[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Atwood worked for four years on the project, relying on word-of-mouth among New York friends to help find compelling subjects and to convince prominent cultural figures to participate.
[9] "I like photos chock-full of visual information," Atwood has said, adding that he prefers to capture individuals doing everyday activities and "in spaces that are built up over time, where everything has meaning to the person.
"[11][14][20] Subjects included the playwright Edward Albee, photographed in his New York City living room playing a miniature piano,[14] filmmaker John Waters, photographed packing plastic food into a suitcase,[21][22][23][24] fashion designer Todd Oldham in his Pennsylvania treehouse,[1][14] and drag queen Mother Flawless Sabrina (Jack Doroshow) using duct tape to give herself a facelift.
[14][25] Artists Ross Bleckner, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt and Tobi Wong,[21][26][27] choreographer Tommy Tune,[23][24] creative director Simon Doonan,[26][27] composers David del Tredici and Ned Rorem,[27] club DJ Junior Vasquez,[27] director Joel Schumacher,[24][27] drag queen Hedda Lettuce (Steven Polito),[23] U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, and writers John Ashbery, Michael Cunningham, Richard Howard, Andrew Solomon and Edmund White also figure in the collection.
Called "the most ambitious photo series ever" of LGBTQ subjects,[29] the book expands on Atwood's earlier concept to include new portraits of some 160 lesbians and gay men, as well as members of the bisexual and transgender community, of whom about 60 are well-known figures.