Vox Serene

For me, trying to capture a genuine & intimate portrait is the ultimate challenge. I'm constantly driven to keep experimenting with different styles and ideas. Portrait styles have become extremely diverse and a lot of the old school rules no longer apply. Anything goes nowadays, really. No two people are alike, and one person alone can be captured and/or represented in so many ways. Yet, none the less, I tend to be most successful when trying a classic approach— although as in most of my work, I find that infusing a bit of underlying sensuality helps make them just a little more involving. I try to do that by taking my time... making people feel comfortable in my presence. I become their motivator, confidant, and advocate. It’s a great feeling when it is all working. It's an even better feeling when a final image works as well.

Kati Kill

I based this shoot on images from vintage underground bondage magazines from the 1970's, which are interesting in that they are serious and lame at the same time. The setup is usually the same— dingy basement or abandoned factory scene, with damsels in distress tied to found items like chairs or pipes. I remember getting my hands on a copy as a teenager and thinking that it looked like porn for serial killers. The images were purposely amateurish as if they were photographed by the perpetrator himself. I'm not a serial killer, but I have had a keen interest in them ever since. Doesn't everybody? Anyway, as I mentioned, many of the images from this shoot looked like that, but this one stood out as a little more elegant. Those magazines never had any images that resembled this one at all.