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!

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.