Tom Bianchi: Fire Island Pines, Polaroids 1975-1983

As a long time aficionado of Fire Island Pines, I found Mr. Bianchi's book to be as magical and dreamy as the community itself. The photos are wonderfully evocative of a lost era. The special nostalgic feeling of those Polaroid SX70 images brought back a torrent of bittersweet memories of a place and time that has been nearly lost to history. But it is mainly the memories of so many beautiful friends who are now gone.... friends who introduced me to the Pines in 1979, and who guided me on my initial journeys to this mystical isle. And some of these friends are actually mentioned in his extraordinary text. And it is this text that accompanies the photos that I found most remarkable... and most moving. In fact I was moved to tears several times by the beauty of his prose, and the memories that were stirred up by it. He has found a way to bring back to me, in a profound way, one of the most life-altering periods of my life. And for that I am truly grateful. If you are a lover of this scrumptious sandbar that is two hours from New York City and a million miles from reality... or if you have interest in knowing something of it's history, get this book. I personally will treasure it forever.

I absolutely LOVE this book!!! Having come out in the late '70's, I barely experienced the cusp of the great gay heydays of that time before Aids came along and ruined the party. I never travelled to Fire Island, as I was too young. I did, however, have great friends in the small town of Macon, Ga. who became mentors to me, and who were well connected with guys who would come and visit from P'town and Fire Island. They would bring me 12 inch records and regale me with tales of their days in the sand and nights on the floors of the discos dancing to the pulsating beats. This book makes me feel almost as if I was actually there, in those days in the sun before the clouds rolled in. Bianchi has such a great eye, and this book really captures a time and place from a bygone era that sadly was stopped dead in its tracks all those summers ago. I sat and read the book and gazed at its pages yesterday afternoon while the afternoon sun streamed through the windows of our home in the mountains, and felt transported back to a place I'll never really know firsthand....still, this book is the next best thing. Cannot recommend highly enough this treasure trove of gorgeous photos of beautiful men living their lives freely and openly, and celebrating what it means to alive. Long live the dead....

I bought this book for a couple of reasons. One being the fact that I was on Fire Island during that time and I may have been in the photos. Two, my partner at the time, was there and I might see him in one or more of the photos. I lost him in '94 to AIDS. Lastly, I just really love the quality of the polaroid photos of that time. There's a softness and color to the images like no other photo technique. I was not disappointed. Tom captured a time and place that will never exist again. So with all of that said, I highly recommend this book for anyone that can appreciate the beauty of the men and artistry of Tom's work.

Remembering things past, beautiful documentation of a time of freedom and celebration. I visited the Pines several times in the late '70s with my man. We both enjoyed being a part of a special world and felt welcomed everywhere we went. We camped on the beach, watched the sun rise, brushed our teeth in the rest rooms, swam, sunned, tea danced the afternoon away. The dance ended with "Thank you" by ABBA. This book brought tears to my eyes when reflecting on a time of "innocence" for The Pines community and for myself as well. Highly recommended for the subject and for Bianchi's photographic style.

I cannot count the times I've seen this book and passed it up. And I finally bought it. It was sweet. Sweet in the sense that it felt sweet. Like, you're happy that they were happy. More than anything it was sweet. Honestly, it's no different from the work of several gay artists of the time. So don't expect any innovation. This is more of a history lesson and a celebration of life in a better time. There are some really beautiful shots, and some very attractive men, so that's not to he over looked either.

A great work of art. The fact that Bianchi was able to capture the beauty of the nude (gay) male body on Polaroids is a miracle in and of itself. These shots, as a collection, seem to tell a story of the tail-end of a bygone era. There were no iphones, not even laptops. No internet. No digital cameras. Just guys hanging out and having a wonderful time enjoying their sexuality together. HIV/AIDS was not even in public consciousness during the period when these shots were taken. The moments are crystallized beautifully. I'm sure Bianchi had a good number of 'bad' exposures along the way - there was no manual focus with those cameras. I look forward to re-reading this book many more times. I will admit, the male foot is one of my favorite parts of the anatomy and it was the striking cover photo that made me decide to buy the book. There is something amazingly sensual about male feet and although there aren't many pics that prominently feature guys' feet, there are enough barefoot shots to satisfy me. Is this a stroke book? Probably not. But what is cool is just mentally transporting/teleporting back to 1975-83 and placing myself amongst those guys and sharing in their good time.

Tom Bianchi has put together a beautiful collection of photos of an idyllic time gone by, when gay men could be themselves on Fire Island beaches. At the time, it was a dream island in a sea of homophobia. For a few brief years before AIDS hit, Fire Island was a paradise on earth for gay men. These photos capture this magical time and place perfectly. A lovely book for your coffee table. The Pines are still a popular resort area for gay men, but we'll never see times like these again.

I believe that Mr. Bianchi put together this book to pay homage to all these people who perished from the AIDS epidemic. The boys were just being boys, but the epidemic was unbearable. Just imagine you lose your friends, neighbors and lovers one by one and soon the number goes up to 200 and keeps on rising. I think those guys in the book can be remembered as men who just were trying to be men. I was very touched by Mr. Bianchi's handling of losing over 200 loved ones. Today I feel grateful to be alive and in a different era. I deeply thank all those men who perished, survived and helped more to survive and thrive in their own roles.