Folsom Street Fair 2022

A look at the legendary San Fransisco Street Fair

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Hey Friends,

Today we take a trip to the Folsom Street Fair in San Fransisco with photographer Benjamin Fredrickson. He has captured the fair many times, both in San Fransisco and New York. His photos are cinematic and evocative. They remind me of (bare with me) Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematography. The way he frames his photos and captures light is gorgeous and has a very retro feel to it. It’s a really great story.

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We hope you’re having a wonderful week, and staying out of the gross wildfire smog if you’re in New York.

xoxo

Your gay aunties,

Tom & Abi

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PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY BENJAMIN FREDRICKSON

San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair is the world’s largest celebration of BDSM and leather subcultures. It takes place on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th, in the San Francisco neighborhood named for being South of Market, SoMa. The first event was held in 1984 in part to protest the redevelopment of SoMa which supported a thriving LGBT community, including many leather bars. The event was also conceived as a fundraiser, the donations taken at the entrance gates going to local and national charity groups. 

My Folsom project began when Visual AIDS, a nonprofit supporting HIV-positive artists, asked me to set up a pop-up photo booth at New York City’s Folsom Street East in 2015. It was enlightening. I met and photographed so many incredible fetish enthusiasts in their gear. That experience inspired me to keep photographing and to explore the other iterations of Folsom, Folsom Street East, and World Folsom in Berlin. 

My adrenaline always starts pumping when I near the entrance to Folsom and see all the fetish enthusiasts pouring in alongside me.