Patrick McMullan has been to more parties than any other person in New York—the nightlife veteran has been flashing bulbs in the faces of the city's social set for over thirty years.

Brooklyn-born McMullan grew up in Huntington, Long Island, and after high school (where he was voted "Most Friendly") he attended a two-year college, eventually transferred to NYU to major in business, but ended up, he says, "minoring in Studio 54". He soon found himself sucked into the social swirl, and started taking photos around the same time—his early mentor was photographer Terry Stephenson—but everything came to a halt when McMullan was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the ripe old age 23. During his year-long hospitalization, he shot photos of his medical staff and hospital room to assuage his boredom; following his recuperation, in 1983 he was given a photo column in Details and Andy Warhol commissioned him to take shots of the downtown party circuit for his Interview magazine. McMullan's since taken photos for dozens of magazines and currently serves as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and the "Party Lines" editor for New York.

More than three decades later, McMullan's still going at it, although it's not like he's out every night, hitting six events from the Upper East Side to Tribeca. He now presides over a profitable little agency, dispatching photographers to cover benefits, premieres, retail launches and the like, and then selling photos to the media and, to a lesser extent, to the people depicted in the pics via PatrickMcMullan.com. Just don't refer to him as a paparazzo. McMullan's shutterbugs only show up where they're invited, they never shoot anyone who doesn't want to be photographed, and PMc shots are almost unfailingly flattering. That explains why he's loved by the glamorous people who attend these events. Indeed, McMullan is an indispensable ally to socialites or anyone with social aspiration to burn, and they all shamelessly gravitate toward his lens.

Now openly gay, McMullan lived with painter Laurie Ogle in the late 1980s—the union produced a son, Liam, who's a budding social fixture himself and a regular sight at the events McMullan covers. Patrick has resided in the same 500-square-foot apartment, on lower Fifth Avenue in the Village, since he was 22.

[Image via Getty]