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Ten years…
From my old e-mail / receipts files:
We appreciate your purchase to http://www.restrainedelegance.com/Your Transaction Number: 54954355
Web Site Name: Restrained Elegance
You Purchased: Month
Purchase Date/Time: Thursday, May 24, 2001, 10:53 PMAnd the charge back then was $11.95/month… [/nostalgia]
Hello! 😀 And when are we going to see a new Amy Allen/RE set? (Hint hint) 😀
I’m another one interested in seeing a rope-bondage tutorial.
Also, those photography tutorials you semi-promised back in July 2010, to “cover the details of apertures, ISOs, f-stops, lighting ratios and all that…”
How frequently should we nag you about it?
Some thoughts:
o I find I keep making suggestions to do sets featuring two (or three, or more) females in bondage. But how much of an increased hassle is it to do a two-model shoot, especially when both models have to be bound? (Rather than a set where one model ties the second.)
o Maybe you could create a prop to be a regular (or semi-regular) robot- or computer-villian for RE shoots. I’m thinking of a panel of blinkenlights, or a “trash can” robot with prop grabber-arms on either side. Call him “RAFFI” (“Restrain. All. Females… Females. Immobilized.”)
o More generally, I think it would add pizzazz if RE had a single “official” original science-fictional background & setting, rather than ad libbing it each time you did a science fiction photoshoot.
o For me, the essential elements of a Slavegirl Leia-inspired shoot would be slave chains (and collar), scanty costume with bare midriff, metal bikini (not necessarily solid metal – a chainmail bikini would also work), and an exotic aliens-from-another-planet backdrop. (Not the aliens themselves, so much, but the furniture, props, and knick-knacks that say “this is a typical living room… for a Shaakian slave-master on the planet Philho III.”)
What isn’t essential to me is that the captive be a princess. She might be a slave from birth, an heiress kidnapped from a rival organization, an agent from a do-gooder law-enforcement organization, or a flight controller from the local spaceport who happened to catch the wrong person’s eye. Having a background for the character is nice, but it doesn’t have to be the rebel-leader-princess background.
To make up for this, I think the next RE “punishment” scene should be something fluffy, lighthearted, and silly. Maybe “flogged with a wet noodle” – a bastinado or flogging scene where Hywel uses a fist full of cooked spaghetti rather than the more usual crop or flogger.
I’d rather see a variation rather than just copying the scene.
My suggestion along those lines would be a set where two models in suitable harem/slavegirl costumes get into a fight, threatening each other with “glitterknives.” (Just have them circling each other in a knife-fighting crouch, with glitter-covered prop knives in their hands. No actual contact is necessary or desirable.) Then their master, Bastino the Shaak, comes along and puts them both in tight bondage to punish them and let them cool down.
I’ll second bringing back the chinese dresses.
I also want to toss in a suggestion for a “chinese rainbow” set of sets, with each set featuring one dress (or color of dress) worn by four or five different models.
Thus you’d have Model A wearing five or six different chinese dresses in one shoot, Model B wearing those five or six different dresses in a second shoot, and so on. But, when it comes time to putting up sets, you don’t put up each shoot/model as a different set, but instead organize the sets by dress-color – Set I being the red-dress photos from shoots A through E, Set II being the yellow-dresss photos from shoots A through E, Set III being the green-dress photos from shoots A through E, and so on.
How practical this will be will depend on how easy it is to change chinese dresses in the middle of a shoot. But I wanted to throw out the idea.
OK, for an on-topic reply, how about “Slavegirl Leia” in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? I understand that lots of people imprinted on those scenes, simply because so many people saw that movie.
As a more positive suggestion, how about giving the Marquis de Sade the same treatment that Monty Python gave the Spanish Inquisition?
E.g. a video about the Marquis de Sad (spelling intentional) who is in the business of cheering up various young ladies sent to him. He puts them in Love Bondage, strokes their backs with something soft & fuzzy, makes them sit in the Comfy Chair or lie on the Comfy Couch (while tied hand & foot, of course), maybe applies a little tickling, and forces them to hug teddy bears and other large stuffed animals.
What Jeff said.
I was going to post much the same thing, only less eloquently. I’ve been hesitating because I’m really not the target audience for RE videos anyway – I come here for the photosets.
