Chris Nelson (photographer)

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Chris Nelson
Born
Edmund Christian Nelson

1960
Died (aged 46)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPhotographer
Known forCo-founder of Bear Magazine

Edmund Christian Nelson (1960 – December 7, 2006)

bear community
as a social group.

By profession, Nelson was a

microscopist at the Lab, with one colleague there noting, "Chris was the backbone of NCEM, the kind of person that makes LBL great. He was an awesome microscopist who understood advanced electron microscopes
like a test pilot understands a jet plane." Many international researchers appreciated Nelson's eye for detail and often requested to work with him given his reputation and skill level.

Together with his then partner, magazine publisher Richard Bulger, Nelson developed a characteristic "look", first in black-and-white portraits of men in San Francisco's biker and leather community, and then, as the bear community grew, in black-and-white erotic portraits of a great number of men who submitted themselves to the magazine as amateur models. He later independently galvanized the gay bear identity, which evolved over the years into a multitude of bear clubs and related social groups worldwide.

"Chris brought about a whole new gay subculture that allowed bigger, bearded, and hairy gay men to be celebrated. Before that, the emphasis was on the lean, leather jacket and t-shirt wearing 'Castro clones' that dominated the San Francisco scene. Now there was room for everyone, even the more forwardly masculine, non-svelte."[citation needed]

Nelson's photography was the sole subject of a 1991 book The Bear Cult: Photographs by Chris Nelson (Gay Men's Press, London,

ISBN 0-85449-161-9), introduced by Edward Lucie-Smith
.

At 46, he died of a heart attack in the San Francisco Bay Area on December 7, 2006.[1]

Nelson's book and photography are discussed by author

ISBN 1555835783).[2] Fritscher also comments on Nelson's work in the introduction to The Bear Book 2, edited by Les K. Wright.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Chris Nelson". Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  2. ^ "BEAR ROOTS VERITE A PIONEER'S ORAL HISTORY : RON SURESHA INTERVIEWS JACK FRITSCHER" (PDF). Jackfritscher.com. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  3. ^ "BEAR ROOTS ORAL HISTORY : A PIONEER MAPS THE GENOME OF BEAR" (PDF). Jackfritscher.com. Retrieved 2022-03-10.