It's called a square knot ... you're welcome!

I get asked a lot how I keep my knots from coming undone when I'm using nylon rope. First of all it's called a square knot: learn it, live it, love it. Don't waste your time looking it up. Just remember to go over then under the first time and then reverse it to under and over the second time. If you pull from one side it gets tighter. If you pull from the other side it gets tighter. You're welcome!

Oh, the second thing is keep your nylon rope fresh. The fibers break down after so many uses and once that happens youre on your own. There are plenty of knots that work great with worn out nylon but if you need those then try explaining how many girls sweat is built up in that rope you're wrapping a model up in. In fact that's a great rule of thumb. If you're nylon rope won't hold a square knot anymore than it's time to toss it out. Seriously, models wear self-tanner, make-up, glitter and other girl-magic. I'm funny that way, I treat ropes like hotel sheets. You just want to know they are super-clean before the mention of crotch-rope comes up.

And since I brought it up what is girl magic? Girl magic is when someone who looks perfectly fine goes into a bathroom, opens something with a zillion cases full of stuff you've never seen because you're not allowed down that aisle at the department store and then starts using a combination of what could be loosely considered part artist tools and part torture devices. When the door opens again they've gone from looking cute as can be into something that would make a cartoon wolf's tongue roll out onto the floor and his eyes pop out with an "aooogaaaa" sound.

Speaking of that, if you like "aooogaaa" and nylon rope and square knots all in one place take a peek at Nyxon.

We give the studio a test run

The fun thing about having a revamped studio is that when someone says, "let's go shoot some fine art, I'll let you do some shibari after that" you can just go do it. There's no moving couches or setting up backdrops or spending on hour on lights. Almost everything is all set up already. A process that used to take a half day to set up takes minutes.

It's been a blast not only because it's a pain in the ass to destroy the house to shoot and that pain is gone but because we shoot so much more now. If I have a cool idea odds are we'll shoot it. If Angelique needs some updates for her portfolios it's as easy as grabbing my camera. And as with today's scenario she will always let me get a clip in afterwards.

An added benefit is that before everything was in closets, tubs and boxes. If you had a cool idea searching for the components was a nightmare and almost not worth it. Now when shibari came up I had the hemp right there and some spare rope to make a nice gag to go with the position. Folks who do this regularly know what I'm talking about. You can spend 3 hours to shoot 50 shots and a 15-minute clip. We spend 30 minutes shooting all of that. That means more energy, more productivity and the rare opportunity to have a light bulb go off in your head and just go shoot it and see what happens.

The moral: I love the new studio. Angelique does as well but you couldn't tell from this image we shot and put up today. I called it 240 Feet of Hemp Rope Hogtie Hell. It was a tough one, but we're finding those are easy to do now. When you don't have to worry about clean-up you'd be amazed just what a gal will let you put her through!

An oldie but a goodie

One of the only reasons I considered starting a clips store was a huge backlog of "vintage" material. Now by vintage material I don't mean movies from the 80s, everything I have ever shot has been DV or higher. It isn't up to the same standards I hold myself to now though with lighting and other equipment. Plus I've learned a lot from the many mistakes I made during those days. Therefor I call them vintage just to put a line between shooting as a hobbyist and shooting professionally.

Back then I was fortunate to work with Sammie Sparks several times. One of the reasons my shoots with her always gave me great material is that her husband was a fabulous cameraman. There was no wasting the model's energy moving tripods around with allowed me to be rougher in my handling of the "damsel" and her husband just knew where to have the camera pointed at all times. He knew how she struggles, so he'd be ready when she'd change positions and get just the right shot.

It still stands out though as a hallmark in someone actually trying to get away.

He Made My Tits Bulge The Take-down courtesy of Ted Michaels Damsels.

Respect your co-workers!

It should be obvious by now that I have great respect and admiration for the models I collaborate with during shoots. Too many people treat them like meat that they can just abuse for a couple hours, and that really pisses me off. Everyone has different comfort levels that need to be respected. Failing to understand those levels or even worse purposefully pushing past the limits is reprehensible. The ability to understand limits and stay within them is what makes us humans. Violating those comfort levels makes us no better than monkeys.

