You've Never Seen Group Portraits Like These in the 1970s and '80s

   

Neal Slavin has a unique perspective on human relations. As a photographer who’s specialized in group portraiture for four decades, he has captured the strange, fascinating, and often humorous sociological phenomena that occur when people pose for a photograph together.

“My work is about that communal thing that happens between people when they get together and they put on their public persona as opposed to their private persona. Little things come out as they stand in a formation that has to do with who they are and what they want to show people looking at the photo,” he said. “If you have some guy standing next to another guy, one guy will actually jockey for position by putting his shoulder in front of the other guy just to gain that little edge. It's fascinating. Some people recede. Some come forward. It's the little minutia that makes the pictures.”

 
Dancing couples at Butlins Holiday Camp

 

 
Debutantes at the Berkley Hotel in London

 

 
Channel Swimming Association, Dover, Kent, 1984

 

 
The interesting collection of artists from Zulu Records, taken at the Liverpool Docks.

 

 
Marina Women’s Bowling Club, Eastbourne, Sussex, 1984

 

 
Night Club Greeters in London

 

 
Gary Owens Society of Girners, Hollywood, California, 1974

 

 
A Concorde at Heathrow Airport, Middlesex

 

 
New York Stock Exchange, New York, 1987

 

 
The Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner Sales Convention, New York

 

 
Capitol Wrestling Association, Washington, DC, 1974

 

Women's League of Health and Beauty in Belmont, Surrey, UK

 

 
Bickley School of Dancing, Bromley, Kent, 1984

 

 
Fencers Club, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Washington, DC, 1987

 

The custodial staff at Stonehenge

 

The crew of the H.M.S. Intreped in Portsmouth Harbor, Hampshire

 

The Hatton Garden Snooker Center in Holborn, UK

 

Sisters of the Redemptoristine Convent, Chudleigh, Devon, 1983

 

The Hanging Committee at the Royal Academy in London

 

The Delorean Car Owners Association, Washington, DC, 1988

 

Coney Island Polar Bear Club, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

 

Santa’s Helpers, Tastee Diner, Silver Springs, Maryland

 

Miss USA Pageant, New York, 1973

 

Freestate Fillies, hostesses at Freestate Raceway, Laurel, 1987

 

Lady Dorothy Circle, Companions of the Forest of America, Jamaica, New York, 1973

 

Hazardous Emergency Response Team, Washington, DC, 1987

 

Performers at Hanger House, Washington, DC, 1987

 

The Camera Club, Great Newport Street, London, 1984

 

International Twins Association, Holiday Inn, Springfield, Illinois, 1973

 

Society for Photographic Education, Rochester, New York, 1974

 

The lifeguards of Wild World Amusement Park, Largo

 

Tai Kwon Do instructors, Washington, DC, 1987

 

The Wheelmen, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 1974

 

Male voice choir, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Holloway, London, 1983

 

Nassau Model Train Club, Baldwin, 1989

 

Great Danes Breeders Association, the home of the treasurer, Ulcombe, Kent, 1984

 

Bingo Club of the St Petersburg Shuffleboard and Duplicate Bridge Club, St Petersburg, Florida, 1974

 

Aircraft restoration technicians, the National Air & Space Museum’s Paul E. Garber Facility, Maryland, 1987

 

Pugs, New York

 

 
Rubber-boat fishermen, Eugene, Ore.