Selected Works
These images offer a glimpse into Shelby Sharie Cohen’s vast and intimate archive — a body of work built from decades spent inside the world of queer erotic life, activism, and resistance. Each photograph is a portal: to a Pride parade in 1987, a dimly lit BDSM performance at Amelia’s Bar, a backstage kiss at Theatre Rhinoceros, or a private moment between butch and femme lovers.
But this is just the beginning.
Want to Be Photographed by Shelby?
Shelby offers custom portrait sessions for those who want to be captured in their truth — queer, erotic, tender, wild, or all of the above. Her decades of experience behind the camera (and inside the community) make her sessions deeply safe, affirming, and unforgettable.
Collect a Piece of the Archive
Select works from Shelby’s historic archive are available as signed, limited-edition prints. Whether you're a private collector or representing a gallery or institution, this is a rare opportunity to own and preserve a piece of queer history.
Discover the Member Archive
Shelby’s full archive includes:
10,500+ original negatives and slides
700+ original prints, many never shown publicly
Work from On Our Backs, Rack Productions, Spectator, and Theatre Rhinoceros
Subjects ranging from lesbian sex clubs, BDSM/fetish culture, AIDS-era activism, gay weddings, and the Gay Games, to tender, everyday intimacy
You'll also find early student work from the Academy of Art, and assignments for major clients like the San Francisco Giants — all shot with the same unmistakable eye.
Many of these images were considered too explicit, too queer, too radical to exhibit at the time. Now, they’re finally being shown.
→ Join free to access the full Member Portfolio — including 30 rare and explicit photographs.