«You enter a nightclub in Rome or Berlin, a club, a gay bar. It doesn’t matter. It’s winter, it’s summer, you’re happy, excited, you’re sweating. The atmosphere is thick with the breaths of those who have been dancing for hours to a queer line-up we all know or a techno, electronic, or house sound that, even if it’s your first time hearing it, feels like you’ve known it forever. You see familiar and unfamiliar faces, all united. You relax your shoulders, move your hips a bit. You catch glances, evade them, you’re one, you’re many. The space swells to the rhythm of the bass, shaped by the bodies that move, drink, and alter themselves. You wet your lips, eyes seeking each other. A desire for others, for everyone, to feel like one, two, many. With the urge to please, to be pleased, to be accepted and wanted. “No one saves themselves alone.”»

This is the essence captured by Puertosool, stage name Pasquale Desantis, in his photographs. His installation I NEED YOU (volemose bene) presents a selection of his photographic project that, for years, has documented queer nights, raves and underground LGBTQIA+ parties in Rome and during his travels in Europe.

Attracted by details rather than the subjects as a whole, Puertosool depicts smiles, hands, hair, shoes and feet. He is obsessed with kisses, explosions of emotion that he captures at the height of effusion. The installation recreates the atmosphere of a club, made up of bodies and lights, inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in this collective space of desire.

The club as a space of freedom

The club has always been a gathering place for the queer community: a space of expressive, political and social freedom. In this context, the installation that Puertosool conceives around the series explores the desire for intimacy and affectivity linked to both the club and the domestic environment, through the display of objects that evoke tenderness and personal connections.

Who is Puertosool?

Puertosool, alias Pasquale Desantis, was born in Cerignola in 1990. When he moved to Rome he was thunderstruck by the capital’s night scene. His nickname, Puertosool, stems from his work experience in Roman clubbing, in reference to a well-known brand of fruit juices. Currently, his main professional occupation is related to magic clowning events. He approaches photography spontaneously, using a compact 5mm camera, which gives his works a vintage taste, without post-production or editing.

Photography serves Puertosool to explore and document nightlife and queer culture, capturing the essence of the LGBTQIA+ community while highlighting the beauty of expressive freedom. His attention to detail – a smile, a hand, a kiss – makes each image a celebration of life and love in all its forms.

Courtesy Puertosool

Lushfoil isn’t your traditional game. There are no puzzles to solve, there are no enemies to fight, and there is no story to read. When people call something a walking simulator, they are usually referring to something like Firewatch or Gone Home – games where you do a lot of walking but it’s in the name of storytelling and discovery. Lushfoil is about walking for the joy of walking. You walk and explore some of the world’s most picturesque locations, snapping photos to savor the memories. There are no points, there are no level-ups, there are only whimsical views, hidden details, and opportune moments to find.

During my 30-minute preview, I was able to explore Tyrol in Italy, Meelup Beach in Australia, and Kyoto, Japan. However, the final release will also feature locations from Italy, as well as France, Nepal, China, the UK, and Yamadera in Japan. As soon as you step foot in Tyrol, you are shown a breathtaking view of a sparkling lake with a snowy mountain range, but no way to capture it. A few steps down the road you find a camera, and from then on you can savor every scene.

These few moments where you are desperate to save and share the view, but unable to, help to connect you more strongly with your camera. The camera has all the settings you’d expect from a DSLR, but for amateurs, there is an easier mode with minimal options so you can point, focus, and click. All the images are then saved in your camera roll, so you can look back in your album whenever you wish. You can’t walk too far off the beaten path, but each road you walk down there are new, unexpected moments to discover.

When I was walking down the road off Meelup Beach in Western Australia I saw a wallaby bound across my path. I caught just its tail with my camera, and when I walked over to the spot, it was lost in the bushes. I may have failed to capture the moment, but just like all the fleeting experiences I’ve had while traveling, it stayed with me. I felt the same way when I discovered a piece of abandoned origami while walking through the iconic red gates of Fushimi Inari, or coming across a wooden church deep in the mountains of Tyrol.

Lushfoil isn’t going to offer you a heart-pumping experience or heart-breaking story, but it gives you something so much more real. It would be almost impossible to put your boots on the ground and experience all these breathtaking and often remote places for yourself. Lushfoil isn’t the same as really being there, but it’s pretty close. Sitting up with your eyes pressed to the big screen – just like your mom told you not to – you can almost fool yourself that you are there, if only for a beautiful, fleeting moment.