Anyway, I’ve grumped about RE videos being dark and edgy in the past (http://128.242.184.105/BB4B/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=648) and my comment here is much the same thing.
Here’s another example of “that sort of dress – whatever it’s called”[attachment=0:2dpqufp6]sample.png[/attachment:2dpqufp6]
Yes, rope can be good. I’m not a fan of suspensions or elaborate web-work, and reverse-prayer ties make me wince – they look like they’d be horribly uncomfortable, even when they’re not. But box ties are nice, as are certain semi-suspensions. Or just arms-overhead ties – standing, sitting, or kneeling.
Also I’d like to see rope combined with dowels, poles, posts, anchor points set in the walls or floor, etc. E.g. the “waitress tie” done with a dowel behind the back. Or just some variations on the classic “tied to a chair” theme.
Rope would be great for a “captured by pirates” set.
Rope would lend itself to interesting asymmetric ties. E.g. a “demi-hogtie” where the left ankle is bound to the right wrist behind the back, and then the right ankle and left wrist are tied well apart in some way.
Something I’ve been meaning to reverse-engineer, and that I’d like to see RE try, is a “bondage stick” like this one, used with rope bondage.
[attachment=0:8il8qkkd]Bondage_Sticks_1_by_Evaria_small.jpg[/attachment:8il8qkkd]
My best estimate is that the stick is 4 feet long and 3 inches wide, with the holes being 1 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter.
I’m a big NO to more BDSM stuff. I also lean more toward the smiling love bondage girls than the damsels in distress. OTOH some DiD is a good thing, especially the damsel’s natural reaction is something other than fear. Stuff along the lines of “Grrr, this is a fine mess. I’ll get Agent H… once I get loose” or “Pout. I think you’re being a big meanie, keeping me chained up like this” rather than “OhmygodI’mgonnadie!!!”
Also with damsels in distress, I prefer a long term peril to a quick one. E.g. locked in a tower for weeks, with chains on her hands and feet, rather than tied to a post, to be killed and eaten by the local dragon in the morning.
Storylines are good, but I know from personal experience that it’s hard to do a good storyline without either bringing up deadly peril or going into BDSM territory.
I’m much more a photoset fan than a video fan. (But you already knew that…)
Oh, and I made this suggestion before, but I’ll repeat it. I’d like to see regular (monthly, or so) artwork if appropriate artwork can be found. In the past, the art occasionally posted has either veered into “BDSM not Bondage” or else has been lacking in the bare feet department. Steve Reno’s stuff would have been perfect as a regular feature if he weren’t such a boots & high heels guy. It would be great if you could get him to produce a monthly drawing in the barefoot RE style, or else find another artist who did barefoot bondage with a similar lighthearted tone.
In general, variety.
In particular, modern steel handcuffs are OK, but I prefer heavier, more “medievalish” metal restraints. Also, I’d like to see different bondage materials: Torn strips of cloth, pantyhose removed and used to tie, leather straps or belts, rubber straps, duct tape etc. in additon to the usual rope, leather cuffs, and metal restraints.
Yes to spreaderbars and armbinders in the mix. Not all that big a gag fan, but I’d like to see a panel gag occasionally thrown in. (WRT gags, I can generally take them or leave them, but drool (ick!) is a big turn-off for me).
I’d like to see more use of poles and posts. Especially with the model tied sitting or kneeling with the post behind her, rather than the stereotypical standing-tied-to-a-post. Maybe get a pole-dancer pole. Or a “slave display platform” with a four or five foot post on it.
Wooden bondage furniture would be nice *if* stained & varnished to look (ahem) Elegant. Or maybe find a big, solid, wooden chair to tie models to. (Hmm, how hard would it be to find/make an oversized wooden chair big enough to make Ariel look petite?)
And on another tangent, while all the RE models are “easy on the eyes” 😉 I have a weakness for “cute beautiful” models like Amy Allen, Natasha, or Delta. So I’d like to request more shoots with them.
Also, I know I’ve said this before, and that it mostly isn’t under your control, but I’d like to see more ethnic models on RE – Black, and Asian in both the UK (Indian Subcontinent) and US (Far East) senses.
On a slight tangent, I’d suggest putting up a new set of polls in the forum’s polls section (and maybe archiving the old ones).
