AllMovie

For over 40 years, photographer Charles Gatewood has been focusing his lens on the underground fetish culture in all of its pierced, tattooed glory. A former cultural anthropology student whose unique approach has drawn praise for revealing a side of life that many in the mainstream will never come in contact with, Forbidden Photographs finds Gatewood trailed by filmmaker Bill MacDonald as he cuts a wide swath through America's subculture, including stops in San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair and the Burning Man Festival. From intimate interviews with the photographer himself to the artists, gallery owners, and photographic subjects themselves, viewers are offered an intimate peek into the mind of one of the most famous photographers you've never heard of.