Kenneth Steward, the brilliant mind behind the Juneteenth Freedom Exhibit in El Paso, TX, is back with something truly groundbreaking: the “Enough is Enough” Empowerment Photography Project.

Kenneth has heard one too many stories of women suffering from abuse, and he decided it’s time to take a stand. This project isn’t just about pretty pictures; it’s about showing the raw, unfiltered reality of domestic violence. From the bruised and battered to the incredible journey of healing and recovery, Kenneth’s photos will highlight the strength and resilience of survivors who emerge stronger than ever.

But he can’t do it alone! Kenneth is looking for sponsors to help fund this impactful gallery and raise awareness and money for local non-profits supporting abuse survivors in El Paso. Your support can make a huge difference in bringing these powerful stories to life.

Interested in participating in the project or know someone who should? Kenneth is calling on brave souls willing to share their stories through his lens. Your courage can inspire and empower others facing similar struggles.

And don’t miss out! Kenneth Steward will be sharing more about this project on the radio with Iris and Grizz In The Morning at 9am on June 27th on 93.1 KISS FM. Tune in to hear his passionate vision and how you can get involved.



Join us in saying “Enough is Enough.” Let’s create change one story at a time.

For more details or to get involved, contact Kenneth Steward on Instagram: @grumpyvetphotography

Paper overturned like a teardrop. Ink swirling across a purple glow. A fly perched atop cracked-open crustaceans, insides shining like treasure. These are just three unforgettable shots by photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, whose portraits of pop stars, LGBTQ+ club-goers and scantily clad lovers often lead conversations about his work. But more than half of his portfolio explores other subjects. “When you see exhibitions of mine, the variety of what’s there is often not captured by a conversation,” says Tillmans, a 2024 PEUGEOT Attitude Pride ICON Award winner.

Such is the breadth of his oeuvre that the Museum of Modern Art dedicated 11 rooms to its 2022 exhibition, Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear. It was named, Tillmans says, after “an interview where I speak about wanting to encourage the viewer, but also myself, to look at the world without fear”. 

An image can provoke extreme emotions in some people — as proved by the reaction to Tillmans’ 2002 photo The Cock (Kiss). Taken at London gay club night The Cock, it shows two sweaty men kissing. “The immediacy touched people, but also disturbed people,” reflects Tillmans. “In 2007, I had a big exhibition in Washington, D.C. There was a two metre-sized print [of it]. It was attacked; someone slashed it with a key.” Nearly 10 years later, in 2016, the image went viral and became a symbol of solidarity after the massacre at queer nightclub Pulse in Orlando. “A photograph like The Cock (Kiss), even though a private moment, is a highly political photograph, whether it wants to be or not,” notes Tillmans. It later featured on the cover of Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo, whose foreign editions were “prominently displayed in bookshops” in LGBTQ+-hostile countries like Poland and Italy.  

Tillmans is also dedicated to improving access to treatment for HIV and AIDS. He found out that he was HIV positive in 1997. “[It was] just a year after the triple combination therapy was discovered and made widely available, and AIDS became not the inevitable outcome of an HIV infection, and HIV became a treatable condition. I found out at the same time as my boyfriend [Jochen Klein] died of AIDS. It was too late. He was too long unaware of his HIV status to benefit from the medication. He unnecessarily died after the medication had been already available.” 

“I was always incredibly grateful for HIV activism”

In 2006, Tillmans’ book Why We Must Provide HIV Treatment and Information captured an HIV treatment access and advocacy meeting in Cape Town that year. It was attended by activists from 40 different countries and organised by South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, as well as i-Base, from England.  

“It was an incredibly inspiring meeting, seeing people from Ukraine, Zambia, the US, Argentina coming together. … Of course, almost 20 years down the line, HIV treatment access has been so much improved,” says Tillmans. 

“I didn’t want my work to be seen under the light of somebody that has death sitting on his shoulder. Because since I’ve been a teenager, AIDS had been in my life. Every club night, every moment until 1996, when HIV became treatable, AIDS, and the possibility of death, had been in my life and in my work all along. So, I didn’t want to be seen as an artist working with HIV. But I was always incredibly grateful for HIV activism.” 