Some other ideas (including repeats of things I suggested previously):
o A tickling set (or maybe a video – I’m not a video fan, but I’d make an exception for a RE tickling video)
o A set where the model’s clothing is torn or cut away. You did something like this once or twice, years ago, and I’d like to see it done again.
o Slave display/sale platform. Or two or three. Either with two or three models in a set, or one model and one or two “empty” platforms along with the one the model is using.
o St Andrews cross, with the model topless but wearing a skirt. Maybe as a mad-scientist lab set, or maybe a sacrifice-to-the-monster set.
o “Intellectual slavegirl” – Model wearing glasses, but otherwise completely nude. (Except for her bonds, of course.) (Maybe a “slavegirl librarian” – glasses, arms in a “waitress” tie, ankles hobbled, carrying books to a table, one at a time.)
o An on-the-bed hogtie, but with the model secured with leather straps/belts, rather than the more common rope or metal restraints.
o A barefoot wench, in metal restraints, having to polish a bunch of (obviously masculine) shoes & boots
o A shoot giving two sets: Same model, same tie, two different emotional reactions. E.g. set one, “I’ll get you for this, Agent P! Grrr!” and set two, “The sultan chose me tonight! He chose me! He chose me! he chose me!” (happy!)
o A transformation scene, where the model goes from well-dressed lady lawyer or executive secretary to bound & scantily clad (lingerie or skimpy harem dress). In a photoset, spread the transformation out over 10-20 photos. In a video, use simple f/x to have the transformation take place over 10 seconds or so (and maybe have several such transformations in a single video).
Bob20: I know the kind you’re talking about, but I don’t know what it’s called either.
I’ll add my vote to the straw poll for using that sort of dress in a photoset.
Well, the high quality & glamor style of your still photos are a big reason why I’ve been an RE member for so long. And while I’m not the target audience for your videos, I have to say that I’m more likely to take an interest in a big, high-quality video than a tiny cheap-looking one.
PJM1986, I think I see where you’re coming from, and you’re right that a bridal bondage set with the bride & bridesmaids in traditional wedding costumes (or something close to it) would be in the RE “style.” The only thing is that the RE style – not to mention my own preferences 😀 – also pushes for a “barefoot” variation of the wedding costumes. Especially since barefoot bridesmaids & brides are a fairly common variation in reality.
As for gags, I have a vision of the bridesmaids all wearing cleave-gags, of some silky cloth, with long “tails” behind their heads. Ball-gags would be the other choice, but I think that would cut against the RE “elegant” look and toward a high-fetish look. The sort of thing that, if carried to extremes, would have the bride & bridesmaids wearing latex parodies of traditional wedding costumes with six inch stiletto heels. 😯
Actually, I don’t think there’s any plan or policy to the sets you select, I just think you sometimes fall into certain habits or patterns without realizing it. (E.g. RE didn’t have a “no shots from behind” policy, it just turned out to not take very many behind shots.) OTOH, I may well be too quick to see patterns that aren’t there.
You do do a good job in general of mixing things up: SOME clothed sets, and SOME nude sets, SOME metal bondage sets, and SOME rope sets, SOME gagged sets, and SOME ungagged sets, etc.
I’m never sure how general or specific I should make a request. On the general end, I’d like you to up the frequency of “other bondage gear” from “occasional set” to more frequently used, and also to cut back the frequency of modern-style handcuffs in favor of heavy metal shackles & those “other bondage gear” sets.
On requests at the more specific end:
o More use of bondage that incorporates dowels and poles.
o Get & use a “pole dancer” pole, possibly modified with attachment points to be a “slave pole”
o A set or three with the model(s) wearing sarongs
o A “dressed in rags” costume, e.g. for a “serving wench” set. (Maybe for a bondage version of a “princess disguised as scullery-maid” fairy-tale.)
I’ll add my vote for a “bride in bondage” set. As a variation, maybe the bride is dressed for the sort of wedding where she and/or her bridesmaids go barefoot or wear “barefoot sandals.”
As for a storyline, maybe “Honest Omar” (remember him?) & his men crash the wedding to obtain “merchandise” for the slave market.
May I suggest: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with Friday being the video-update?
I just watched the “Elle tied to the bed” tutorial-video again, and I’d like to know: Are the future tutorials that will “cover the details of apertures, ISOs, f-stops, lighting ratios and all that…” still in your plans?
My thoughts on the subject:
1. In general I’d prefer the story to stop at the moment of capture. In some cases you might go on a bit to describe how the captive tried to escape, but couldn’t. Other than that, I’d rather you not go into what happens to the captive next. At most, have some stories describe what the captive expects to happen, or what she’s told will happen, or maybe (fictional) off-screen preparations for what will happen to the captive.
2. I’d really rather you didn’t write first-person stories for sets with models other than yourself. Writing them for your own sets is fine.
3. A “behind the scenes” is a good thing to do sometimes.
4. If there isn’t a clear storyline, do a sort of “behind the scenes” thing, describing more how the set came to be set up than what the set shows.
Finally, I’ll second Martes’ request to add the date of the shoot (or the date the shoot was first posted) to the description.
And I’ll second Martes’ thought about being glad that you survived your trip to the hospital.
@hywel wrote:
I think maybe Nikon and maybe Canon have systems like that already…
FWIW, there’s http://www.eye.fi/ Is that what you were thinking of?
Now you tell me. 🙁 Even my FZ28 point-and-shoot can do RAW, but I hadn’t been using RAW mode because I didn’t understand the advantages of doing so.
OTOH, compact cameras have the advantage of being compact. What they lack from my point of view is low ambient light performance and the ability to use bigger (and off-camera) flash units.
I’ve noticed that with entry-level dSLRs, the second lens they try to sell you is a telephoto zoom (out to 200 or 300mm or so). That’s the opposite of the way I wanted to go.
I did get a speedlight between my last post and your response – an sb600 which can be used wirelessly off-camera with the d90. Also a cheap ($30) stand & umbrella kit. I haven’t tried out any off-camera stuff, but I have played around with a few “bounce the flash off the ceiling” tricks.
I noticed that you didn’t say “get a light meter!” in this thread. 🙂
Thanks for the updated RE kit list. The most useful part for me was the list of most-commonly-used lenses, since a full frame dSLR is beyond my budget (to say nothing of the Hasselblad).
I’ve had a few point-and-shoot cameras over the years, starting with the Olympus C3000 back when 3 megapixels was hot stuff. At Fetish Con this year, I caught a bad case of dSLR lust. My Panasonic FZ28 was a good camera for outside-in-daylight, but not so much for indoors. Using the advice from this “kit list” http://www.luvbight.com/fetish/handouts/budget-photo.html helped, but I still wanted better.
I waited a month for the envy to die down, but it didn’t – and now I’m a new owner of a Nikon D90. (Still more than I was planning to pay, but it felt so nice in my hands.) I also picked up the 35mm f1.8 lens, along with the kit lens that came with the Nikon. Now I have to learn how to use them. (Along with the flash I intend to pick up.)
Since it’s come up again, I want to repeat what I said earlier in the thread: In theory I’d like to see drawings & stories included in the RE mix. In practice I know that those things haven’t worked very well in the past. For me they didn’t work because most of them were shifted toward the DSM end of BDSM, often to the point of having little or no actual BONDAGE in them at all. The RE photosets, by contrast, generally offer me a “pure bondage” fix.
Part Six of Sigrid’s Saga, for example, has bondage in it, but the bondage is in a supporting role. It’s the D/s and SM that’s clearly the star of the show. The old Leona storyline was D/s, D/s, and more D/s, with nary any bondage in it that I could see at all.
I liked Steve Reno’s work except for the small detail of him being a boots-and-heels guy. I would like to see his stuff as a regularly recurring feature if you could convince him to do barefoot (but not necessarily nude) drawings. Or if you could find an artist who hit the same “tone” while being a barefoot fan rather than a boots fan.
Another possibility might be some tickling artwork as an occasional special. Or as a regular monthly feature.
My best wishes for your recovery.
Getting more involved with RE sounds good to me, even without the health issues. I’ll be glad to hear more from you, even if I don’t see more of you in front of the camera.
And, if I may be so bold as to ask, how should a fantasy Dom treat a valuable slavegirl who has become sick or injured? Maybe plotting out the story of getting all better will help you live the story of getting all better.
