Comments on Fluffytek Art Blog: Masters of Fetish Photography

Jürgen here...There are way too many questions her...

2007-10-09T17:04:00.000+01:00

Jürgen here...There are way too many questions here to be answered in just one reply. Why some are selected and why others are not? That's quite simple; if I receive a CD or DVD with the pictures and if they are any good, I select what I like and I've been doing that for the last 17 years. Remember that I do all of this alone, from research, contacting the models, photographers, layout, boxing the books, going to the postoffice... well, you get the picture. I don't have the time anymore to look on the web for new talent. So yes, anybody who knows great, new talent, just inform me.
I was delighted to read the comments and I resist to answer on the errors written here, but I can now say that this will be last Anthology I will make. Sadly enough. But I'm proud of what I did all these years.
Again to come back on the participating photographers, some didn't send in their work or simply refused to participate when I asked them. The color issue is financially impossible for me... that being said, this volume has pushed me to the limit of my finance and the futur of the magazine is also hanging on a very thin tread. So no, financially I'm not successful, but I love every second of what I do. Black & white photography is my life. Showing off new artist who "make it" after that is my success. (Gilles Berquet, Trevor Watson, Chouraqui, Barbara Nitke and many, many others) Also, I've looked at over 10.000 pictures to select what is in this book. In between I also make the magazine and produce other books like BOUND with David Lawrence and SHIBARI with Master K, run a fetish store with my wife and have 4 kids, who all need my attention. So yes, I admit, I make mistakes. And yes, names are missing. Some photographers sent in their work and I forgot to insert them in the layout! Can you imagine that!??? It's not easy, I can tell you. Well, that's just a small answer to all the many questions posted here. If you want to know why this or why that, just email me. OK? So IF I was to make another volume, I accept the help. Jürgen

I've enjoyed the various responses and opinions (i...

2007-08-19T23:44:00.000+01:00

I've enjoyed the various responses and opinions (including the originator of this blog topic) very much. I agree with Mr. Iksodas in that I would have liked to see those photos shot in AND INTENDED to be in Color in fact be printed in Color, but its Jurgen's baby..and he was very upfront on it being in B&W, so no surprises there for any of us..and I rather like the all B&W content of this book (even though I do miss Collin Rae's powerful colorful images very much). I would also like to congratulate Mr. Iksodas for his wonderful photographs featured in this book, in my option his photos published in Secret Fetish Anthology 5 are among his best work and well represent his vision photographically. Again, congrats on a job well done. I don't personally know Melvin, but from what I see from his work..yes, he too belonged in this book as much as any of us (he is way more traditional "fetish" than I am..and quite frankly belonged in the book instead of me). I do know Johnny Flamethrower personally, and he DEFINITELY belonged in the book instead of me. There are several photographers featured in Secret Fetish Anthology 5 that I would not call traditional "fetish photographers" (Me included). But in saying that, its an Honor to be included in the book and will submit work for the next issue when Jurgen asks.

Jurgen has proven time and time again that he has the keen eye to weed through our respective submitted photographs, and presents our best work in his publications based on the work that we chose to submit. His track record speaks for itself...and his reputation and financial success rides on his selection.

One thing some may not realize, unlike Self Publishing where the self publisher has 100% control over the selected images, with publishing at the level of Secret and/or Taschen or others.....the editors ultimately have the final say over photographs selected. We simply submit what we think is our best work, and the publisher "edits" down to the few images that he believes is our best submitted work to represent our photography in said publication. Sure, I scratch my head in surprise and say "why did they pick this photograph and not that photograph" when I ultimately find out what photos will be published in said publication. Mrs BT always sheds wisdom on the subject, she says to me "then why did you submit the photograph if you did not expect them to publish it?" Duh...she has a point. So I have limited my submitted photos to 10 photos or less on the last 2 books that ask for my submissions. This way I won't be so surprised.

Again, a fantastic blog commentary..and I have and continue to enjoy your thought provoking issues.

bt charles

Lin:First off, thanks for the kind words about my ...

2007-08-19T15:21:00.000+01:00

Lin:

First off, thanks for the kind words about my work.

I’ve wanted to write a comment on this one for a while, but have been a quite buried under this week.