Tillmans is also part of Attitude history, having photographed then-Prime Minister Tony Blair for our 2005 cover — despite misgivings. “He did the unforgivable act of joining George W. Bush in starting the Iraq War. And that war is, ultimately, in my eyes, responsible for Brexit — literally. If that war hadn’t happened, the Syrian War wouldn’t have happened, the Syrian refugee crisis, and [Nigel] Farage would not have been able to make the poster of a million people streaming into the UK, which was probably what pushed [17.4 million] people to vote Brexit. I see that as one chain of causality. But I’ve always been a pragmatist politically, and thought this was also a significant moment for a British prime minister to grant an interview to an outright gay publication — something that hadn’t happened in the 100 years before. It was happening now. OK, this man has made, in my eyes, a grave mistake, but on the other hand, he’s done a lot of good for the UK. 

“I recently released my second full album, Build from Here“

“He didn’t know who I was,” Tillmans remembers. “But I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to speak, his conviction. He is admirably talented; that, one could totally feel.” 

Tillmans further indulges us with anecdotes about capturing The Fame Monster-era Lady Gaga. “She was interested in art, knew who I was, so that was great. I met her before a concert in Duisburg, a relatively small town between two gigs in Paris and Berlin. There was no press arrangement. We had a whole afternoon for each other.” 

Aside from photography, Tillmans is a musician specialising in emotive, trancey techno, and returned to music in 2016 after a 30-year hiatus. “Little did I know, half a year in, a song of mine landed on Frank [Ocean]’s visual album, Endless, on the song ‘Device Control’,” he remembers. “I’ve haven’t stopped. I recently released my second full album, Build from Here.”  

It seems there’s little Tillmans can’t master, making him a worthy PEUGEOT Attitude Pride Icon Award recipient. Speaking of his work, he says, “It is very fascinating and slightly exhilarating to be in the presence of such extremely talented people.” We know the feeling.  

Think from Here is out now 

This feature appears in Issue 359 of Attitude magazine, which is available to order online here and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.

I’d been studying architectural design in Chile and thought I would do the same when I got to the US. But at university there, photography was one of my subjects – and the minute I put that first sheet of paper in the developer, it was magic to me. There is so much you can say in just one frame. I found it thrilling and overwhelming.

I’ve been living in the US for more than 50 years now and a lot of the pictures from my new book, Moral Minority, were made in the 1980s, when my notion of being a photographer was just beginning to form. The country was new to me and I wanted to figure out how to fit into it and how things worked.

The experience was something akin to what Robert Frank pursued in The Americans: that is to say, an immigrant to this country seeking to understand it through making pictures. I approach my work perhaps more gently than Frank, and attempt to be gracious and without judgment – the viewer is free to make their own decisions about these places and people.

Countless events take place across this country each year: parades, agricultural fairs, sports events, flower and reptile shows. I’ve always been interested in these small events where people gather to perform or compete in some way. I’m curious about human behaviour, how people relate to each other in common spaces. To me, streets and public spaces are like theatre, but the lack of any rehearsal and the element of surprise elevates and transcends our expectations. Henri Cartier-Bresson called it the “decisive moment” – but I like to call it the “indecisive moment”.

This was taken at a small high school event, nothing professional: a contest for the perfect bodybuilding physique. It was the late 1980s, so people didn’t walk around with cell phones and they had different notions about being approached and photographed in public. My subjects always knew they were being photographed because I used a Fuji 6×9 camera with a flash – definitely hard to hide.

The competitor was having a break. Maybe he knew the girls already. He was chatting with them – the conversation obviously having to do with the quality of his physique because of the way he’s pinching his thigh muscle and the level of perfection in it. That’s what the whole event is about: who can create the “perfect body” by working hard and maybe becoming the next Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Aesthetically, why are photographs of muscular physiques so eye-catching? People flock to see Michelangelo’s David. There is a certain exhibitionism on display in my pictures, but they show the wider scene. And, speaking technically, the way skin looks when photographed and printed in silver has a luminous quality that makes it feel very real.

This shot represented a transition period for the man and for the girls: that moment when young people are particularly concerned with their bodies and how they present to others; when there is a lot of showing off and fascination; when everyone is looking for perfection in themselves and others. When I look at this photo now, it makes me feel that life goes on, but many things have not changed.

Sergio Purtell’s Moral Minority is published on 15 July by Stanley/Barker.

