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As I mention esewhere, I have been driven to obsessively collect everything that I could that documents not just the leather/kink/fetish community's HISTORY, but also our SUCCESSES.
I did this because successes were HARD to find for a long time, due to AIDS. Many of our community leaders died, and it was hard to replace them.
The more that you dig into this collection, the more that you will notice a pattern:
In the midst of all of the other photos at events, GROUP photos become more and more prevalent. This is to show how many folks attended the event. Camera-shy gay men were always RARE. Maybe one or two per event, at most. Everybody else was delighted to join in the fun.
I insisted on taking group photos because they helped me to build success upon success. If I approached a new guy who might fit in well in our community, and use only words to convince him to stick around, then that does accomplish a small amount of convincing. If I whip out my phone and start flipping through dozens and dozens of images of delighted and diverse men, then he's hooked!
As I would always say at the time, "You can't photoshop 'happy' into a picture!
If you have helpful suggestions, please contact me: papatonyATmacDOTcom