This is Merlin Bronques' first collection of photographs for a book. Filled with drunk and slightly drugged topless girls, transvestites, french-kissing kids, punk guys, goth girls, and a few shots of celebrities, including my favorite, David Bowie. LastNightsParty gives you a look at the parties you haven't been to, the kind you hear about through friends, the kind you read about on the web while drooling over pictures of hot celebrities.

The introduction to this collection of slightly racy photos was written by Sarah Lewitinn, also known as DJ Ultragrrrl of Stolen Transmission. She claims that "Merlin Bronques photography has become essential viewing for anyone who’s a part of, or interested in, New York City nightlife." I have to admit that as an outsider the photos are compelling, although sometimes it’s like looking at a train accident - you just can’t look away.

But Sarah goes on to say,

I first met Bronques in the woman’s bathroom of a bar and found myself revealing things to him one would only expect to tell a best friend of a shrink. Something about Bronques made me want to open up almost immediately.

However, I never knew how eager people in this scene were to really reveal themselves. Shortly after lastnightsparty.com became popular, the website had to be viewed from the privacy of your home since it embodied NSFW (not safe for work) content. The partygoers on Bronques’s site were showing more than a possible wardrobe malfunction and were doing things for his camera that were physically revealing as that first conversation we had.

After reading that I viewed these photographs a little differently. I could appreciate the fact that as a photographer Merlin Bronques is very talented, not only in capturing this alluring lifestyle in a beautiful way but in getting close enough to his subjects that they felt they could reveal anything to him. I could see art as well as a collection of party shots, although for the most part that is all they are. A beautiful collection of beautiful people doing things they might or might not want to remember in the morning.

By the time you’ve flipped through the book you’ve seen enough of the party scene to feel like you might have been there. However it wasn’t all licked nipples and booze. There was a photo of a girl lying in the middle of the road and another of a girl sitting on the sidewalk digging through her purse that were just sad. I had to wonder if they thought it was worth the price of the glittery world that filled the previous photographs.