That rant over, I find it creatively inspiring to have limits to work within. I used to work with about 100 artists. Some of them would bitch and complain because they didn't have what was necessary to be creative. Some of them however could take whatever you gave them and make magic happen. True creativity requires limits to make you work around perceived obstacles. Total freedom in my opinion leads to paralysis whereas limits make you inspired.

The image today is from a shoot I did with a girl named Lola. You'd think by looking at it she had no limits but she did. You just don't walk up to someone, jack their elbows, tie their breasts and throw clamps on their nipples. You discuss a list of options and make it very clear where the lines are. And you respect those lines! Just because you see a picture of someone like that doesn't mean they'll do anything and it doesn't mean that they'll do it with you. Comfort is often something that's earned. Holding up money and expecting nipple clamps and breast bondage in return is easy. Establishing a rapport through conversation and honest exchange of ideas however is inspiring. I'll take inspiring any day.

The short version is that the work I do comes out well because I work with talented and motivated people. We communicate well and we respect each other as creative professionals. Because of that mutual respect the material comes out well. People work better for you when they can get along with you. They get along with you when you treat them with respect.

Orgasm Hell with Lola courtesy of Ted Michaels. Enjoy!

A trio of firsts!

This has got to be one of my favorite images of all time. I mean, it's of my wife the lovely Angelique Kithos but I liked it before we even started getting serious. It breaks my heart to this day that there is no video of it, but that's what happens. You shoot video and go to yourself, "that would have made a great photo." Then you're taking photos and you realize that you're missing on on great video. Regardless, I got a wonderful photo and that's all that matters.

The first thing that jumps out at me are that Angelique's expression is perfect. I asked her how she could pull it off and she said at the time she literally hated me. Photographers do this thing that really piss models off. They say they need 5 more shots and then they see an angle that is just too good to pass up so they take 3 more shots. I think this was the 14th or so shot past that, but it was worth it. Anyway, she was sore and hurting and pissed off. She didn't call the safe-word though, so she must have know the material was going to be good.

The next thing that makes it special is that she has wonderful legs. The angle makes them look even longer and they run right up to those pulled-down panties. The really special part is her breasts and arms. She had done some tough bondage, but I was the one that got those elbows to touch. I also convinced her to do real breast bondage. So there she is, shoulders on fire, breasts aching, panties at her knees, drooling on herself and almost 20 shots past the point where she absolutely couldn't take it anymore. And yet she let me keep shooting. It's not a bad day of shooting when your first shoot with someone ends with her elbows toughing, her breasts bound and her naked ass sitting on your couch.

Ted Michaels

Adding depth to your video

To each their own but I don't understand why so many videos just focus on the model and sometimes if your lucky a background. I mean yeah the idea is to showcase the model, but the whole thing is about struggle and tension and drama. Now I will fully admit that before I had nice equipment I had to do just that because of focus issues, but once I could control my focus I added an interesting element: foreground elements.

When telling a story sometimes you want push the damsel back and get some things showing in the foreground. Yeah, you even want to partially obscure her for a little bit. Insane you say, but I disagree. Pulling back and showing foreground elements lets the viewer understand the damsel is part of a larger world. She doesn't exist in a tiny corner with a couch, 200 feet of rope and a gag. There's an entire room with drawers that might have scissors, end tables that hold tape and a phone that she knows is there. She's tied so tight she can't make it to the phone. Her hands are numb so she can't open the drawer. What is he going to do with that tape?

Part of story-telling is not just about showing the story, it's about setting up elements that let the viewer paint scenarios in their mind. It gives you the ability to show that things will get more intense because he still has more rope. That applies to audio as well. I have a bunch of pre-recorded audio of me fumbling around on my desk an in my office. You'd be amazed at what that adds to a sound-track that is very dry. The moral: don't be afraid to let the viewer know there's only a damsel. Give them hints at the bigger world and you might find that her dilemma becomes all the more compelling!

