For most of an adult life, work continued in the storage department of a factory in Zurich; free time was escaped into through photography. Self-taught and working under a pseudonym, an artistic career began by taking pictures of lovers and of people in the street, some first published in a gay journal. The images gathered here, a facsimile of a self-designed portfolio made in the mid-1950s, showcase the evolving documentary style that would define much of the later work, focusing on individual portraiture and a fascination with men in a particular item of clothing whose scarcity in the post-war years and close association with American pop stars implied more than just a fashion statement: a badge of status, differentiation and rebellion for working-class youth dissatisfied with the conservative climate of the day. Prints were processed and developed in a home darkroom, and until recently, this life's work was largely unknown; now that the images are gaining wider recognition, their maker can be appreciated as more than a documentarian, and as an artist whose photographs offer a genuine contribution to the history of portraiture.