photos. They are gorgeous. Hard to choose a favorite between the M3 and Hasselblad frames, between black and white and color. Although the tools are different, they share the same spirit, and bring the day to life. Well done!
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Erik Brammer on Faces of Pride — NYC Pride, 2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
We have our local CSD coming up on August 15. I guess I should go and see how open people are here to having their photographs taken - which, I am certain, won’t hold a candle to the quality of your and David’s portraits.
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Jeffery Luhn on Faces of Pride — NYC Pride, 2026
Comment posted: 03/08/2026
Jeffery
Comment posted: 03/08/2026