Mike is a young kinkster from Germany, a real nice guy. It’s hard to talk about work with him because I would have a lot of other ideas, but that’s definitely not the reason of my visit in his photo studio. He’s a talented fetish photographer, and I’m visiting him to talk about his passion, which has become a profession.
Hi Mike, thank you for the invitation. So that’s the place where a lot of the kinky pictures we can see on Instagram have been taken. When have you started to do fetish photography, and what was the fascination to start with?
I think, I was seventeen when I started with fetish Photography. At that age I felt changes in me. I remember talking to friends at the time they were researching their sexuality, and I felt so incredibly old because at that age I started developing ‘fetishes’. So I sewed clothes that I found sexy but could not afford at the time and photographed me in it. Of course, everything without a face and completely anonymous. Sometimes I use this anonymity even today to give a picture a certain fantasy. But to come back, the fetish photography was born out of the interest that I had in fetishes myself and for me fetish means deepest honesty and that is exactly what appeals to me most about photography. Because I don’t photograph a fetish, I photograph a person with his fetish, to be precise: I photograph his innermost.
So you think that fetish pictures are a window to the soul of the models? Means that, that there is no show and no posing?
Hehe not really. I speak just about my kind of photography. For me, I try to create an interaction between the model and me. For example: If I look at a person, I don’t look only what the person show me. I try to understand what this person feels at the moment. I try to photograph what this person feels at that moment. Especially in art photography, it’s all about poses or “playing”, only I try to make the personality of the model shine in each of my works. So I just talk about my way of photography and how I look at it, I do not take the liberty of judging other photographers or kinksters, because ultimately art is subjective.
But I consider a fetish as an additional anchor for fetishists. Therefore, consider this already as a part of the personality.
What is a good motive for you, and how do you compose it?
It is a hard question for me. Because every fetish is unique and many people, for example rubber, feel something similar, but always a little bit different. But if I had to decide, my heart always beats a bit more to the “delicate, sensitive”. Although I like to work with hard contrasts and fanciful sets.
How has to be a model to be interesting for you?
I don’t prefer a type of man I photograph and which I don’t like to photograph. It doesn’t matter to me if someone is tall, short, fat, thin, skinny or very muscular. It also doesn’t matter to me if someone has a lot of gear or is very present in social media. My interest is always in personalities. What a person does with his body language, the way he moves or what he tries to hide is usually what appeals to me.
Can you show us some of your most interesting pics and tell us, what the reason is, that you think that they are really special?
The picture was created at a time when the media was dominated by many contradictory information and opinions, so that the population threatened to sink into a mutual discrepancy. For us Kinkster, a fetish is like an anchor, which gives the human being a foothold in the waves of negativity on the ground without pulling him down.
For some time I wanted to take a picture on this steel bridge. I love the dynamics when the sun goes down and the grass shines in a deep green tone. Especially the interplay between the green and the blue in this picture makes me dream again and again. I really like this dynamic. Above all the body language, which makes these colors even more intense, make this picture just special. It looks strong, confident and hard, although a certain sensitive depth is hidden in it.
This picture speaks for itself. It’s exactly what a fetish is for us. A connection to ourselves, but also; on a more intense level, to someone else. It is intimate, tender and passionate. It radiates security, security and togetherness and it is just what I like most about a fetish, because the innermost radiates and not only the shine on the second skin.
In this picture, I especially like that you only recognize the emotions on the second or third glance. It is dark, wicked, you don’t recognize everything at once and the gloss on the latex distracts at first glance. But the picture radiates so much more than what you once thought. It hides a deep connection and the viewer is attracted by an imaginative, passionate and mysterious journey.
Many pictures may seem unambiguous. They show two people, connected with each other, dressed or naked, in fetishes or clothes. But what is it really that makes us humans dwell on a picture? They are impressions that are not tangible or simple. And these hidden impressions can also be found in this picture. Two people are depicted who are differently active and yet connected to each other. One might think that this picture shows one and the same person, but different characters. One might think that here a certain interpersonal distance prevails in a generally distanced space, or one might think that the wild, exuberant and here also feminine collides with the statics of the characteristic male in an equally wild and natural environment; without creating disharmony. But what makes a picture special and unique is the viewer’s imagination and interpretation.
Interpretation is always in the eye of the beholder. And that makes it also so interesting. I think that also everyone is seeing other details and probably also recognizing himself in pictures, even if they are showing total different people. Last but not least can you tell us a little about your upcoming projects, Mike?
For: theartoffetishphotography, there will be some nice changes this year. I will still be present on social networks like Instagram. Also, I will continue to discuss topics such as: Body shaming, connections, feminine and closeness shoot. This year, however, there are also more shootings to the fetish: Puppy” and Bondage planned. I would like to combine also some “High Fashion” with fetish and there will be a new Action Shoot (non-sexual) with Rubfoxx (instagram) in March. Beside the planned shootings, a new blog/website will appear and there will be a bigger surprise, which I don’t want to go into yet. Let me surprise you.
Mike
The Art of Fetish Photography
1992
Bonn
Germany
