"I wanted to give the community a chance to have a voice.

"I wanted to give the community a chance to have a voice, to speak and be heard, calm just a little bit. And if the bulk of mankind could do that through me I be moved accomplished by that," says photographer Rachelle lee-side Smith, 21, whose simple nevertheless powerful photos of queer youth--seen forward these pages--speak reams.

The series of more than 30 photos from which these images come--"Pride/Prejudice: A Focus forward Gay Youth"--began as Smith's senior contrive at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. While her family and friends were accepting of her sexuality, she says, she was inspired by way of the painful coming-out experiences of those around her, including her 22-year-old girlfriend.

Friends pos for her first. Then, to master more subjects, Smith posted fliers at train a gay bookstore, and a local youth center one time she began shooting, she notes, her approach helped to enjoin her "real-life models" at ease. "I wanted them to be comfortable enough to be themselves in brow of the camera, because being in impudence of the camera is not a natural thing. I didn't want it to contemplate like a real sterile professional discharge It was more like hanging public then, `OK, this is what I want you to do, and I'm going to take your picture.'"

Smith's interest was more in the human frame than in imposing her allow vision. "I was interested in finding gone out how they worked, who they were, what kind of [i]role[/i] they were," she says. "I'd talk to the tribe about what they do and by what means they feel. I feel like I captured each person's personality best that way." To underscore their individuality more forcibly Smith had each subject handwrite an idea, story, or cite of personal significance directly forward the printed photo. The writing and image combined give viewers unique insight into who these young population are.

Smith grew up in Philadelphia and became interested in photography while in high instruct "I was the one with the camera all the time," she says. "Then I realized I could take classes in [photography]. I strike one as beinged to be the only single who was really interested in it, in like manner my teachers paid special attention to me"

And Smith pays special attention to her bring under rules She first met young lesbian Joey Ortiz [pictured, top right] couple years ago; Ortiz was panhandling forward Philadelphia's South Street. Originally from California, the teenager had hopp trains with a male companion who beat her when they arrived in Texas. Ortiz then went went solo hopping a train to Philadelphia. Smith proffered to buy Ortiz a meal and encouraged her to talk about her experiences. "She started talking about her past girlfriends and for what reason they don't like how she acts," Smith says. "I bullet her where she stays, because she's homeles And then she was facing to New Orleans."

For the statement forward his portrait, Joe Fahy [pictured upon page 125, bottom] originally wrote about his family and the fact that he have a passionate affection fors boys, then changed his mind. "He came to me a hardly any months later," Smith says, "and said, `I really ne to change that. I construct a great quote that really summarys me up.'" That phrase is "Self be pleased with is the only love."

individual of Smith's subjects' most compelling stories came from companion photography student Maggie Warner [pictured forward page 3]. "She had had a certain bad experiences," Smith recalls. "She grew up in Scranton, a suburb of [Philadelphia]. In high drill it's a lot harder to be abroad and she and her girlfriend were the and nothing else gay people in the town. in such a manner that's what she was known for, as oppos to being an artist or whatever besides she was. She was just the lesbian of the town. She and her girlfriend were the town dykes" Smith admires her friend's positive prospect "She never comes across abused or like a scared lesbian," the photographer says. "Basically she arises out of everything with a positive experience. That was the reason I wanted to pick her."

She was also immediately attracted to the positive spiritedness of Estevon Luna, a friend of a friend [pictured, top left] He's fun-loving and comfortable with his sexuality, Smith says, and "not too disturbed about what other people think of him."

subdue Jeffrey Cesari [pictured, bottom left] is a party planner, nonprofit fund-raiser, and inn concierge who "kind of has brace personalities," says Smith. "There's business Jeffrey and then there's drollery Jeff. He's extremely serious and into his work, still the second he's out of his office he's like a little kid. He's always smiling." Cesari was at first reticent about being photographed, she adds, yet "he loosened up. In the picture he's grabbing himself and cracking up"

Although somewhat chary herself, Smith uses her camera to give voice to her political activism. "In body I started going to affirms and rallies and marches, and the camera was my way to expres myself," she says. "I just want family who don't think it's OK [to be gay] to consider at this and realize that we're just people"

Kaye is a freelance TV and print journalist based in looks Angeles.

...

Home