Les Anneés Folles, Pride and vintage Photography

I am an avid lover of vintage photography. Seeking out anything from movie star photos online, stills from cinema, photos from my family's albums and work from archivists, I consume it like an endless hunger. I am so invested in history, especially anything pertaining to my hobbies, and learning the history of photography and seeing cool images from the beginning of the 20th Century is always fascinating. I decided that this was going to be my theme for my next photo project.

I am proudly part of the LGBTQ+ community, discovering myself at the age of 15 and fighting with internalised phobias all the way up until today. I've often felt like both a man and a woman - comfortable being a cisgender woman but often doing things that were expected of men or wanting to look and feel more masculine (which goes hand-in-hand with my bisexual identity). Everyone deserves sunshine, and the freedom to spread love and joy within their communities, and I wanted to create a photoshoot that reflected my personality, identity and the fact that we've always existed throughout time.

Using daguerreotype textures and vintage elements such as the background stars, I took photos on both the Nikon camera and my phone camera. I also thoroughly enjoyed putting together the outfits for the shoot, and yes, I did not photoshop my hair fully - I used old hairstyling techniques to achieve short and bobbed hair, then neatened the edges after. I did, however, cut my sideburns to look more manly (something that I am now deeply regretting).

The photos took a total of 3 days to complete. I didn't know what direction I wanted to take with them originally, but I eventually found inspiration when researching 1920's photos, early photography and movie stills. Yes, I know daguerreotypes were before the 1920s but I wanted to blend the styles together to make a great vision. I had fun drawing elements too, and if you look closely at the first portrait with the decorative border you will see two men doing finger guns and thumbs up symbols which are jokingly associated with bi people.

I had a lot of fun creating these photos, and I miss my moustache. I hope other people can relate to these images and I'll definitely do more vintage photos in the future.