I’ve withheld my opinion on this massive volume for a couple of reasons, the biggest being that I have a vested interest in its success. After all, I’m in it. I also dislike having to sound like a used car salesman hawking my wares. There’s enough of that going on in these days, and plenty of people that care to sound like that.

Jurgen has a very successful track record of assembling these anthologies, and I am not quite sure why some people didn’t make it in (and yes Melvin, you are one of those that deserve to be in there!). I also find it interesting, to see the images that were selected by the various photographers, myself included. Of all the work I submitted, I have no idea why those were selected.

I agree with the color issue, especially where some of the work was originally produced in color. Ckreationz is one of those I’ve known for years, and his work really needs to be experienced in color.

That said, I would like you to consider a recent experience I had, after receiving my copy of the book, and see it as a solid evaluation it. I brought it down to our weekly get together at the studio (read as plenty of wine, spirited conversation, even more spirited debate, and a little B.S. thrown in for good measure).

Without telling anyone I was in it, I just set it on the table, and let everyone go thru it. In no time at all, a crowd was flipping thru it, praising, condemning and critiquing each page. (It took quite some time for them to go thru the whole thing). What you have to remember about this crowd is that for them, photography, and fetish is only one small slice of the world of art in which they exist. All of them are creators, appreciators, and educators in the field of art in one form or another. They don’t know “the big names”, they didn’t bother to look at names for the most part at all, just flip a page, and comment away. Emotion, message, composition, use of the medium, were quickly appraised, and either lauded or condemned.

It was interesting to see which ones met with praise, and which ones were dismissed as crap. “Big names”, and even some people they’ve met at my studio parties, it didn’t matter, if it was good, they praised, they even tore apart some people they know, and have met.

The response overall, was that this is a good representation of the here and now, and I agree with them, with the one exception that some people, that should have been in there are not.

I can honestly say that I am proud to be a part of this one, and am convinced that this is a volume that I will be going thru quite often. The details, and subtlety of all of this work can’t be absorbed in a single pass.

I was in Number 4.

2007-08-17T03:38:00.000+01:00

I was in Number 4.

You're very kind, but I don't consider myself of t...

2007-08-16T20:26:00.000+01:00

You're very kind, but I don't consider myself of the stature to warrant inclusion in a volume like that...not yet anyway. After all, I'm still perfecting my work -- If I don't think it's ready yet, why should they?

That said, I glanced through the book last weekend at FetishCon and found it to be a bit lacking myself. A Fetish anthology without Barbara Nitke and China Hamilton [among others] is hard to fathom. I have a feeling that the publishers had their own agenda and perhaps those artists didn't fit in with it.

Here are the cold hard facts…. If one yahood Eroti...

2007-08-16T20:14:00.000+01:00

Here are the cold hard facts…. If one yahood Erotic Photographer, 2.26 million hits come up. Do the same on Google…1.85 million hits come up. Google Art Nude Photographer…2.33 million hits….Yahoo hits on the same are 2.84 million. Are there that many Erotic/Art Nude Photographers?…I doubt it..but the numbers must be vast regardless. That would suggest quite a bit of competition, and offers publishers a literally bevy of photographers to choose from for their respective projects (I did not even google/yahoo Fetish Photographers..as I suspect the numbers would be even higher). I am sure there are killer photographers out there that will never get noticed. And Johnny Flamethrower??..in my opinion..he is one of the best (I have been a big champion of Johnny's work for a while)!!! So yes...very talented photographers are not getting published.

The Taschen book and the Secret book have paved the way for other publishers to contact me inquiring about being part of their respective publications (2 other books in the last 3 months). Would these other publishers have contacted me if I was not published by Taschen and/or Secret?…hell no..they would not have not even known about me. Considering the numbers I mention above, It may almost be a catch 22 for those who have never been published to GET published.

For me, I was at the right place at the right time to be ask by Eric Kroll to be published in the Taschen book not long after talking to Eric for the first time (I had no idea the book was even in the works until Eric ask me to be part of it so I was blown away!!!). Secret Fetish Anthology inclusion followed just a few months later.

I am not an astrology believer…but you could say my stars were lined up perfectly during this period, as I can not take any credit for making this happen...it just did.

Thanks again for a great blog post.

bt