Gary Lee Boas, Cult Photographer of Celebrities and Sex Workers, Reflects on His Career

Gary Lee Boas, now 75, is a cult photographer whose work has influenced David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, and the late Herb Ritts. He began photographing at age 14 after Miss Universe visited his Pennsylvania hometown. His archive exceeds 200,000 images, ranging from old-school glamour shots of Marlene Dietrich and Bianca Jagger to subversive depictions of sex workers and porn actors from 1979-1985, collected in his 2003 photobook "Gary Lee Boas – New York Sex, 1979-1985." Boas rejects the label "paparazzi," insisting he is a fan with a camera who aims not to provoke. He worked at Studio 54, where he befriended Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, and Halston, and developed a moral code: never photographing someone who is heavily intoxicated. His 1999 book "Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan" is a cult classic. During a recent In Conversation event at Tate Modern in London, hosted by art historian Dominic Johnson, Boas resisted intellectualizing his work, preferring anecdotes. He lamented that his 2008 photobook "Celebrity" was printed on poor paper that obscured background details. Boas still photographs regularly, doing annual six-week stints in New York photographing Broadway cast members at stage doors. He is working on a new book and hopes to mount his first London exhibition since 2001. He admires the full-on glamour of Joan Crawford and Audrey Hepburn and singles out Charlize Theron and Cate Blanchett as contemporary stars with similar magnetism.