Pinched and Pawed in Pink with Amaya Solace made available by Ted Michels Damsels.

A very tough tie

I've always been a fan of lotus ties because they somewhat achieve their normal goal. Traditionally the position is used to align the body in such a way as to allow for meditation. Well, the tied version certainly does align the body in such a way but I'll be damned if you're going to be doing any meditation. As I've said before I love contrast, and the contrast between this position allowing alignment but preventing meditation is wonderful.

I do the position two basic ways. The mean way and the really mean way. Poor Stacie here got the really mean way. The year before I used the position on her but was nice and tied her ankles to her torso by the chest. This puts all the stress on those strong back muscles. The really mean way I go around the neck. It doesn't choke or anything dangerous but it puts the strain on the back of the neck which forces the damsel to use her abdominal muscles to help relieve some of the pressure. If you look at Stacie's face here the strain and slight redness isn't from the ropes causing pressure, it's because she's been doing crunches for about five minutes!

If that's not bad enough I put her on her side on a tiny ottoman. Her elbows are welded, she can't use her legs for support and her face is crushed down to her feet. Combine that with a ballgag and you have some fun almost-struggling. She commented that she couldn't move at all :)

A Lotus That Gave Her Something to Think About with Stacie Snow. Enjoy!
Ted Michaels

Anime angles

I wish I could remember when I started shooting extreme up and down angles. It probably stems back to my years of drawing comic panels. In a drawing extreme angles portray action. In video they do the same thing.

I've found over the years that the extreme upward angle gives the feeling of isolation in the scene. When you film at eye level it gives the impression you're seeing what the antagonist is seeing. Extreme angles put the perspective in the scope of the damsel being alone and helpless. It's a neat feeling for video as long as you don't mind break dancing all over the floor to shoot it right.

Since I have a propensity to tie peoples ankles apart the models will often splay their knees apart as they struggle which gives what I call the anime angle. If you've seen enough anime and manga you'll know what I'm talking about. Wenona was great for this. She knew where the camera was at all times and made sure her knee never got in the way. It really served to isolate her in the scene as a bound, gagged and utterly alone damsel. It is also one of my favorite scenes from FC two years ago!

Welded in White courtesy of Ted Michaels Damsels.

Keeping It Fresh

I just love this picture. There are things that you keep writing into stories over and over that you just never can do. I'm always jotting down transport sequences that involve a crate or container of some sort. That's all well and good until you realize the shoot is tomorrow and the model is 5'10" ... good luck making a crate that big by the next day.

When I got the chance to shoot with Amaya I joke that I would put her in my tub for equipment and drag her around. She said do it, she's tiny enough to fit. And she was! It's kind of funny that I'd planned it for years and it just sort of happens by accident. That's the way most things go though. You have to be flexible because the cool things are often the things you don't plan for. And so it was that poor Amaya is all taped up unconscious, stuffed in a tub and dragged downstairs to be dumped unceremoniously on the carpet. It just goes to show you that if you do something enough eventually all opportunities will come your way.

Amaya in Agent A Is MIA available now!

Back to basics

There are no magic formulas when it comes to bondage content. Sure there are trends that can be reliable, but just like the stock market the fickle nature of the business can make things shift in unexpected ways. One week you are convinced that a mile of tape all over a gal is the ticket and then that clip tanks. The next week you make bank with a hogtie only to have the next hogtie fizzle. You find a model that everyone loves but they don't like her in straps.

That's why I've been going back to basics. I put together a list of things I felt creatively empowering a long time back. As I attempt to meet the expectations of people there's a risk of shifting too quickly, getting too far away from what you do best. That's why sticking to the core of what you like doing is a key to maintain focus in a dynamic industry. Every clip I've done that holds true to the elements I wrote down in my mission statement has done well. Over the last couple of weeks that strategic regrouping has met with promising results.

