Thom Magister

 

These terrific images were used to promote Thom Magister's book 'The Slave Journals'. The leather slavery concept is not something I've ever hankered after (M or S!). I confess I prefer my sadism to be less well organised (see last post!). However, Thom's very readable article about it at The Slave Journals is informative and an interesting look back over the last 50 years of leather culture.

 

More Riding Crop Justice

M607 'Punished With A Riding Crop' by Mitchell

This is another variation on the riding crop theme, which I first published some years ago. I think there may already be a cropped version of it some way back in the archives of this blog. The characterisation of the two men, one haughty the other rough, would fit into an stable groom whipping scenario but I'd have to amend the dungeon-style wrist irons into something more likely to be found in a stable! I was pleased with the way the tough guy turned out.

Administering Justice by Riding Crop

Mitchell - Instant Justice

This picture dates from a fairly fertile 'domination' period some time back.
A young hooligan is chastised by a leather enthusiast. 
The position depicted in this picture is rather impractical for punishment purposes 
but I think it looks good.

Romaine by Simon Barnes

Riding crops have an appeal for me which I can't really explain, the only horses I've 'ridden' are the ones on fairground roundabouts! These pictures by Simon Barnes link to Regency settings.

Jon Richards by Simon Barnes

I don't do historical scenes but these models prompted me to sketch out some ideas around 'horse whipping the stable boy' - look out for it at my Yahoo! group (link in sidebar)

Models by Simon Barnes at Hotsnapz, Jon Richards image courtesy of Beautiful

Noah at 'Bound Guys'

When it comes to visual appeal, I've always preferred the muscular physique - as witness my last posting! But I've also found that being able to slide your arms around a slender waist is a pretty good feeling too. In this group of pictures from the archives at Bound Guys, Noah shows that skinny boys also can look sexy in jeans.

Faded jeans and belts with big buckles have always been a winning combination for me, it's the cowboy connection, I think. Noah is a most unlikely cowboy, but clever photography and a natty harness of white cord has endowed him with an arresting pair of thighs that would look good astride any bronco.

Noah's classic style jeans are working well here too, showing off lots of beautiful curves from the slender waist downwards. The photography at Bound Guys doesn't have the glossy, polish of professional studios but they know how to use rope to make a body look sexy. The harness cord diving between Noah's cute little buns is a real turn on.

The way the ropes and clothing complement the shape of the body in this picture is very clever. Two cords running round Noah's neck converge and lead the eye downwards towards his waist where they line up with the 'buns divider' pulling the jeans up tight into his crotch, which is unambiguously erotic. 

The restraining cords curving around his midsection nicely accentuate his slender trunk and from here, on either side of the centre line, Noah's hips curve outwards, down around his buttocks to turn in and meet at the erotic cleft of his buttocks. It creates a pear-shaped, almost feminine, lower body effect which is unexpectedly sexy. 

The curve of the belt and the jeans 'cupping' his buns add to the sense of voluptuous bulk, if that's the right word. It's hard to describe without sounding pretentious but the erotic effect is compulsive. 

The highly submissive pose doesn't do any harm either!

By the way, the noose-like construction of the loop around his neck is non functional,

 but does add a little sinister flavour. 

 

In the final picture, the effect is quite different, the mop of hair serving to accentuate the diminutive scale of Noah's slender body and pert little buttocks. Small but perfectly formed as they say. 

 

Bound Guys covers virtually every type of model you can think of, young, old, big, small, dark, ginger....etc etc. Have a look. There's a selection in my previous postings (search for Bound Guys)

Rugby Hero

Scotland 6 England 13

Chris Robshaw

I don't know which is the more delicious, the score or England's perky new captain.

My Fetish Initiation

Classic William Higgins Bondage

This was the first true bondage image I ever saw. I stumbled across it hidden amongst conventional, arty, beefcake photos in a battered magazine and was amazed. It showed me things, that in my innocence, I had never dreamed about, like the doubled-back leg tie and noose-like loops stretching out the ball sack. 

 

The copy I saw was a small and pretty poor quality image, part of an advert for a William Higgins magazine, so it was a while before I noticed the ring gag and tit clip details, but to be honest I don't think the picture really needs those extras. The boyish looking model is not my ideal either, but the sheer helplessness of the captive, forced by his bondage into a provocative body display, makes this picture still both powerful and sexy. The neat, economical roping is a delight.

It's only recently* that I discovered his name: Clay Hughes (photo by Jim-Ed)  *Jul 2024

The image above was originally sampled from the (now defunct) archive at Vintage Male Bondage.

