LGBT: San Francisco: The Daniel Nicoletta Photographs

by Dan Nicoletta (Photographer), Gus Van Sant (Foreword), Chuck Mobley (Introduction)

Glittering drag queens, gay politics and alternative Nicoletta was at the heart of the gay mecca that was 1970s San Francisco Daniel Nicoletta (born 1954) has been a leading chronicler of the LGBT civil rights movement in San Francisco over the last 40 years. This is the first book dedicated to his powerful photographs documenting the journey of the burgeoning lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender mecca that was San Francisco in the 1970s through to the present. Nicoletta is best known for his iconic images of Harvey Milk, one of the world’s first openly gay elected officials, who was assassinated by a homophobic colleague in 1978. Nicoletta portrayed glittering drag queens, the alternative theater world and the steadfast bravery of same-sex couples trying to live their lives amid often adverse cultural sea changes. Today, Nicoletta continues to document the reverberations of Milk’s legacy. He serves as a key point person for LGBT civil rights and Milk-related research. In 2014, one of Nicoletta’s photographs was used on a US Harvey Milk Forever stamp. San Francisco is an essential gay history and a stunning photographic work that is not to be missed.

Genres: LGBT, Photography, Art, Queer, Gay, History

304 pages, Hardcover

Published June 27, 2017

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danny is an amazing photographer - such a lovely book. I wish it were ten times longer.

[Nancy Mcnally · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many magical photos in this big wonderful book.. and I will treasure my copy . The photos are assembled in thematic sections and offer a poetic visual narrative of a cultural/ social revolution that occurred in my native city San Francisco.

I was in the middle of it all and this book is artfully true to the reality of how colorful and imaginative San Francisco was for most of the history of SF until tech shrouded SF with tech beige and stifled originality with visually boring, selfie centered obsessed wanna be celebrity disruptors .

SF is under siege ....the curse of a societal last gasp of greed ..who will rise ? Greed or the grassroots efforts of folks who love art and humanity ? Techie rich people embrace and promote ultra expensive, un-digestible blandness.

This great big fabulous book is beautifully produced with elegance. It is a gift for the people who care about history of creativity and grassroots culture and politics in what now seems like the halcyon art days of my youthful life in San Francisco.

[Steve Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd seen Danny Nicolleta taking photos at many events I've covered in San Francisco. He was even taking photos of a protest in the Castro and march led by Cleve Jones against white supremacy during his San Francisco book tour in August, 2017.

Nicoletta had worked at Harvey Milk's Castro Camera & taken many of the best photos of Milk including the one the postage stamp and the bust at City Hall were based on. He also was the set photographer for Milk and a character based on him was in the film (he also was a founder of what is now the Frameline LGBT film festival in 1977 which would later show films by Gus Van Sant who wrote the introduction).

Many of those photos are in the book as well as other photos covering four decades of LGBT San Francisco. So many the large (12" x 10") book was expanded from 160 to 304 pages and the front and back end pages have almost 100 more portraits.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

History in Making when you view Daniel Nicoletta's photos.
What a gift for future generations

[Mills College Library]

779.93067 N643 2017

[Sergio Caredda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found in a tiny bookstore while strolling in San Francisco, has been a great surprise. There’s a real poetry in the photos of this book, which tell of the LGBT engagement of San Francisco, and the changing shape and face of its life. Reading through it it almost leaves a bitter taste for the “great old time”. But it doesn’t only depict the simple and flamboyant side: the AIDS era is also part of this epic.

[Jean-Sébastien Herpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sublime recueil par le petit photographe de l'équipe d'Harvey Milk.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend Mel gave this gorgeous book of photos to me for Christmas, and it is wonderful! Not a lot of reading involved, but the introduction is good, for the record. This is a book I will go back to over and over again, because of the richness of the content, as well as the beauty of the photos. It's also a document of LGBT San Francisco before my time, as well as during the time I lived here. I treasure the historic photos that record the times before I got here (there's a wonderful photo of Dan Nicoletta taken by Harvey Milk), but it's also fun to see the photos of people I know, and events or places where I could easily have been just outside the frame of the photo. Highly recommended for anyone who likes photography and/or SF LGBT community history.

[Asiuol K · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were too many penises for my liking and it often became repetitive. I think I would have liked more photos of Harvey Milk. However, I do admire what he was going for. It is a celebration of LGBT pride and does include influential moments in its history.

[TA Inskeep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bless Danny Nicoletta for documenting 40+ years of queer life in San Francisco. These photos are so painfully vital.