I know it is dead cold in the North East right now and we all long for the hot summer days on Fire Island. Perhaps this is why I chose to post about this book today. And perhaps flipping through the pages of Tom Bianchi’s Fire Island Pines, Polaroids1975-1983 might temporarily transport you there too. If you have never been, this book will make you want to go – but be warned, it’s not the 70s anymore.
In 1970, fresh out of law school, Bianchi began traveling to New York and, in turn, Fire Island Pines, where he encountered a community of gay men. Using his SX-70 Polaroid camera, Bianchi documented his friends’ lives in the Pines, amassing an image archive of people, parties and private moments. These images, published here for the first time, and accompanied by Bianchi’s moving memoir of the era, record the birth and development of a new culture. Soaked in sun, sex, camaraderie and reverie, Fire Island Pines conjures a magical bygone era. This is a great photography book for anyone interested in gay culture of the late 70s and Polaroids. There is something about the colouring of Polaroids that always draws me in – they always feel like Summer. Available through Amazon.com
