American Ecstasy – Barbara Nitke on the Golden Age of Porn
February 6, 2012 by webslave · Leave a Comment
NEW YORK (February, 2012) – Launched with no fanfare, Barbara Nitke’s crowdsourcing campaign on Kickstarter raised over $9,000 in the first few days. Firm in her belief that there is a large audience for the book, she intends to self publish American Ecstasy, and take it directly to the public. The book is a memoir in pictures and words of the twelve years she spent working as a stills photographer on porn movie sets in New York in the 1980s.
“It’s hard to imagine now,” Nitke says, “but back in the 1980s people lined up outside of real movie theatres to watch feature length sex flicks. It was the Golden Age of Porn. There was a thriving X-rated movie industry in New York City, and that was where I got my start as a photographer.”
Her American Ecstasy book is a nostalgic view of those heady days. The photographs, while undeniably sexual, reach far beyond the usual sex machine image of the industry to reveal the touching humanness of the actors. Often shot between takes, when the actor’s porn star masks were down, the images are deeply intimate. Disheveled, semi-naked starlets huddle together between takes, staring out into the distance with combat soldier stares. A paunchy director, wearing a baseball cap, comes into the frame to give Nina Hartley a few notes on her performance. The actor underneath her keeps right on going.
The book also includes stories Nitke wrote of the day-to-day life on the sets, and clips from extensive interviews she conducted with the porn stars of the day. In an essay for the book, art critic Arthur C. Danto writes, “From reading these verbal ‘shots’ of life in the porn world, one realises that the scenario is as rigid as those of commedia dell’arte. Instead of Columbine and Pierrot, one has the needful housewife and the pizza boy, delivering initially the pie, and then himself…” He also compares her photography with that of Robert Mapplethorpe.
Nitke is seeking $25,000 to self publish the book, and is offering rewards for those who contribute, which range from classic postcards to prints of the photos, and of course copies of the book itself.
Campaign and project video -
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990714042/american-ecstasy-photo-book
Barbara Nitke, http://www.barbaranitke.com, is a New York art and commercial photographer best known for her compassionate view of alternative sex. Her career has taken her from behind-the-scenes of hardcore porn sets in the 1980s, to fetish in the 1990s, and into the private lives of sadomasochists for the following decade. She also does photography for mainstream television shows and the fashion industry. Her work has been shown and collected worldwide.
Contact Barbara Nitke
917-670-4304
Barbara@BarbaraNitke.com
Sidonia von Bork and the Bondage Dolly – Live Show
October 27, 2011 by webslave · 2 Comments
Sidonia von Bork is one of England’s top dominatrixes, owner of a famous female domination website and a talented photographer under the alias “Ariel Belle” Read more
Latex Model and Cancer
In June 2010, at the age of 44, I was given my first taste of professional latex modelling. I was immediately smitten and threw myself with gusto into my new found career as a total enclosure model.
All was going fine until one fateful day in July when I found a suspicious lump in my right breast. I made an appointment to see my GP and she reassured me that it was probably just a cyst and nothing to worry about, but she referred me to the hospital for a mammogram and biopsy just to be on the safe side.
A few weeks later I went back for the results. The Consultant was thumbing through my notes and eventually looked up and said “Do you have anyone here with you today?.” He didn’t really have to say very much else.
The biopsy had shown I had stage two breast cancer and I was scheduled in for surgery two weeks later.
It all felt like a mad whirlwind of a time, but I was absolutely determined not to allow the cancer or the treatment to get in the way of my latex modelling.
In November and December 2010 I had chemotherapy. Because I am needle-phobic I had something called a PICC line fitted. Even that did not stop me modelling. I found that, if I wrapped my arm in clingfilm and sellotape I could still get my rubber catsuits on. The chemo nurses at the hospital were fascinated, as I would take the photos in from each modelling assignment I had during the treatment and proudly show them off.
In February and March 2011 I had radiotherapy. This meant a trip to a hospital an hour away from home every day and it had quite an impact on my life. But the staff were every understanding and would try to fit my appointments around my bookings for modelling assignments. The radiation treatment left me feeling very tired, but I was determined to carry on leading my life to the full. I did and I still am.
You can see more photos of Latex Model on her website: www.latexmodel.co.uk and book her for modelling by e-mail to: info@latexmodel.co.uk
Fetish Dynasty
For many years a connoisseur of latex fetish and bondage photography, Fetish Dynasty was always searching for imagery that could satisfy his personal obsessions and fetishes. In 2009, he was inspired to begin creating the kind of images he’d been seeking out in collaboration with his wife and partner in crime, the PrimaFetishista. Read more
Oh No, It’s FetishMan!
