Photographing WeHo Pride 2024

I took my camera (Leica MP TYP 240) to West Hollywood this month to photograph Pride on my own. Pride is a special time of year for me, although like many LGBTQIA+ people I’ve had conflicting feelings about it over the years. The partying, the substances, the corporate sponsorships, the rainbow-washing–all of these seem to take away from the original message of the original Pride marches. It took me a long time to understand Pride as both a party and a protest. Pride is both rage and joy. Pride is over-the-top because Pride is about saying “I am not ashamed, and I’m here.”

And, like many, I’d rather use this celebration as a creative opportunity and to act the documentarian. Here are some of my shots. I hadn’t done street photography style shooting in a long time, so it felt a little bit like getting back on a bike again.