I’m always amused by how many fashion shots reference kinky dynamics, but totally fail to understand them.The photographers grasp the aesthetics and taboos of specific elements, but don’t understand how they fit together in a way that makes kinky sense. It’s like they’re trying to write a story in a foreign language with just a translation dictionary. The individual words are correct, but the whole thing is incoherent. This linked image is a good example of what I mean. There’s obviously a spanking theme in there somewhere, but I’ve no idea what the overall concept is.
The shots that tend to work best are the simplest. When the photographers just have a single concept and a single subject, then it’s much harder to end up with a confused mess of clashing kinks and weird dynamics. This shot of the model Tatjana Patitz by photographer Nathaniel Goldberg is a good example of that. It’s simple but very effective as a fetish image.
This was shot for Allure Magazine in 2007. You can see more photographs from the shoot here.
BDSM themed fashion shoots crack me up. But hell, even within the community, there seem to be a lot of photographers who don’t “get it” and just hope that people see shiny black, and fail to look beyond it. Prodomme shots are notorious for this.
I think even with kinky professionals (like pro-dommes) it’s surprisingly dependent on the photographer. I remember reading one domme (I think Maitresse M) describe the enormous effort she had to put into getting the exact shots she wanted when she was working with a talented but non-kinky photographer. Unless she micro-managed him they ended up as arty but not creating the energy and appeal she wanted.
Although I will say I think the general quality has risen over the years. I suspect the internet and cheaper digital equipment makes it easier to find people with a reputation for understanding kink and shooting good images in non-optimal conditions.
-paltego