I Should Have Worn My Door Opening Heels!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

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!

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!

Escape is sometimes an option

I tend to lean more toward escape being impossible, but I must admit that I like letting a damsel get away if she has to work for it and if she has to make certain sacrifices for her freedom. I've tried escape scenarios in the past, and they always turned into attempted escapes. I just tie far too tight and intricate for anyone to get away. Yes, the occasional damsel will struggle until something pops loose or they get a knot undone, but hundreds of feet of tight rope and dozens of knots make one slipped rope or an undone knot worthless. The damsel always runs out of steam or can't take the discomfort before getting anywhere close to loose.

After getting numerous requests for escape scenarios I was forced to revisit the idea and come up with a formula that worked. Restraint is about tipping points. Where does the balance swing in favor of the struggling damsel and how does the captor make sure the balance is always on his side. In general that's easy: tight, intricate and a lot of rope and a girl is furniture. That really doesn't work for an escape sequence. You can't just throw scissors at someone and instantly make escape a possibility. I've tied people up with scissors, knives and box-cutters within easy reach and had them get nowhere. Hell, I tied up Ashley Graham less than two months ago with scissors right on the floor with her and she never even got a hand on them. She didn't even have to go anywhere for the scissors, but the balance was far much too in favor of going nowhere ever. A nice escape sequence requires the balance to be at going nowhere fast.

Having tied up a billion people (I'm prone to exaggeration) it's very obvious that if you control the hands, you control the damsel. If they can't use their fingers effectively or get their hands to the right spot all they can do is wiggle and roll around and hope something gives. That's a recipe for being on my living room rug all day and not for getting away. Having cut more than one damsel out of an excruciating tie it's also very obvious that nylon rope requires a few cuts and it just falls off while cotton rope requires cutting a lot of rope before it starts giving way. That's where the darn tipping point comes into play. Once a damsel starts cutting herself loose it's like a landslide. She's helpless and then free almost instantly.

My solution was to use cotton rope, dull scissors, an elbow tie and wearing next to nothing. I don't care how seasoned the model is, a gal will always try to be modest when she can. If you put someone in nothing but high heels, hose and a garter they have a choice between an awkward cut with the scissors and showing the goodies. I have yet to find a model that will just sit there with her legs wide open as she cuts away. Sometimes she has to but she will most often work at a more awkward angle and take longer to free herself utilizing a position that is more modest. As for awkward cut, dull scissors and elbow ropes will really slow a gal down. The hands have a lot of movement but the angle is limited by the elbows. Combine that with dull scissors and you have a lot of slow sawing instead of cutting. You also have a lot of failed attempts. On top of all that she has to deal with the cotton rope. Imagine the elation of getting through one rope but having everything still hold fast.

Nyxon experienced a text-book escape scenario in Painful and Pantyless Escape. She was frogtied and wearing next to nothing. She got to the scissors easily but found out that getting them to the ropes was an uncomfortable challenge with her elbows together. She tried desperately to get the scissors to the ropes on her legs but they were too dull to cut. She tried sawing but needed to splay her legs to get close enough. The poor gal tried to be demure but needed to show all to get those dull scissors to work. After long picking and sawing at the ropes her legs and hands were free, but she faced the challenge of getting those elbows free. The balance was perfect. Nyxon had to work for release and the pacing was even. She was never free until those elbow ropes came off and even then had to ungag herself and rest up enough to walk on wobbly legs!