Lydia, Return To The Dungeon, May, 2003
Discussion & Technical Notes

Foreword:  Lydia is a Seattle based model who does both fine art & fetish modeling.  She has recently created a web site, Lydia's Domain; go take a look.  

I moved to Portland, Oregon in Spring, 2001, and it took quite a while for me to settle in.  In the following Fall, Lydia contacted me via the Internet, asking if I'd be interested in working together.  We did, creating some fine art images, available for viewing on Lydia's first page.  In fact, Lydia's sitting was my first Oregon sitting.  And in fact, one of these images is now my main image on my One Model Place profile.

I cruise the Internet & look at a lot of photography.  Sometime after our original sitting, I came across some bondage photographs of Lydia.  I have had occasional interest in bondage photography for quite a while -- in fact, my favorite California model, Karina, and I made quite a few bondage photographs (go to my Focus on Fetish page to see these pictures).  So, after exchanging some e-mails, Lydia & I agree to try some bondage photography when she next visited Portland, which happened in the Fall of 2002.  

Another first:  this sitting was the first done in my "dungeon" (basement).  I live in an old Victorian house that was build in 1890; the basement has crumbly brick walls (shored up with some new foundation supports), and there's this 4x4 post positioned a few feet from the wall.  I figured that the setting would be good for bondage photography, tying a model up to that post & using strong side lighting (the ceiling is very low in the basement).  I liked the images, but they weren't quite as good as I wanted them to be.

Lydia was happy to come pose for me again, and we completed our third sitting in May, 2003.  Fans of my site have encouraged me to continue to write about my thought process during the sitting.  For this particular sitting, I've decided to share those thoughts on this separate page.  

Approach & Attitude:  I like to look at lots of pictures, and I have a habit of "deconstructing" them.  When I look at a photograph, I ask myself lots of questions:

• Do I like the image?  Why?  What works?  What doesn't work?  What would I have done differently?
• How was the photograph lit?
• What do I think about the composition?  Are there elements in the foreground or background that contribute significantly to the image?  Are there elements that detract from the image?
• What was happening just before and just after the image was exposed?
• What was being communicated between model & photographer?
• Does the image capture "drama"?

To be honest, I don't like the vast majority of bondage photography I see.  For most, only the restraints & knot work are artistic, and there simply wasn't much thought or skill applied to the photography.  Most images are poorly exposed, composed, and executed.  Finally, the settings are inappropriate -- these images are made in someone's living room, with maybe a guitar in the background or some kid's toys not put away.  Finally, I find that there is only a specific style of bondage photography that appeals to me -- I like images that feature "surrender" -- I like to imagine that I'm empowered to do whatever I want, and the "victim" wouldn't stop me; in fact, I want to believe that the "victim's" surrender is an erotic thrill for the "victim".  (I don't care for images featuring pain, rape, humiliation, or stuff like that).  Come to think of it -- eroticism is an important element of the kind of bondage photography that I enjoy.

So, my first goal is to try to apply some fine art photography skills to the genre.  Looking at the work I've completed so far, I'd say that my fine art techniques are much better than average for the genre.  However, I can't say that I'm satisfied with the images I've been able to produce.  

The good news is that personal dissatisfaction is often a prelude for significant improvement in my photography; such challenges are necessary if one wants to improve one's skills.  The bad news is that being dissatisfied is often painful & puzzling to me.  I knew I didn't like the images overly much, but I couldn't tell you why.  So, I had to think about it for a while.  Here's my current thinking:

• My working style is very consentual -- my only rule for a model is "Don't do anything that makes you uncomfortable".  Well, the essence of bondage photography is domination & submission, which is the exact opposite of my style.  To address this, I get empowerment from the model up front, and there is an explicit understanding that the model can say "stop" at any time, but after that, anything goes.
• That means I have to commit to the process & not hold back.  I've got to trust the model to stop me if she feels uncomfortable, but beyond that, I need to do what needs to be done to get the image I have in mind.  This, of course, is much easier said than done.

There's lots to appreciate in Lydia's work -- she's experienced, willing, curvy, and skilled.  For this sitting, I hope to go further than I've done before, and I think we've done that.  Before I understood about the conflict between my natural style & the requirements of the sitting, I would have never considered using a ball gag.  Fortunately, Lydia came equipped.

Post Production:  I still use old fashioned film & paper.  I remember one digital evangelist saying, "Go to my web site!  You can't tell which photographs are digital and which aren't!".  Well, I knew without visiting his web site that all the photographs there were digital -- some might have started life with film & paper, but he must have digitized those in order to get them onto his web site.  A better challenge would have been, "Go look at those photographs hanging on the wall!"  And I bet I could distinguish between a skillfully printed film & paper photograph from a top quality digital photograph in those circumstances.  And that's the major reason why I still work in B&W film & paper photography -- when I put my mind to it, I can achieve a level of quality that the best (and expensive) digital processes still can't approach.

But you are looking at digital versions of these images, and I have to admit that my skills at scanning don't quite match my skills in the darkroom.  While we are at it, I should also admit that I don't like working in the darkroom much, especially when the weather is nice.  

I digress.  I am not interested in a holy war of digital versus film photography.  But I should mention that with this batch of images, I did apply a sepia-like toning to the scanned images, using Paint Shop Pro (the Colorize filter, Hue = 23, Saturation = 75).  I feel this is okay for me -- I've actually applied sepia toning to prints in the darkroom, and I often like the results.  I just didn't want to do that for all the prints in this collection.  

Here's a before & after comparison:

Clearly, I personally prefer the sepia toned image:  I like how the bricks and the burlap wrapping the pillar looks with this tone.  What do you think?

By the way -- the pillar is wrapped for a reason.  I suspect that the post is made out of wood that is over 110 years old, and I am not sure what kind of wood it is.  It certainly isn't the typical wood currently in use for construction -- it's not pine or oak or fir or anything like that.  I suspect that it is hemlock.  Certainly, if you get a splinter from it on your finger, your finger might go numb.  So, to protect everyone, I wrapped the post with a burlap blanket that was left over from my move into the house.  Besides, I like how it looks.

Assessment:  First & foremost, I would not hesitate recommending Lydia as a model, for either fine art photography or for bondage/fetish photography.  She is supportive, skilled, and fun to work with.

I also think that I've made progress with this sitting.  I like these images better than previous ones:

• I have a bad habit -- when I'm doing something new, I sometimes "play it safe" with the lighting, making sure that everything is lit.  In thinking about setting up this sitting, I was determined to include shadows to contribute to the atmosphere of the images, and I think we've accomplished that.  In fact, I like some of the lighting a lot.
• I'm also glad that we tried a variety of positions -- I particularly like these:
  • I like it when Lydia's back is to the post with her arms locked together behind the post & above her head.
  • I'm glad we tried the ones with Lydia lying on the two little benches with her wrists restrained behind her back.  I like that her hands were shadowy silhouettes against the concrete floor.
  • Using the blindfold & ball gag at the same time is a definite step for me.  To me, these images were (in part) symbolic of my commitment to the genre.
  • And I'm glad we tried a variety of other shapes, even though some worked better than others.   

And while I am happy with these images, I'm not totally satisfied.  I think there is more work here for me to do.  In particular, I think I need to find ways to increase the sense of eroticism in these images, possibly with a second model.  Of course, doing so will be much more difficult, but if it wasn't challenging, I wouldn't be making progress.

Your feedback is appreciated.  You can use the "Contact Looknsee" link for general comments, or alternatively, would you consider filling out my Fetish Photography Survey?  Thanks.