Sebastien Lifshitz – Parisian photographer and film-maker – has been collecting photographs of LGBT people from the turn of the 20th century.

Sebastien Lifshitz has always loved vintage markets and has been collecting old photographs for the past 30 years. Throughout his search, he eventually stumbled upon a picture of a gay couple from the 1950s.

“It was quite unusual to have intimate photographs of gay people because most of the time they had to be very discreet,” he tells The Daily Beast.

Though LGBT relationships have become less taboo in recent years, it seems that many trailblazing men and women were unafraid to show their true selves, in private and in public.

They defied gender norms and looked like they had a hell of a time doing it.

The pictures show intimacy and love…

As well as some parties that we would love to be invited to…

Check out more pictures here.

Sebastien Lifshitz has also recorded the relationships and lives of LGBT people through the decades in France in a documentary called Les Invisibles.

It’s beautiful, humorous and informative.

See the trailer below: