WantonErotica Pro

RELOCATION, RELOCATION!

I've updated my location to Thames Ditton, Surrey – because I'll be moving there, in a few weeks time.  For those who don't know, it's not far from central London, just across the river  from Hampton Court. I'm still going to be caring for my elderly father (who has Alzheimer's) and this will continue to restrict my availability a bit – but I'll have a lot more support and help from other family members nearby, and this means I'll be able to shoot much more often.  I'm also hoping to take a couple of holidays over the next year, either within the UK or in Europe – and maybe organise some holiday shoots too. Watch this space!

Although I'll be shooting within the Greater London area most of the time, I should be able to cover travel expenses for models based further afield, within the UK or even overseas (if not too far away!).  Of course, if you're planning to visit London on tour and have availability while you're here, feel free to reach out. 

WANTON EROTICA

I define "wanton erotica" as artwork that expresses and promotes a positive, friendly, life-affirming attitude to sexuality: uninhibited, consensual, playful, flirtatious, loving, generous and joyful.

The word "wanton" was originally used to mean “wild”, “free” or “untamed”. For centuries, bullying moralists have taught us to associate these ideas with wickedness and folly – but generations of free-thinking artists and poets have tended to prefer a more positive, optimistic interpretation. That's the tradition I'm following here.

I'm especially interested in developing new ways to present erotic imagery - to add meaning and context, and hopefully create a sense of positive engagement between the model and the viewer.  This includes creating photo-stories and slideshows with narrative captions - from the point of view of the model (or the character they're playing).  For me, it's important that participating models either invent these captions themselves, or at least, approve of what I suggest.

WORKING WITH MODELS

I have a process designed to give models a high degree of control over the content I  plan to publish and sell – and also a chance to cherry-pick some of that content for their own use. I believe this approach to be the fairest way to work with participating models and that, for this very reason, it maximises the quality and authenticity of the content I ultimately produce.

At the end of every shoot, I ask the model to sign a model release form (MRF) which authorises me, with certain restrictions, to publish and sell content captured during the shoot. After the shoot (having deleted any dud shots), I upload a complete set of photos with basic edits to a private online gallery and give the model a link to review them. Where appropriate, I also provide my suggested titles or captions to go with these images. The model may then:

• Identify any “dislikes” – images they don’t want me to post online, publish or sell.
  
• Request changes to any titles or captions they don’t like and/or suggest alternatives.
  
• Select an agreed number of favourite images to be edited and then downloaded for their own exclusive use on AF or any other sites.
  

The MRF, to be clear, applies only to images that are neither disliked nor selected for the model’s use.  In practice, I find that dislikes are very rare... And I usually agree with them anyway! But this process is reassuring and gives models confidence and control.

CREATING SOMETHING NEW

One thing I really like to do when working even with highly experienced models is to study their portfolio and tagged images – and then come up with some new ideas that they've never tried before.  This doesn't mean higher levels or weird sexual acts, it's just about being creative and avoiding familiar tropes, formulas and clichés. 

WANTON THEMES

I aim to plan most of my Wanton Erotica shoots around a set of "themes", each of which has a particular kind of storyline, style or subject matter.  My working titles for most of these ideas simply take the word " wanton " or " wantons ", followed by another term – such as workouts, serenity, therapy, anonymous, exposure, discipline, rewards, dominance, submission, angels, vampires, magic and enlightenment. So, for example, a "wanton workouts" shoot would involve some physical exercise.

I've written up my definitions of these themes in a short list – so that prospective models can let me know what they'd most like to try, depending on their levels and preferences.