Update Jan 2023: I unearthed the images below in a magazine called "299 Bound Men" at Tim In Vermont

Classic Bondage - Close up of cbt and frog tied legs

Classic Bondage - Nude with Tit Clamps, cbt and frog-tied legs

Curiousities

Anton Harri

Isn't it strange how some models' cocks look like their bath taps?
Picture courtesy of HotHouse

Vintage Bondage Blog

I recently discovered a new blog specialising in 'vintage' bondage imagery, much of which is relatively unknown (in the UK at least) because it was so difficult to publish at that time, even AMG's limp ropings were underground stuff. Seeing the great stars of the time, like Fred Halstead and Jack Wrangler, subjected to genuine bondage is very exciting.

Fred Halstead

The pictures I show here are refreshing because they have a simplicity which goes to the essence of bondage - tying a man up to keep him as a helpless captive. The loop of rope round Fred Halstead's neck, pulling his head back and his wrists up high behind his back, creates an impression of dark threat and desperate struggle and it presents to us a tensed, exposed torso which you want to reach out and touch. This looks like a real man.

Jack Wrangler

Struggle is the theme of this image of Jack Wrangler too. His apparent unwillingness to remain tied up greatly enhances his male credentials with untamed, animal spirit - which makes him all the more desirable and his inability to escape all the more erotic. This impression of resistance and fear is made possible by the simple level of restraint used, which still allows him considerable movement. The complex web of body bindings that we see in Shibari style restraint can totally immobilise the victim and while this may display his body to good effect, it drains away all sense of his personality and can even make him seem like a passive volunteer, which is nothing like as much fun. Those forms of bondage preoccupied with body enclosure in straps, body bags, masks etc, take this further, focussing more on the bondage experience but obscuring the object of desire - the male body.

Joey Yale

The bondage is similar in this picture, still focussed on arm and leg restraint. It's cleverly photographed to show each of the bindings very clearly - even the tied toes. I think the black and white format helps. This image really creates a sense of subjugation, the captive's kneeling pose of course and the contrast of his nudity with his standing partner's jeans. But for me it's the helmet-like, full head of hair which really makes this picture sing. It's dated, but the careful styling is meant to be paired with equally stylish clothing and looks so out of place on a naked body that it really drives home the fact that this man actually is naked. It makes his trim body seem slender, slight and vulnerable. Seen through modern eyes, accustomed to seeing short hair and ravishing muscles on fetish models, this man looks as though he has been plucked from an entirely different, affluent world, to suffer whatever indignities and abuse his captor desires to inflict upon him.

Joey Yale is less well known than the two above but was actually Fred Halstead's partner and a director of a number of porn films for Cosco.

I published a coloured picture from this shoot a few years ago in my Muscle and Rope series where you can see the captive's face more clearly and compare the visibility of the rope ties when seen in colour. I visualised him as an abducted, spoilt playboy then, I guess we might plump for a banker these days!

There were more pictures at Vintage male Bondage. Sadly it's gone now (2019) presumably thanks to tumblrs sudden fit of respectability. I'm hoping the owner of this blog reinvents it somewhere. He set himself a difficult task, finding a sustained supply of quality vintage imagery, but I hope he returns.
Please contact me if you know more.

Since publishing this article I have found the original source of these images see Muscle and Rope 21

Bush Bikini Boys

Bush - Mini Bikini

Skimpy Bikinis with bold designs were a feature of many of Harry Bush's stylish drawings in the 60's. The mini bikini above attributes the style to London fashion - this was the 'swinging sixties' - but I doubt that you'd see clothes like this (or men like this!) on any British beach in that era.

Bush - Tigers

Bush's pictures show them being worn by a handsome, young adonis who wants to show off his assets and torment and exploit older men, less gifted by nature, who happened to pass by.

             
Bush - Surfer and VW(left), Malibu or Bust (right)

 I always assumed there was a lot of artistic licence in the flamboyant designs especially the polka dots used to stunning effect on these passing motorists, surely no-one wore these!

However, I recently discovered. this interesting photo showing two guys wearing identical side-knotted polka dot bikinis. It's from the 50's according to the title, quite daring I would have thought for that time. Two on the same beach seems quite a coincidence, perhaps this was Life imitating Art, two Harry Bush fans paying tribute. Who knows?

See more in my A-Z article on Harry Bush

Ministry of Silly Hats - 5 The Cloth Cap

Edu Boxer

The cloth cap used to be almost universal, 

equally at home on the heads of working men trudging to the pit 

and tweeded aristocrats killing defenceless animals on the moors. 

Nowadays, it is also picked up and plugged periodically by the fashion trade. 

Suave it may be, chic too perhaps, if worn at a suitable angle, 

but it's hardly the garment of choice for a beefcake shoot 

as Edu Boxer proves in this this moment of indignity, 

provided courtesy of 'Unzipped magazine'

Pretentious? - moi?

I was always told, never put your hands on your hips when throwing a tantrum, it looks camp. Perhaps Edu is protesting his maltreatment? 

