Baltimore retained the working class, heterosexual hustling subculture of the pre-Stonewall era long after most American cities—a fast disappearing scene here often tied to various forms of drug abuse. The world that Badertscher photographs is brittle; his stark images made even more so by the incisive biographical narratives of his subjects that he often pens onto the photographs themselves. In many cases, Badertscher also records his own participation in the photography sessions, resulting in images that blur the distinction not only between the photographer and the model but also of the observer and the observed. The subject of a landmark exhibition at the Duke University Museum of Art, his work has been published in a catalog entitled Baltimore Portraits.