Bondage Photography

dbriannelson

Virgin
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Posts
15
http://fotog.net/corpus/epv/ep70.jpg

Yesterday I tracked some of my photographs to this board - specifically AngelicAssassin's "B&W" thread. I think I've found images used on Literotica.com before as well, but didn't stop to look around. So this time I did. In any case, here's some of my own background:

I was a "fashion photographer" in San Diego. As San Diego has no "fashion," it was done for my own pleasure (once I'd decided to quit trying to make a living at it), while I paid for it as an engineer. My work started to be used in various magazines, either as features or illustrations, and in the occasional anthology book. Some place along the way a couple of friends who are well-known fetish photographers suggested that my dark style would work well in that genre'.

So, while photographing a model in L.A. for a magazine test, I asked her if she knew any models that would be interested in testing (that word has a special meaning) bondage. Rope's cheap; I was a Boy Scout; my studio is small. The girl volunteered and we shot the following week. I had an assistant for the shoot (another model) as I was somewhat concerned about leaving the poor girl trussed up on the table if I had a heart attack or something.

I discovered a few things during that shoot: I like the intimate handling of beautiful naked women; and, some women really like to be tied up. Really, really like it. The former I could have figured out by myself, but the latter I should have known about thirty years earlier. (He smacks his forehead with the heel of his hand.)

So I kept on shooting bondage, mixed in with my other work. The bondage/erotica was almost always in black&white, as I could process it start to finish in my darkroom, not relying on the pro lab I used for my other non- (or less-) sexual work. And I like the stark simple effect of white on black, with rope, the girl, and not much else.

Another thing I learned was that it is too easy to find bondage models. When that stuff started showing up in fetish anthology books and on websites models started emailing from everywhere, and I had more models than I knew what to do with. Half I turned down based on appearance, and half of the remainder based on the unlikelyhood I'd be in their neighborhoods in the near future.

There were a few favorites - Little Robin, above, keeps showing up over and over. She was local (in Japan now I think - or maybe Spain) and would drop in. Some fashion models thought it would be fun, so they're sprinkled in among the others. When I quit being quite so shy I started asking the models to masturbate while I photographed, keeping the faces out of the pictures for the most part. Or just shooting the faces, leaving the rest out. I'm even surprised by how many models thought that was a good idea.

I don't pay models. They get prints, small scans for the web, and huge fetish model credibility by working with me. The girls were there, naked and tied up under strong hot lights because they wanted to be. Sometimes there was a little play if it was apparent the model wanted it. Other times the shoot was just a shoot, or there was some play after (spanking - amazing how many girls have a daddy thing going), or once in a long while, sex.

As I said in the other thread, I'm obsessive/compulsive. Not a disorder, but a personality. Along came motorcycles, and the photography thing was out like a light. Three years ago, I sold my last car. Now I ride 7/24/365 and just got back from a ride through CA, NV, OR, WA, ID, MT, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, NM and AZ. Eight days of wonder. But this was short compared to two of last summer's rides, and will be tiny compared to one coming up later this year. September maybe. August I'll be in Sweden. The rest of this month will be filled with business trips (airplanes - boring) around the country.

There I go again - off the subject. Bikes do that to me. For probably the next three or four years until the next thing comes along.

In any case, that's my background. I've never considered myself a player, though always enjoyed the bits of the scene I've participated in. I do have to admit that spanking the occasional ass while its owner was bound was fun. I still have my cameras...maybe I could do some more of that while out on my long rides. Gotta remember to pack a camera though, and it's not second nature anymore.

-Don
http://fotog.net/corpus
 
Last edited:
Word of advice ...

Kittycat or MissT?

i'd suggest moving this to the Talk thread. It's one of the few fresh, as someone has lamented, pieces i've seen and beats the shit out of (pun intended) most of the same someone's counterofferings.

Mr. Nelson, please take the camera with you next time. You've got two diehard fans here, and many others in the wings.
 
Thank you for sharing the photos with us. Copyrighted photos are generally not allowed to be posted on Lit, so I'm relieved that you're willing to not only share but tell us more. Thank you.
 
Etoile,

Let me know if you want more naked pictures and another fifteen minutes of fame. I'll be out your way in ten days on dayjob business.

-Don

P.S. So much for all that blathering about being "done" with photography, huh?
 
Tis Etoile- who could blame you?


Thanks for letting AA keep your work up so more of us could see it. Tis very beautiful, I think.
 
I want to echo the thoughts of everyone else... I am enthralled by the art of your work. I am pleased that you have choosen to join us.... and I hope you become a permanent fixture around here.

I have been in the process of attempting to start a collection of art and of course AA has provided me with a lot of material.

Your work is outstanding....
 
Do you have any advice for a young and asipiring rigger/photographer/Domme/sometimes model?

I have my first digital SLR, what a trip.

Are your images digital or print? I'm leaning very strongly toward digital media for my own interests.

I have an art school background, which means I know how to print BW on paper quite respectably, and I have enough color background to be respectable with color corrections in P shop.

How did you get from the point I'm describing (Gee I'd like to try this) to where you're at?
 
Netzach,

Photo school. Start at the beginning, learn the rules well enough to break them.

I used film for everything, then recently bought a fair digital (Leica DL2), used it once and hate the inflexibility. I do know some good shooters that work digital, but mostly for things that don't take on-the-spot interpretation.

-Don
 
I've been trying to get a handle on bondage photography, sex, and the law, and would appreciate anyone who can fill me in on it.

I've been working with a webmaster who's trying to launch a site for illustrated bondage fiction. He's using a Russian photographer (as far as I know) and getting any sort of pictures is no problem, but there are laws over here about showing bound women (or men for that matter, I guess) engaged in penetrative sexual acts. Apparently it's considered a depiction of rape, and the law can come down on you pretty hard for publishing them.

I've long wondered why there are so few pictures on line of sex-in-bondage, and apparently it's because of this law. I've noticed that there are a lot of shots of lesbian bondage sex. I guess that's okay, but I'm trying to find some definitive standard on what's permissable as opposed to what will bring Ashcroft's demons down on you.

Can anyone shed any legal light on this matter?

---dr.M.
 
Back
Top