Maybe he wants to keep the hat on for the whole shoot?

Edu Boxer looking great

Thankfully the hat is jettisoned and the result is this glorious image 

which you probably already know. 

A sublime example of clothes maketh man sexy.

Edu Misbehaving

I'll let Edu present his full chunky credentials. 

I understand why he's wearing boots and nothing else 

but why he's standing on the bed in them is anyone's guess. 

His mum won't thank him for it!

For other posts in this series, click on 'hats' in the lable list below

Guys in Uniform Studio No 12 Changing Shorts

Changing Shorts

 

1

Guys in Uniform Studio - Runner

This group of pictures from the 'Guys In Uniform' Studio features the same model as my last post on GIU, No 11 Military Intimidation in which he threatens a dejected athlete. This time he's in rather nice athletic shorts that reveal a good deal of detail of what lies within. I don't know if this is the Royale wet fabric trick again, but it works for me!

2

Trying to sequence these vintage pictures by reference to clothing is often quite futile, as the photographer clearly tried out various clothing combinations and undress sequences. Here, the model has removed shorts and one legs-worth of shoe and sock. The bare foot in this picture is an angular treat in the Etienne mould.

3

Here he is apparently removing his shorts, or perhaps underwear, but this time with no shoes or socks on at all. Another interesting foot shot. There's a tantalising glimpse of cock in the shadows. 

4

Now we see him removing what looks like a jockstrap, again with no footwear on. It's a bit frustrating for lovers of orderly strip sequences, but the photographer must have had fun directing proceedings.

5

Here he is donning a pair of 50s style soccer shorts and little dick comes out into the open, flaccid, of course - and cut, which is not particularly common in the UK. Around this time there was much pushing of boundaries regarding frontal nudity, for Guys In Uniform it was all in vain.

6

In the final picture, our hero wriggles into a football/rugby style shirt with hoops and button up neck. Not very alluring visually, despite the hitched up leg hems and subtle bulge. Modern day sporting gear is rather more flattering, but the attraction of gays to sportsmen, back then, was equally potent.

GIU Continues in Part 13

For previous posts about Guys In Uniform Studio and Royale Studio, click on the GIU/Royale label below

Boy to Man - Will Clark

Will Clark's transition from boy to man has produced some memorable images along the way.
This post follows his journey.


Will Clark
I love a man who can fill out a Tee shirt - and Y-fronts.


Will Clark - Sweet Youth

 I love the chunky bulkiness of Will's torso,
which somehow seems at odds with the college boy haircut.


Will Clark - Older and Thoughtful

Looking a little sad and weary here, strangely alluring.


Will Clark - Knowing Looks

More lighthearted and mischievous - and a sign of things to come - bit of facial hair

Will Clark - Salty Dog

Tattoos and piercings make their appearance, coming of age?

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artsts - My Favourite 'P'

It is my custom to select a favourite artist for each letter based on technical quality, fetish content, sensuality and sheer personal preference. I won't consider lesser artists whose work strays into areas I personally find unappealing or where I have too few samples of their work to make a balanced assessment.

In letter 'P' we have a number of heavyweight professional illustrators and artists - Parker, Pashke, Patterson, Pichard, Player, Platter and Prevot - whose ability is unquestioned but I think it's fair to say that, except for Pashke and maybe Player, their fetish content is incidental to the sexual adventures. For me Palanca undoubtedly tops the fetish league in this group, he puts his interest in feet (and sex!) in the forefront of his pictures and even for a non-convert like me it is absolutely fascinating and very convincing. Paschke also deserves a mention for the honesty of his portayals. When it comes to sensuality - the sheer erotic attractiveness of the images - the stars for me are Patterson, Prevot and Palanca.

Palanca - Melons

It's a no brainer for me, Palanca is my favourite and this final picture, which I call 'melons' is one I reluctantly left out of my main review of his work. It's a celebration of oral sensuality and I like it not so much for it's artistic qualities, it's an energetic but somewhat confused image, but because I just love the melon eater eagerly burying his jaw between upraised ass cheeks. The portrayal of this man hits so many buttons for me, his youthful square jaw (nicely stubbled), his neat trimmed sideburns, his cap turned round back to front, his muscular arms and abdomen emerging from a clinging T-shirt, the bowing forward curve of his body accentuating plump buns and allowing his cock to rest on his companion's slobbering tongue, a slippery runway into the greedy waiting mouth.
The fact that the other characters in the picture are not particularly attractive merely accentuates his desirability as he is absorbed into the animal lust of the proceedings. There is something peculiarly erotic too about the central figure's impossible, upside-down, backbreaking position.

Palanca's enthusiasm for his subject shines through in his work are we are fortunate to be able to enjoy it.

