Customer Reviews

Couples: A Photographic Documentary of Gay and Lesbian Relationships

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an active and involved ally of the gay/lesbian/bi/transgender community and a member of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), this book was a wonderful learning experience. The variety of colors (admittedly lacking in asian and black women), mixed couples, all shapes and sizes, all varieties of people (nerdy looking, leather boys, middle-age yuppies, it had everything), everything was just a wonderful slice of PEOPLE, not of gay people. I recommend this more for reading than for the pictures. The expressions of love and devotion and pain and support brought tears to my eyes. Most of these couples are true families, and I would welcome them in my home and family any time.

As reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan , staff writer for:

"The Washington Post," Thursday, February 13, 1997:

Two By Two By Gettings - A photo Album Of Just Plain Folks

There is nothing special about the plain and handsome pictures in "Couples," a book of photographic portraits by John Gettings. Published in November by the University Press of New England, the book is a collection of grainless black-and-white images of people embracing. The subjects are not models or celebrities. Fat and skinny, old and young, they stand against a dark backdrop and look at the camera, or sometimes deep into their lovers' eyes.

What is extraordinary is just how ordinary these portraits of togetherness are. Because for many of the gay men and lesbians in the book, even the smallest public expression of affection has so often been taboo.

Photographer John Gettings grew up in Annandale and now divides his time among New York, Miami, Europe and Washington. He says the idea for the book hit him a few years back while engaged in an activity that most people take for granted. "At the time, I was living with my girlfriend in Milan and we had been together seven years. You know how you naturally, almost unconsciously hold hands while crossing the street? Well, my friend Juan Carlos was walking with us that day and it suddenly occurred to me that I had never seen him hold his boyfriend's hand in public. I thought 'Why can't they express themselves with the simplest gesture?'"

A tone of astonishment creeps into his voice as he considers his own cultural myopia. "I mean, I'm a fashion photographer and I had never really thought about it." While he acknowledges that there are certain places "like Dupont Circle and the Wet Village where it's okay to walk down the street and hold hands" he still believes that, for the most part, there are many more places "where a little thing like that is denied to them."

"I always thought I was pretty sympathetic to gay issues," Gettings says, explaining the gradual evolution of his thinking. "It just sort of dawned on me that it wasn't really fair. And I thought I had to do something."

A year later when he had moved to New York he thought to himself, with naïve enthusiasm, "Why not take pictures of the straightest looking people to try and counter the stereotypes? If an article [about gays] comes out in Newsweek they always take pictures of drag queens, but it's not correct." Then a photographer friend pointed out to him how his idea was just as narrow a view as the biased images he was trying to fight.

"He had been documenting the porn industry and he said to me, `John, do not limit yourself by shooting only one aspect of the gay community. Don't just take pictures of what your idea of a gay person is.'"

In 1995, Gettings got permission from the city to set up a miniature outdoor studio in Central Park during a rally of a half-million people at the annual Gay Pride Week. He then distributed handbills in search of "couples for a book project," sat back and waited.

One hundred twenty four couples showed up. "I shot anybody that came and stood in front of me from morning until night." Eighty pairs ultimately made it into the book. "I had to edit it down for technical reasons," he explains. "Some of them just didn't turn out."

The book, Gettings says is a cross section of "anybody and everybody." The only criterion he insisted on was "that they be a couple, whether they were together for just that weekend or for 27 years. I just said, `Be how you want to be.' And when I thought the moment was right, I clicked."

I have read and studied John Gettings' photographic study of gay and lesbian relationsips. I know Mr.Gettings personally, and I believe that this is only the beginning for John. He is sincerely insightful and passionate about his art. He believes strongly in artistic expression and the need for an open environment as a venue for that. What is truly remarkable about his book is its ability to portray its subject matter in a new, refreshing and honest manner; and its ability to do so given its controversial nature in our present political climate. John is a heterosexual male, and if his book were covering virtually any other subject matter this would be an irrelevant and perhaps personally invasive point to make, but as such it speaks all the more to his compassion, understanding, and sincere interest in the propulsion of these ideals through his work and his art

Photography is not just pictures. It is the representation of icons that help us understand our world. For older people, a picture of them during their youth represents how they see themselves despite their age. Pictures are a reflection of how we see ourselves. It is rare for a book to position itself as a reflection of the gay community. I was thrilled to see that such a book existed. The pictures are fantastic and the biographies were very real. What troubled me was that there was not one image of an African-American woman. Asian-Americans were not represented either. I strikes me as strange that not one representative from these groups could be found at Gay Pride in NY. The selection of representative members of the Gay Community smacked only of the element that is present in the mainstream community, racism. It is noble to archive and document this community; it is a disservice to omit some of its members.

In an amazing way of intimate inside views you get to know g/l couples by only seeing one picture of them. Therefor it is not important weather this is gay or lesbian, straight or trans couples at all - but here it gives a nice tone to it, some persiflage of normality - I dearly love it and love to dive into portraits of long lasting relationships some where over the ocean.
two thumbs up

i thought this book was one of the best coffee table books i have seen in a long time. a great gift for anybody homo- or heterosexual. great photography and a very good read.

cant wait for the next book by john gettings!