1. What made you decide to create a bondage site?

Well, creating a bondage site was not originally the plan. It was really about selling videos. Back in the 90's I used to frequent a usenet group and communicate with other bondage people. One night, I ended up direct messaging with Cory (MrT) Thompson about his recent experience being a production assistant for Lorelei. People were fawning over him and I think I made some sort of dry comment and he really liked that, so he contacted me. As it turned out we lived 20 minutes from each other (small world). He invited me out for a drink (that night). I could well have refused. It was like 11:30pm and I had to work the next day, but I accepted and we took off to a strip club (not my normal thing). We really found we had a lot in common and we sat a the bar and talked until they closed at 2am.

He was thinking of starting a bondage company and I had really specific thoughts about what was missing in the bondage world. No one was doing the sort of bondage and fetish that I wanted to see. I was a huge fan of John Willie's art work and no one was doing anything like it. The Europeans were doing rubber stuff, but it was all heavy rubber, gas masks and the like, and I wasn't a fan of that, even though I liked latex. They weren't doing very good bondage. The ropework was crappy and not very inventive. Harmony and Jay Edwards were doing better bondage, but the outfits weren't really doing it for me. It wasn't particularly high gloss or fetish enough for me. I wanted to create stuff with girls in real corsets, real 6" heels, real stockings, high gloss latex... you know... basically what I do now.

I have no idea why I thought I could do this. I didn't have ANY experience with photography (I had never taken a photography class, didn't own a good camera, had no idea what a strobe was, or an f-stop... I was completely clueless). I also really didn't have a lot of experience with bondage rigging. For whatever reason, I just thought I could do it.

The rest is history. We opened Shortfusevideo and then a few years later, I opened my own site, www.bondagecafe.com.

2. How much work goes into running a bondage site? What does it entail?

A lot more than people probably think. I have now been updating a website every single week for the past 19 years. That is a lot of pictures and videos. The shooting part is the fun part, everything else that goes into it, the picture / video editing and website updating can be a serious grind. People don't understand that once you commit to running a website, it becomes like a small baby. It needs to be fed all the time and it cries a lot. You can't decide to skip updates, it is a job like any other.

3. How much work goes into preparing for a bondage shoot?

It depends on the shoot honestly. Some shoots are very off the cuff. I don't know what I'm going to be doing until the model is sitting in front of me. Other times, like the crazy O-girl superheroine shoots I've done, it can take weeks and weeks of preparation. Script writing, set building, costume making, casting... etc.

I try not to commit to a specific thing when I am going to shoot. You never know from day to day what the specific model will be able to do that particular day.



Emily Addison

4. How do you decide what outfits or positions will be used for one of your shoots?

It is very much a personal, artistic decision. I can't dress myself to save my life, but I am really good at looking at women and then putting together outfits that look great on them. It's a funny thing: Back when I started, it was really hard finding fetish clothes. Now the looks that I was creating back then are mainstream outfits today. I doubt I had any effect on this, but it does make me laugh.

The positions really depend on the model that day. Everyone's body is different - and even more importantly, a gal's body won't necessarily be able to do the specific thing you had mind, even though they were able to do something similar a month before. The most important thing is the well being of the model.

5. Describe one of your typical photo and video shoots from start to finish?

Well, we generally start around 11:00am. Makeup and hair come first. That takes a few hours (up to 3). Then while that is happening, I am setting up lights and cameras. This takes a couple of hours also. If I am doing a complicated movie (like an O-girl movie), I may well have setup for hours the day before.

Once the model is ready, we get her dressed and then we start shooting. I shoot pictures (with strobes) and then video (with continuous lighting). Unfortunately, that means having twice as many lights as is necessary with either individually, but that is what you have to do if you want quality pictures and video.

I generally shoot a cheesecake set for JimWeathers.com and then 2 to 3 bondage scenes. In between we have lunch and we take breaks. We are normally done around 7:30 to 8:30. I don't like to rush people and I don't expect people to be able to do scene after scene after scene either. Not with the content that I shoot. My ties are generally difficult and time consuming.

6. What has been the most memorable moment for you out of all the shoots you’ve done?

That is also a tough one. I'll break it down like this:

Most memorable tie: (20091013 update with Randy Moore). I did a tie that I was completely amazed with (that doesn't happen very often, maybe every 5 years or so). It was just so beautiful and intricate and effective. If you asked me to tie that again, I would have to look at the pics and even if I did that, I'm not sure I could ever duplicate it.

Most memorable/honest scene: The "Deny-Her Table" scene with Emily Addison from the O-girl Obsession movie (20120316 update). I built this really cool bondage table and then lit the scene really well. Then we strapped Emily down to the table and teased the crap out of her with a vibrator tied between her legs. Every time she was about to come, we shut it off. At first she did a great job of acting, but after awhile, she really started to get frustrated and she didn't have to act anymore. Finally after the initial scene was shot, we turned the camera and vibrator on - and left it on. She came and then just went nuts. At that point, she was very sensitive and she struggled and came and came... I know that I could never recreate that again.

Most difficult scene: Christina Carter as O-girl on the Lust-a-matic 3000. We had built this crazy set including a slab table that she was strapped down to and all these switches and practical effects. Unfortunately, the position she was put in, for whatever reason (either because her hands were over her head, or the corset, or a combination of it all), she had a terrible time with it. It would make her want to be sick. We couldn't change it either. The set was the set. It wasn't a situation where I could just say - let's change the tie or do something else. It was a scene in the movie and it we had taken weeks working on it. The position didn't look hard at all.. but for her, that day, it was. She would shoot for 5 mins and then she would have to stop. We would rush in and get her off of it and she would have to rest for 45 minutes. Then being a trooper, she would get back up, shoot for 5 mins and then take another 45 minute break. This went on for about 5 hours. Christina Carter is one seriously awesome hard working girl and the scene turned out amazing.

I think I could answer this with a zillion different O-girl scenes, but that is for another interview another day.

Most difficult for me: Probably the quicksand stuff. It was super cool, and strangely enough, the girls all loved it and were always asking me when they could do it again - but for me, it was hellish. The clean-up was a disaster and took me a solid couple of days to get rid of all the sand material that was everywhere all over the studio. I still remember sitting in the pit cleaning it up with stuff dripping on my head... cursing the fact that I should have people doing this for me... LOL


Christina Carter

7. What is your policy about models bringing escorts or chaperones to your bondage photoshoots?

I don't have a problem with that, as long as the escorts behave themselves. There have been situations in the past with girls bringing boyfriends that get crazy jealous - and that can be a problem, but interestingly, that is because the girl is having "too much fun" and all the hostility is towards her, not me.

8. What is the dream shoot you have not yet done during your career as a rigger and site producer?

That's a hard one. I have done a lot of stuff that I would never have expected to be able to do - and worked with a lot of gals that I would have never expected to be able to work with.

I guess, I would love to have an unlimited budget to be able to do an awesome new superheroine movie with a large cast and crazy props and sets.

9. What are your favorites: gags, type of restraint, bondage position for the model?

Favorite gag: Ball gag.
Type of restraint: Rope
Favorite position: Honestly depends. I like variety. As long as it looks good, I'm happy. I love legs so positions where the girls legs are extended makes me happy. With that being said, I also like hogties...

10. How did you acquire your technique for rigging and photography?

With experience - but also importantly, a desire and a vision of what I wanted to create. From the very beginning, I knew what I wanted to create. I can't explain it, but I just knew. Getting to the point where the images matched up with that vision was the hard part. I was not a good photographer when I started. For whatever reason, I was a pretty good rigger even from the first day, but the photography part took a lot of time.

Luckily, I had some folks come through my life that helped me and pointed me in the right direction. But photographers are funny folks. When you ask them, "Why are pictures blue?", they tend to hand you a book and say... figure it out

I think it also helped that Cory and I were incredibly competitive. We would alternate during the day; He would do a scene and then I would do a scene. Back and forth. And we would both sit back and watch the other and think to ourselves, "I can do better than that."

I remember telling Cory that I was going to turn my camera to manual and shoot that way. He originally was very skeptical. This was back when we were shooting on film. We had a light meter, but we didn't have a polaroid attachment so we didn't have any idea if we were lighting it correctly. I just had to experiment and figure it out... eventually... 10 years later... I guess I finally did.

11. Can you describe your very first bondage shoot and then describe how you’ve seen your style/technique evolve since that first shoot?

