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Sunday, October 27, 2019

Tom Bianchi Polaroids, Part 1 - Nudes


Tom Bianchi grew up in Chicago where he would buy physique magazines.  He saw a photo in one of them of Glen Bishop taken on Fire Island, New York that he was particularly taken with.  After graduating with a law degree from Northwestern University, he moved to New York where he was a corporate lawyer.  Being a gay man, he became involved in the Fire Island scene, taking Polaroid pictures of his friends and acquaintances.  Those photos chronicled gay life on the eve of the AIDS epidemic, and Bianchi's  book, Fire Island Pines, Polaroids 1975-1983 is an unforgettable recollection of a lost time.  I am featuring images from Pines in both of today's series despite knowing some are beyond my usual cutoff date for vintage.  Tom Bianchi moved from law to a successful career as an artist and photographer, and he is alive and well today.

3 comments:

  1. What is your "usual cutoff date for vintage?"

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    1. 1975, but I obviously make exceptions for what I believe to be important photos/photographers.

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  2. Bianchi one of the lucky ones. His hard work and determination took him far.
    1975-83 a fun time and a bad time, lost some friends(: too upsetting to recall.:)

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