That doesn't mean I'm not taking chances. It doesn't mean I'm not taking feedback. In fact I'm taking more chances and incorporating feedback more than ever. The foundation isn't changing though. I have developed several areas that I feel I do well and create a branding for my work. In taking chances you run the risk of walking away from too many of those elements. That's a bad thing. You need to explore and take risks just enough to test new areas without stepping out of realm that people expect you to be working within. Keeping a solid and recognizable core keeps people interested while letting you test new areas.

The latest clips I shot was a great example. I get a lot of response to my living room feel for my videos. It gives the impression that it could be happening anywhere, even right next door. That gets boring though, so I took a chance on shooting at the beach while on vacation. I didn't have all my equipment, but the new location made for an interesting story idea that I feel works. The location pulled me out of my normal villain character, made me more bold and the interaction showed that. I took off the mask, the spanking was harder, the take-down was rougher and we even did a simulated scene in one of the clips. Normally we'd cut that out but it just really worked with the clip as a whole. So we left it in!

The Bitchy Beach Babe Pissed Off the Wrong Renter with Angelique

Panty gags it is

I'm not really shocked that my recent poll had panty gags as the winner. If I like something I have to assume that other people will, but it's handy to know that they are the favorite. I used to say I'm putting panties in your mouth to some really odd responses. Now I'll just say that fan polls suggest this is the way to go. Hard to argue with statistics. Even harder to argue with panties taped into your mouth.

It fits in with some of the storyline material I'll be shooting the next couple of months. I've cycled back to classic damsel in distress as of late. I moved away from it for a bit because of an ankle injury that has healed up. It's really hard to do a take-down, on-screen restraint and then carry a girl around when you can't push off on your left ankle. That's not an issue anymore though so the last couple of shoots have featured a lot of hands-on action. I just love shooting a full take-down where the girl is caught unaware, is bound with items on hand and then just can't seem to attract any attention despite her best efforts.

My favorite scene has always been the heels-only motif. A girl starts clothed, gets grabbed, forcibly stripped and during all that ends up bound and gagged with some element of her attire in her mouth. Socks, cloth strips and panties packing pretty faces just doesn't get any better. One of my favorite experiences was shooting Nyssa and Taylor. I grabbed Nyssa sleeping, wrestled with her, stripped her and eventually she was tied and gagged with her own panties wearing only high heels. While being mauled by me Taylor enters to endure the same fate as Nyssa rolls around.

The sequence really speaks to me because of the raw nature of the take-downs and restraints plus the realism. Girls are caught unaware, gagged with their own panties, tied with elements on hand and stripped down to almost nothing. The appearance of a roommate doesn't mean help, it just means two girls sharing the same fate. Pretty panties no longer guard virtue but provide silence instead. Even if they could hop to a window, they are naked ... freedom means showing it all for everyone passing by outside. The mix of realism and potential shame is wonderful. The girls have the choice to let everyone see them naked. Do they days trying to free each other or do they spend hours getting to the window and providing a peep show get free? The choice is up to them.

Image courtesy of Trouble for Two: Ropes, Gropes and Orgasms!

Pink on white just ain't right

You might notice a few things about today's image. Angelique looks hot as hell, pink latex and perfect hair on a beautiful gal. The restraint is fine, crisp and neat. Angelique's hair looks wonderful. The bitgag is sunk deeply as a bitgag should. Oh yeah, it looks like she's in a basement. Actually for that set we wanted the look of an area under renovation, but that's not the final plan. It's a set space, so we need it to look like a completely finished corner ... an any-room. That's just my term for a set area that you can re-paint and re-furnish for shoots. One shoot it looks like a living room, the next it's a bedroom and the next it's a secret laboratory.

Our old house was terrible. It was about 25 years old, had dated looks everywhere and couldn't run an A/C unit for more than a week without breaking down. The carpets were this sickly blue that was faded and I'm sure the height of rug fashion in 1982. Maybe Duran Duran would comment kindly if they ever visited but for shooting it was a terrible color. Everything was dark. The windows were small and none of the hardwoods had been pruned in over a decade, so shade was everywhere. It was a rough living space and an absolutely dreadful shooting space.

