About Portraits, Page 1 (Friends)

Click on each image for a 600 x 400 view in a new window.
Close that window to return to this page
without having to reload the thumbnails.

To add a photographic print of an image to your Shopping Cart,
click on the associated button.
You can edit your Shopping Cart at any time.

Friends are the most important part of life: they are what give life meaning, and mine are no exception ... they have stuck with me through thick and thin and, in particular, some very bad times in the past few years. I have many more images to scan and put up on this page; I am sure that those whose photos are not yet on this page will bear with me until that omission can be corrected.

As you can see, my friends come from many different walks of life, since I walk in many different paths and cannot be easily classified--if at all.

CatalogNumber: 86-29

(The late) Rob Eichberg, Ph.D., co-creator (along with David Goodstein, former publisher of The Advocate) of The Experience, a human potential workshop I first took in November 1978. Although David died of liver cancer in 1985 and Rob was taken from us by The Plague in 1995, The Experience is still working to realize their vision: "By the year 2000 it will be absolutely OK to be lesbian or gay, and diversity will be valued and celebrated." For more information, call 1-800-966-3896 or go to their web site. I highly recommend The Experience for everyone, straight or gay. Photo taken at an Experience event in North Hollywood, CA, June 2, 1991.

Catalog Number: 90-29
[The late] Paul Wilson, AKA "Bobby C," posing on the patio at Griff's (now the Fault Line), a gay leather bar at Melrose and Vermont, Hollywood, CA, 6/8/91. This is a characteristic view of Bobby: he's showing off, and his mouth is open ... and you may interpret that however you wish. (Yes, Virginia, there are gay bikers.)

Catalog Number: 85-15
Title: R.D.
Biker, mechanic and tattoo artist, photographed at Sullivan's tattoo shop, Canoga Park, CA, 5/12/91.

Catalog Number: 28-12a
Gary "Duke" Heil, Hollywood street person, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and La Brea Ave., 15 Feb. 1991. Some more shots of Duke are in the wings.

Catalog Number: 0220-9a
Peter Dobson, computer programmer and AIDS activist, in the parking lot of the French Marketplace (or, from the décor, the "French Whorehouse"), West Hollywood, CA, 20 January 1992.

Catalog Numbers:
334-42a (left)

and 336-20 (right)

[The late] Paul "Papa Bear" Sehm, USN Ret.--gay leather community icon, author of the "Rope Rap" column in Dave Rhodes' Leather Journal and various other pieces, and master picture framer--and his friend / lover / companion / housemate (they had a very complex and not easily-classifiable relationship) David Cervantes, in the living room of their house in North Hollywood, CA, 24 December 1992. At the time of these photos Papa Bear was suffering from melanoma, which would be take him from us several months later. He was loved by a great many and we miss him terribly.

Catalog Number: 185-10a
ACT-UP demonstration against California governor Pete Wilson, Warner Center, Canoga Park, CA, 11/15/91. (Very grainy: Kodak TMax 3200 pushed two stops to ASA 12,500.)

Catalog Number: 401-4
Scott, former prop. of the Casa de Java coffeehouse in 29 Palms, and his son, 13 July 1993.

Catalog Number: 3-29a
"Uncle" Ruthie Buell and the redoubtable Godot (a.k.a. Godotsha from Kenotsha), on the floor of Studio A, KPFK Pacifica Radio, North Hollywood, CA, 5 January 1991. Uncle Ruthie is a former public school special education teacher, a gifted composer and performer of folksongs for children and adults, and host of the Halfway Down the Stairs children's program on KPFK for many years. She at first didn't want me to release this photo because she didn't realize she was in the picture and she felt her stern appearance would give people the wrong idea of her bubbly, happy and bright personality -- and I said "Nonsense, it's one of the funniest photos I've ever seen!" and she finally relented. I have been involved with Pacifica in one way or another since the age of 18, beginning at KPFA in Berkeley and later at KPFK; at the time of this photo I was Unka Ruthie's board operator. In Memoriam: Bruce Buell

Catalog Number: 234-29
Rita "Miss Wirewaist" Harrison, former host of a reggae show on KPFK, in the parking lot of the station, 14 Feburary 1992.