Kink : The Folsom Street Fair

About 25 years ago, Howard Schatz and Beverly J. Ornstein went to drop off some film from a previous day's shoot at a lab in the commercial area south of Market Street in San Francisco. There they encountered an astonishing scene of what seemed to be thousands of people, many in elaborate costumes and makeup, and some totally or nearly naked: men and women (though precise gender was, with some, not easy to determine) taking part in a theatrical world of countless fantasies. The Folsom Street Fair is held every year in San Francisco on the last Sunday in September, celebrating the world of kink and bondage, discipline and sadomasochism (BDSM). The encounter that day in 1991 became the trigger for a serious photographic exploration now spanning a quarter century. Schatz rented an exhibitor's space at the fair, built an outdoor studio and made portraits of attendees year after year. These portraits are the creative, intriguing, amazing and sometimes shocking result of his exploration.