The dining room was a different story. It had beautiful hardwood floors, earthy red and green walls, crisp white trim and actual light. That was because of Angelique though. She had me go out and take down three of the sickliest beach trees you'll come across. That's a post in itself. If you've never dug out the root system of three trees I would recommend paying someone to do it or investing in dynamite. With the trees gone sunlight invaded the hell maw and we had nice, even lighting in the dining room. Even better the colors suited models well and were easy to light. Earth-tones tend to absorb light instead of reflecting it and fair-skinned models hate when blue or green walls make them look like something 13 minutes into a zombie flick.

That's the plan for the set space, and my task for today. I get to spackle, paint and add trim until we have a convincing corner of a dining room. Well worth it I'd say with Carissa Montgomery being the first to become a tight little bundle there. Unfortunately for her having two complete walls as part of the set means the suspension rig is secure and totally safe. Might be time for that upside-down duct-tape mummification I've been planning.

Brought to your courtesy of Pretty Tied Up in Pink with Angelique!

Everything but the kitchen sink

I have a lot of boxes in my office, and each has a tiny label on it. I used to keep everything in boxes without labels which sucked a lot of time out of my life. Where did I put those stress balls? Damn, I know I bought some cotton clothesline. I could swear I made a larger black ballgag. Moving out of my last house gave me the opportunity to change that. Normally if you empty 60 boxes onto the floor you make a gigantic mess and end up with a non-functional house. When you move though you don't really care about the mess because the house is non-functional anyway. I said the hell with it, brought box after box into the living room and started making piles. I went through every box, sorted things into logical groups and then re-boxed everything with labels. It took a long time, but when someone stops by and I want to do a nylon encasement I know EXACTLY which box has all the extra-large pantyhose. Yes, I'm referring to you this coming weekend Carissa Montgomery!

My shooting boxes have some mundane names like chargers, tape, cables and of course rope. A couple of them though have some interesting names. One even has a label that says, "Throw This Stuff Out Packrat!!!" Another says, "Quick Kit" and to no surprise has about 100 feet of rope, a roll of tape, a ballgag and a blank DV tape. One in particular has become my favorite. It has the label kitchen sink because when it comes to tying someone up it has everything but the kitchen sink. As you tie people up over and over you amass odd collections of small bits of things that can't be used for a full restraint. I don't want to throw out those two red ropes, or those three brown ropes, or that one black rope. That electrical tape roll still has a couple yards left one it and that belt needs to go somewhere. Before I knew it I had a box full of enough bits and pieces that alone made for a lame restraint but together made for a sweaty and wiggling bundle of going nowhere.

My last couple of shoots that box has gotten a lot of use. I've grown fond of seeing someone in crisp, neat restraint made from odds and ends. My latest clip with Ashley Graham, The Robber Stole More Than My Television, has made the best use of it yet. Instead of just tying her up with contents from it I cycle through as many of the odds and ends as I can. Four types of gags, five colors of rope, a couple belts and some tape on top of that made for a challenging 30 minutes for the poor gal. She got to appreciate the difficulty, but I got to enjoy the fun of restraining her with a realistic hodgepodge of items that a real burglar might cobble together. I don't think I'm the only one though because the second I uploaded it has become one of my more popular clips. Of sexy lady in a classic blouse and skirt combination certainly doesn't hurt!

The making of a real-life damsel in distress

The thrill for me in bondage boils down to being creative and helping people explore their own boundaries. Don't get me wrong. There are many gals out there willing to let you tie them tightly and bundle them up into tight packages of sweat-glistened flesh. There are even gals out there who don't care too much for bondage but still appreciate it's artistic quality. I never said this but there are also a few gals out there that hate it but do it anyway. I can be creative with any of those gals. Exploring boundaries though requires a certain trust factor that compels a model to jump from being an actress in a scene to becoming a true damsel in distress. I am refering to my own rarefied interpretation of damsel in distress in this case, the real-life damsel.