My first professional shoot was with Summer Knight. At the time, I wasn't supposed to be doing any rigging. Cory had an original partner and I was supposed to just sit back and watch. But after the first scene, Cory turned to me and said, "You're up, Captain." I stood up and did a tie. It took forever and it wasn't particularly awesome, but it was also not the most normal of bondage positions either. I think a lot of people would do something that didn't involve a lot of thinking - I guess I am not that person.

My bondage technique has certainly progressed over the years. Just like anything else, you learn over time what works and what does not. The problem I have is that I want my bondage to look neat and tidy - and I want it to be real (gal can struggle, but not get out). Sometimes, those things don't go together. Some bondage can look fine until the girl starts moving and then it all goes out the window. I guess that is what I've learned more than anything else. I can do a crazy complicated tie and have it not get ruined when the girl struggles.

12. Are there any riggers/producers who have influenced you over the years? And, if so, how?

Well, the artist John Willie for one. Anyone that looks at my work can see that. And Batgirl from the 1960's Batman show (that is obvious, I think). I was a fan of Jay Edward's rigging and as far as photography, I was influenced technically by Suze Randall and I always loved Viv Thomas's work.


Angela Sommers

13. How do you find the models who appear on your site?

Originally, it was very, very, very hard. Back in '97 bondage was not looked on too favorably. Getting a girl to shoot with you was extremely difficult. We used to go to strip clubs and show gals our work and they would look at us like we were serial killers.

That changed after we worked with Eve Ellis. The bondage community back then was very small and very isolated. After that shoot, we were just sort of were accepted. Today, things are very different. There are lots of model boards, adult agencies and word of mouth.

I am, however, very picky. I only shoot girls that I think are exceptional. I like to go to FetishCon every year so I can meet girls that I might want to shoot. But I want to see them in person. Being this picky can be a problem, but it is who I am, so I just accept it.

14. You used to write bondage fiction. Where can those stories be found and do you still write bondage stories?

I used to do a lot of that. It was how I started in this whole bondage thing. Years before I picked up a camera. I don't do that as much. If I do, they are scripts for projects I'm doing. I just don't have the time.

15. How do you respond to this statement: BDSM equals abuse of women?

I say, yeah, like everything in life, it can, but I don't look at bondage that way at all. My entire philosophy is that I am trying to celebrate how gorgeous bondage can be and that won't work if the girl isn't happy while working with me.

There are, however, folks out there that do abuse women. It is just a fact. I know some producers that I wouldn't recommend anyone work with. I don't deal with those people.

With that being said, I know it may be difficult for some folks to understand this, but some women just like being tied up. And I mean really, really tightly. And there are women that like being whipped really really hard. Or shocked with electricity. Or have things shoved up inside their butts. Personally, I couldn't deal with it. It would just make me angry - but they love it. I say that everyone should be able to do what they enjoy. Stop trying to judge other people's kinks. I hate balloon popping, but I'm not going to go tell someone they are being silly or stupid.

16. Did you see Fifty Shades of Grey? And if so, what did you think of it?

In terms of Fifty Shades... the producers called me asking to use one of my pictures of Dita in the movie. I told them yes and also told them that they should have hired me as a consultant (I did say that... yes - and they should have). As far as watching the movie? I recorded it after it came on HBO so I could see the scene in question, but had to fast forwarded through it because I couldn't stomach watching the film. The acting was horrendous and the script was worse. Honestly, it made me cringe. Dita asked me if she needed to watch it and I said no and that she was the best thing in the movie... LOL

If you want to watch a good s/m movie, watch The Story of O (1970's french movie) with original french dialogue and subtitles.

17. What advice would you give to a person who wants to begin a bondage website as a producer/photographer/rigger?

Today? I would advise them to consider a different profession. Unfortunately, the internet has changed in the last 5 to 6 years. There is an entire generation of people that think everything should be free. They pirate stuff because they think it is cool and they are destroying the very thing they like. (This goes for movies and music too).

18. What else do you want your fans to know about you and your work?

I guess that I'm just a guy that loves creating beautiful bondage images and videos. I'm not a big, nameless, faceless company with a ton of people working for me. What you see is me. If folks want to see something specific, I do customs. Just email me. Or just email me and let me know what you think. Feedback is always welcomed and encouraged