See my main review of Palanca's work for a link to his blog.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Proco

Proco - Spank the Boy

My last 'P' artist is Proco. This is the only picture I have by him but it's a cracker, showing an older man giving his younger partner a hell of a spanking. The characterisation of both men contains unexpected and pleasing contrasts - the grizzled, cuddly-looking, bear showing an evil streak and the excessively beautiful youth revelling in painful chastisement.

It's a neat composition full of life and strong sense of the two men sharing a memorable experience which isn't easy to achieve with back-turned, spanking situations. Part of this 'sharing' comes from the characterful facial expressions (Poserartists note!). But there's another reason, the picture is filled with angular, zig zag shapes and diagonals that flow through the limbs and bodies of the two men visually linking them together and creating a satisfying overall 'pattern' that looks very coherent. You can also see that their individual poses are like mirror image 'Z' shapes superimposed on each other, a sort of angular yin and yang if you like, pulling them neatly together. If I also compare these zig-zag shapes to lightning, you will see where some of the impression of urgent, sharp action comes from.

I can't find a website for Proco and I would welcome any information from readers.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Prevot

Prevot - Angelface (cover)

Benoit Prevot has carved a unique niche in gay art. His images look back with nostalgia to the decadent, early 20^th Century. Wealthy young toffs sporting waved hair, top hats and morning suits mingle with obsequious but obliging servants and rough, cloth-capped workers. His technical style also draws inspiration from the illustrative art of that period. He is perhaps best known for erotic flavoured narratives like 'Angelface' for Class Comics above.

Prevot - Slick it Up

Prevot's fetish credentials are incidental to his main work, but the confident light touch in this image for Slick It Up, suggests he knows what he is talking about. The dramatic background shadow rounding out the scene is typical of his style

Prevot - Tulips

Many of his pictures have two layers of meaning with devices like shadows and mirrors giving a wry twist to the surface image. Tulips (my title) is a simple, not very subtle, example. A young man poses for an 'arty' picture unaware that the shadow on the wall behind shows him in a different light. There's an element of class manipulation in this picture, the pugnacious face and the belted trousers suggest he's an ordinary working guy, he looks uninterested and would probably be unwilling to bare any more, even for ready money. But the scheming artist still manages to compromise him. This visual trickery in erotic art (and there's a nice pun on the flower's name too) has pretty much died out now, but was commonplace (in more subtle form of course) in the days of censorship and more oppressive attitudes. I discussed other examples by Tom of Finland and by Royale Studios in a recent posts here. It's nice to see someone carrying on an erotic tradition.

Prevot - Cleavage

There are similar undercurrents of class and manipulation in 'Cleavage' (my title). A workman in a fashion house is commandeered to help the model a new garment for the catalogue illustration. In this marvellous image, Prevot creates a power and humiliation scenario full of unexpected twists and contrasts.

The smooth, young, stylists are distinctly upper crust and full of confidence and this enables them to exercise complete power over the stereotypical, humble workman who is so straight and conventional he could almost be your dad. They casually humiliate him by persuading him to expose his ass (quite a feat in that era) and must have been thrilled to find such peachy cheeks beneath such an unpromising exterior. And if this exposure were not embarrassing enough for the poor workman, his backside is now compared to a woman's bosom and matched up with a frilly dress, a fetish overtone in it's own right which I've not covered much in this series of articles. We're not quite sure if the illustrator looking on is seriously assessing neckline options or lasciviously enjoying the male 'décolletage' - or perhaps he's noticed the even more embarrassing reflection in the mirror.

This sort of comic scenario (bar the mirror image) could easily have featured in the famous saucy postcards of the pre-WW2 period by Donald McGill, but by taking it a little more seriously and sensuously, Prevot gives it a real erotic kick.

Prevot has a blog and you'll find lots about him very easily via Google

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Prescott

Prescott - Preparation

Prescott produced art for the infamous Katharsis extreme art website, now defunct. My sample sums up his subject matter, but I prefer not to post anything more explicit on this blog. I would refer seekers after more to the GMBA Google Group (link in sidebar). His style appears to be based on traced photographs spliced with geometric drawings of guillotines. It's crude but effective.

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below or use the search box in the title bar to find your favourite artist.

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Plinio

Plinio - Crucified

Plinio has been around for some time producing crucifixion scenarios featuring older men but I don't have a big collection of his work so I can't comment at length on it.

This example is a recent work, a pencil sketch featuring an unusual take on the mechanics of crucifixion which is quite stylish in it's simplicity. The mature figure and his suffering is well observed and it's interesting to compare this image with Player's angry young surfer in the last post.

I'm not aware of any site for Plinio but in you are interested in the subject MCResearch Group is a good place to start

For earlier posts in this series click on the A-Z label below