Fetishman is a humorous comic about the adventures of a rubber-clad hero and the wide world of alternative sexual activities. Best described as a “disturbing cocktail of cute and kinky,” the comics caper giddily around a wide range of themes, touching on, among other things, BDSM, nuns, furries, the extreme porn law, butt plugs, Victorians, sci-fi, the colour brown, heroes, villains and for some reason tea.
Since creating the first issue in 2004 Geof has also been privileged to exhibit work at Coffee, Cake and Kink and the Sh! Women’s Erotic Emporium, and the Fetishman comics are now a regular feature in Foreplay magazine.
The latest Fetishman Issue # 12 “Old Mother Fetishman’s Fairly Filthy Tales of Folk and Fairies” is currently available from www.fetishman.co.uk as well as at selected comic shops, and occasionally also from the Fetishman stall at various UK fetish fairs, comic conventions, goth weekends and other events. Issue #13 is due out May 2011.
Richard Savage Artist and illustrator
Richard Savage has been a figurative artist for twenty years. His work is diverse and his aim is to capture something of the celebration of life in all its wonderful shades. He works mainly in acrylics, but is also happy working in oils, pastels, line and wash, watercolour and mixed media. Richard’s current projects are concentrating on figurative art, illustrations and book covers, working for four American publishing houses.
He also undertakes private commissions and considers most professional work. He has never shied away from provocative topics including fetish, gothic, gay, lesbian and fantasy. Much of his private commission work comes from the BDSM world; Richard has a working knowledge of how the scene operates and it is for that reason his clients feel comfortable with him working on their project.
Richard says, “My clients value their privacy and it is my job to put them at their ease while we work on their artwork” He works from photographs and sells mainly over the internet, a high percentage of work going to the United States as well as to his home UK market and clients globally.
Website: www.swage.net
Dark Tantra Tarot
January 19, 2011 by webslave · 3 Comments
The Dark Tantra Tarot is a synthesis of sex, fetish and spirituality, created by Mark and Ruth Ramsden. Mark is an acclaimed author worldwide, with forty years tarot experience as a professional reader and therapist. Ruth’s exceptional artistry brings the concept vividly to life, these are cards one can step inside.
This passionate couple have put all their energy and lived wisdom into this superb collaboration. With a BDSM theme, The Dark Tantra Tarot is unlike any other tarot deck. The court cards – normally King, Queen, Knight and Page – are represented here as Mistress, Master, Slave and Sub. The suits are rods (wands), rumps (pentacles), yonis (cups) and linghams (swords).
This pack can be used for future choices, meditation or to explore a new universe of infinitely variable sexual options. A signed and numbered limited edition of the Dark Tantra Tarot’s 22 major arcana, 4 additional Mistress cards and a booklet will be available soon.
The original artwork for the deck is available to purchase now.Anyone wishing to register an interest in this unique deck, or to buy the artwork should contact Mark and Ruth at darktantratarot@gmail.com or through MarkRamsden.Moonfruit.com
Daisy Gam: Erotic Bondage and Fetish Illustrator
November 12, 2010 by webslave · Comments Off
Daisy Gam graduated from Brighton University and she’s now creating images of submission, humiliation and masochism. She creates large scale pencil drawings, taking influence from her extensive research into 1940s – 60s erotica. Read more
Moritz Schell
October 15, 2010 by webslave · Comments Off
The ballet world has recently been scandalously rocked by dancer Karina Sarkissova doing a sexy set in “Weiner” magazine. (The Austrians do have a sense of humour, it seems!) Here is one image, which I think is particularly lovely:
Karina Sarkissova is lovely, but what is exciting me the most is actually the photographer, Moritz Schell. I don’t know why I don’t yet know his work, but I’m a huge fan now! Here are a couple reasons:
It seems to me that if anyone is the heir apparent to my beloved Helmut Newton, it is Moritz Schell (which is just about as fun to say as “Helmut Newton”!)
More on the actual news item which led me to this, from the Telegraph.co.uk:
The management of the prestigious institutions says solo dancer Karina Sarkissova was axed after a series of provocative photos of her appeared in the September issue of the Austrian men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine “Wiener.”
A statement on Friday said she had already been reprimanded in May for nude shots that were taken in the opera house without permission and published in the June edition of “Penthouse.”
“She was fired on August 23 after this new publication,” Dominique Meyer, the opera’s director, said, “The ballet corps has been shocked by these new images which appeared in the sex section,” he added.
“On the cover of the magazine, you could read ‘The ballerina nude, the ballet as we love it,’” he said.
Sarkissova is an Austrian dancer of Russian origin. Born in 1983, she was trained at Russia’s famous Bolshoi Ballet and joined the Vienna Opera ballet in 2000.
Gerard Musy Exhibition at Libertinesque
London’s new upmarket fetish fashion store, Libertinesque, has a real coup with the first London exhibition of Gérard Musy’s photography, after critical acclaim in Paris, New York and Lausanne. Read more
