Magnum documentary photograph

Gay men on Dumaine and Bourbon Streets, 1975.

Original caption on ARTstor: USA. New Orleans, Louisiana. 1975. French Quarter, Dumaine and Bourbon.

By: Bruce Gilden

I searched for "New Orleans" in the Magnum collection on the assumption that I would find some photos to which I could bring my own background knowledge, above and beyond simply describing what is visually apparent. The image I selected came from a series of photos from the late 1970s by Bruce Gilden, most of which documented in-your-face transgressive behaviors. This image documents the existence and the aesthetic of the gay male community in the late 1970s, and can even give a sense of their exact location (this photo was taken just one block away from what I understand to be the present French Quarter locus of the gay community, implying continuity).

The photo is framed to capture four individuals, each of whom is having a different interaction with the photographer, while leaving out any other people. The man at the front looks directly at the photographer and, taking up between a third and a half of the image, he blocks out the people behind him while still allowing the viewer to sense that there are additional people there. The man in the background (in the hat) isn't interacting with the photographer but with someone or something out of the frame; he may not even be aware of the photographer. Finally, the two men on the right are aware of the photographer, but are more directly interacting with one another.