Recently,
the folks at Spartacus
Leathers saw my web site &
decided that they liked what they
saw. They gave me a small trunk
full of their products for me to use,
with the understanding that if they
liked any of the resulting images,
they'd bid to license them for their
catalog usage. I devoted a small
part of the last two sittings to
modeling these products -- see Kira
In Leather and Surrender,
Ashton. (In fact, I believe
that one of the "orange
slice" images from Ashton's pages
will be used for their catalog cover). When
I received these products, the first
model I thought of was Lydia.
Sure, Kira & Ashton were both
willing (and beautiful), but both had
only modest experience with fetish
modeling. Lydia, however, is
willing, beautiful, and very
experienced -- fetish modeling is a
significant part of her
lifestyle. Lydia is not exactly
local -- she's from Seattle (150 miles
away). She makes the trip down
I-5 to "show me the ropes"
(pun intended, sorry). |
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| Lydia
was the first model I photographed here in
Oregon, 'way back in October, 2001. At that time, I didn't
know about her fetish proclivities. So, to get started, I
decided to do a "Getting Started" setup with Lydia, using a
Spartacus product. |
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I
love these "Getting
Started" setups, where
the model starts in her street
clothes and then removes
them. It's wonderful to
see the "before &
after". I love how
a woman becomes transformed as
she removes her
clothing. I love seeing
her "public face"
and her "secret
identity". |
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today's sequence is especially interesting. Lydia is beautiful,
but her "street looks" aren't goth; her face & figure
aren't pierced; and she has only one modest tattoo on her ankle (which
I usually don't photograph anyhow). A natural redhead, her skin
is fair & clear. She dresses modestly, at least when I've
seen her. Looking at her, you'd never assume that she's so
experienced in the fetish lifestyle.
First impressions
can be deceiving. Do what I do: next time you are out
& about, look at the people around you & imagine what they
look like nude. I do this all the time. |
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Here's
one of the challenges for
working with fetish
photography. Much of the
fetish/bondage photography
I've seen has poor technical
quality: they are poorly
lit & composed. I
want to see (and therefore
make) fetish photography that
is well lit.
I
think I do a good job at
that. What I need to
work on is a sense of
drama. Oh, well -- I
host these sittings so that I
can learn such things. |
| We move
on to some other products. This high collar is becoming a
favorite -- it was modeled by both Kira & Ashton before, and it
looks terrific. The leather is soft; this isn't exactly a
posture collar, but it is close. I guess it's a good compromise
between comfort & posture.
But more
significantly, we connect a nipple & clit clamping chain to select
portions of Lydia's anatomy. This is definitely not something
I'd have the guts to suggest to a model with less fetish posing
experience. But I've seen Lydia in setups a big lot more extreme
that this; she was quite comfortable with this, and I greatly
appreciate her support. |
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| We clamp
Lydia's hands behind her back.
I've got to admit
that I'm not too happy with these last few pictures:
- With the
shadows, you can't really see the clamps themselves. I'm a
little shy about photographing between a model's legs, but there
should be a little more detail to make this effective.
- The bottom chain
is quite a bit too long.
Again, photography
is a journey, and we learn as we go along. Next time, I'll make
appropriate adjustments. |
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I
started doing nude photography because
I felt it would be difficult. I
do occasional fetish and/or erotic
sittings also because they are
difficult. However, after
working with Lydia multiple times, we
know & trust each other, and Lydia
is definitely "up" for all
the things I wanted to try. It
is greatly empowering to work with
models as wonderful as Lydia.
This
sitting continues with Gagged.
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