About Our Cover 07.31.25

The primary image on the cover of this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, of a Castro Night Market scene, was taken by award-winning photographer Mike Kirschner. Many of his images are now featured in the Bay Times, such as in the colorful photo spreads in the last issue documenting several Pride 2025 events.

Last year, SF Pride honored Kirschner with the Visions of Pride Award for Favorite Performer Photo for his dynamic, up-close image of Billy Porter performing on the Pride main stage. It is just one of many memorable photos that Kirschner has taken over the years.

“I take a camera wherever I go,” Kirschner says. “I started shooting in 1983 when my parents gave me a Minolta XG-M along with some of my grandfather’s Minolta MC lenses for my birthday. I took it with me to every concert I went to (which was often!) and quickly caught the eye of Relix Magazine as well as John Cipollina’s manager. I was soon on my way to free shows, the photographers’ pit, meeting some of my musical idols, and even a (tiny) little bit of cash!”

He adds, “I spent lots of time shooting, developing, and printing at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco. I lost interest at some point along the way caused, in part, by what I saw as Minolta’s decision to obsolete all my lenses! But then got so frustrated in 2011 when my Panasonic point-n-shoot demonstrated its profound inadequacy to shoot an important show at a nightclub in San Francisco.”

“I did some research and decided on the Pentax universe,” Kirschner says. “I’ve been acquiring M42 and K-mount and other cameras and lenses ever since, and getting back to what I once loved and again love: photography. People doing what they do best—as well as just what they do—is what intrigues me. That leads me to what is now called ‘street photography,’ music photography, and since I live in San Francisco, event photography, where there are events nearly every week that are worthy photographic targets.”

View more of Kirschner’s exceptional work in the Bay Times and at his website: https://mikek.photography/

San Francisco’s Changing Queer Nightlife
Published on July 31, 2025