Concealed series

This ongoing photo series presents portraits of Pink Pistol members, LGBTQ gun owners in America covering a wide range of age, race, and gender and sexual identities. Since LGBTQ folks are traditionally liberal and stereotypically non- violent, I wanted to meet and find out more about the people who had taken up arms. I contacted Pink Pistol members and others on social media and started photographing LGBTQ gun owners in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Birmingham and Seattle. These photographs represent my attempt to honestly “capture” the subjects, being careful not to let the guns overwhelm the compositions. My goal is to give insights into the individuals and their decision to bear arms through unbiased and non-judgmental portraits. I realize that images of firearms can be polarizing but a variety of emotional reactions and dialogue about this complicated subject is what I’m aiming for. I am most curious about what guns, a symbol of power and violence, mean to those who are disenfranchised in our culture.