The classical damsel in distress is a beautiful female placed in a dire predicament and needing rescue. A key element to melodrama in literature and film, this damsel is often foolish and ineffective, almost naive, and thus requires saving from herself. It's not difficult to achieve this in bondage photography. You tie someone up and have them struggle. Although the outward appearance can be misogynistic, it is a classical approach and and allows for a fun and loose interaction between the model and photographer. The damsel is in total control behind the scenes. She knows that she can get loose if she wanted and had a little time. She knows that quick release is but a safe-word away, and that her gag would let her cry out at the right time to attract attention. These type of shoots are often filled with joking, laughter and fun exchanges between the model and photographer. It is more of a romanticized experience. Note the word used is not romantic but romanticized. It allows the model to play at being the beautiful maiden waiting for a night in shining armor, but it is play for she controls the scenario whether the photographer knows it or not. Once the romanticized curtain is pulled back the model loses interest.

Another type of damsel is the one that doesn't have much of a romanticized view on bondage and helplessness but still appreciates the creative and artistic aspects to the process. She generally doesn't enjoy bondage, but enjoys the photographic process. Able to recognize the artistic vision of the photographer she allows herself to be placed in positions of helplessness and discomfort in order to create compelling visual works. These damsels will explore themes such as shibari, suspension, challenging gags and strict restraint as long as the comfort level doesn't grow too high or last too long. These models make great damsels because they have limits that they have not explored because of their general disinterest in bondage as something other than a creative pursuit. Almost every picture I've taken that got the response, "I worked with her and had no idea she could do that!" was of a model that likes creativity more than bondage. She explored those limits.

The final damsel is the only true real-life damsel. They are the trust/confidence damsel. In the romanticized world a damsel knows she will be rescued. In the creative world a damsel knows this as well but also knows she can work herself free if she has too. In this case though the model knows she will be released but only after experiencing true helplessness at the hands of the rigger. The ties are tight, the positions are punishing and the gags are huge and silencing. The experience is a true physical and mental challenge. I call these models true damsels because they are willing to place themselves in restraints where they are totally helpless and totally within the control of the rigger. They can barely move and rescue is their only option. They will never be free of their own accord. There is no chance of untying themselves, cutting themselves loose or drawing attention to themselves for rescue. The romance of a knight in shining armor does not exist. The driving force of gritting through it because the material will be great has been washed away by the discomfort. There is only biting restraint, aching jaws and being bundled up so completely they can continue only on the trust that it will be over and their confidence in their ability to endure.

Creativity in traditional film and media requires faking. If you think for a second that studio lawyers and insurance companies would let an actress be placed in a restraint that won't pop off immediately then you are deluded. Creativity in bondage photography however requires real-life helplessness. No matter the level of restraint they are all putting themselves into the hands of the rigger. The real-life damsel for me though is the one that lets you take the restraint and gags so far that they are totally dependent on you as the rigger. You can put scissors on the ground and they won't cut one rope. You can put a phone by their face and they won't manage to dial the first number. They are so helpless and uncomfortable that the rigger is their only hope of freedom. That takes confidence. That takes trust. Loss of physical freedom is about 5% for me. The voluntary and knowing surrender of that freedom is the other 95%. That is a true damsel.

If you want an example look at poor Tomiko here. I shot with her as she was recovering from back and neck issues. We discussed things and made some necessary concessions but even with that she was uncomfortable the entire shoot. The image I've chosen really drives the point home though. I used a ballgag that was larger than she was accustomed to having in her mouth. It pried her jaws open and was very uncomfortable. Then I wrapped cellfoam tape around her face. This drove the ball deeper into her mouth and squeezed her face. She couldn't get free from the chair, couldn't cry for help and was mauled by me throughout the scene. Afterwards she told me her jaws were on fire and the discomfort was intense, but the scene was going so well she didn't want to pull the plug. She allowed herself to be totally helpless and totally dependent. More importantly she trusted in my ability to shoot the scene quickly and was confident enough in herself that she could endure. The expression on her face isn't faked, it is a real expression of extreme discomfort. More importantly I didn't take that expression from Tomiko. She gave it to everyone, and that makes her great model. Tomiko in Tight Trouble is a great example of what I call a true damsel in distress!