Sergio Purtell’s CV

View image in fullscreen

Born: Santiago, Chile, 1955.
Trained: BFA from Rhode Island School of Design; MFA from Yale.
Influences: “Eugène Atget, Brassaï, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Tod Papageorge, Richard Benson, Robert Adams, Frank Gohlke.”
High point: “In my printing business, I have printed for some of my favourite photographers. For instance, LaToya Ruby Frazier is having a survey at MoMA in New York and we printed everything that hangs on the walls.”
Low point: “I can’t think of one. As long as I can help others and have some time to do my own work, I can’t complain. Especially at my age!”
Top tip: “Life is a long journey: love what you do and what you have. Try to make work that makes you happy, fulfils you and keeps you growing as a person and as an artist.”

Many people think that their photography would improve if they could just go somewhere new and exciting. The allure of different places, unique scenery, and vibrant cultures seems like the perfect solution to breaking out of a creative rut. But is it really?

Coming to you from Alex Kilbee with The Photographic Eye, this insightful video explores the reality of how location impacts your photography. Kilbee flew to San Francisco, excited to see if the new environment would transform his work. He discovered that while a new place can inspire you, it’s not the magic solution many think it is. Upon arrival, Kilbee noticed that his initial photos looked similar to those he could take back home. Despite the beautiful sunset and iconic sights like the Golden Gate Bridge, his images didn’t scream “San Francisco.”

Kilbee shares how, despite the change in scenery, his style remained consistent. This realization led him to conclude that simply going to a new place doesn’t inherently change how you see or capture the world. The key, instead, is how you interact with your environment and push your creative boundaries. This involves experimenting with new techniques and perspectives, regardless of where you are.

The second part of the trip took Kilbee to Baltimore, a city he was more familiar with. Here, his photography began to evolve. Freed from the usual routines and responsibilities of daily life, he felt more open to trying new things. Kilbee describes an enlightening moment when, frustrated with his smudged lens, he decided to embrace the imperfections. Pointing his camera directly at the sun, he captured a striking starburst effect that perfectly conveyed the intense heat of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Kilbee’s experience highlights that while traveling can provide fresh stimuli, the real growth comes from within. By meeting other photographers, sharing ideas, and challenging his usual methods, he found new ways to express his vision. This personal freedom to explore and experiment was more impactful than the location itself. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Kilbee.

Nikon’s growing range of Z-mount lenses for its mirrorless cameras – which we rate among the best mirrorless cameras – has a new addition, and it’s a true classic for street, reportage and event photography; the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4.

As the 43rd Z-mount lens, it’s surprising to read that this is the first f/1.4 lens in the range, and the fast aperture prime is also more affordable than expected. 

Retailing for $599 / £649 and available from July, the street shooter isn’t afforded Nikon’s pro ‘S’ moniker, but it does feature the fast f/1.4 aperture for low-light work and a shallow depth of field that many pro photographers harness to help their subjects stand out.

It’s a simple lens with no external buttons; you get a focus ring and a customizable ‘clickless’ control ring that can be used to adjust one of aperture, ISO, exposure compensation and more.

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There’s no official dust and drip resistant rating, which is what you’d get if this was a pricier pro lens. However, it is a compact lens, weighing just 14.6 oz / 415g, making it a good fit with Nikon’s mid-sized mirrorless cameras, such as the new Nikon Z6 III.

All in all, Nikon has taken a vastly different approach to Canon who also recently launched a 35mm f/1.4 lens. Canon’s RF-mount version is a pro ‘L’ lens that’s three times the price of Nikon’s new lens, and it’s a chunkier hybrid lens packed with controls for video creatives.

Mind you, Nikon stills bills its new 35mm lens as being equipped for today’s hybrid shooters: it suppresses focus breathing, while linear focusing enables accurate manual focus pulling. It also features Nikon’s multi-focusing system for quick, smooth and steady autofocus, while close focusing is up to 0.89ft / 0.27m.

Is this the 35mm lens Nikon fans wanted?

There was a time in my professional photography days in East Africa, before becoming TechRadar’s Cameras Editor, that I almost solely used a 35mm f/1.4 lens. It’s a versatile type of lens especially for reportage photography, telling stories of people and places.

I often utilized the maximum f/1.4 aperture of my classic Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens to help subjects stand out in street photography and on-location portraiture, plus it comes in handy for low-light scenes such as indoor events – scenarios that pros often find themselves in.

Nikon’s new Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 is not the optically complex and rugged lens that some pros would hope for, for working in extreme outdoor environments. However, I still expect it to be one of the most popular Z-mount lenses available. 

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