Opinions on top/bottom pictures (Full Version)

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LadyPact -> Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 4:10:52 AM)

Yes, we've done this thread before. I'm just thinking about it because I'm changing some shots around on My profile.

People tend to have varying opinions on play shots that are focused on BDSM. Some people love them and some people hate them. I've also noticed on past threads that opinions can also vary as to whether a dynamic is in place or not.

As a top, I do enjoy posting pictures that show My work. This is especially true of My wax shots. I can post pictures of the candles that I've made. Those are nothing compared to what the melted wax looks like on the bottom. I can't duplicate the same look without another human being involved. I can take pics that show the prepared stencils with lit candles around them but it looks so different....... No, it looks better when the candlelight is dancing on the skin.

I know I can't please all of the people all of the time on this subject. Tonight, I added a quick couple of lines to My profile that all bottoms have given Me explicit permission to post the pics here. Along with signed releases giving consent to do so, am I missing anything?

So, opening up the thread for discussion. I'd like to hear your opinion on pics involving other people. I appreciate all input. Thank you in advance.



AthenaSurrenders -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 4:30:57 AM)

I like some and hate others... how's that for an unhelpful answer?

For the record - I'm answering this before I check out any of your photos so I'm as unbiased as I can be.

I like looking at pictures of what other people get up to. There is artistry in much of what we do, whether that's piercings, rope work, even the parallel welts of a cane. I can also appreciate that many of these pictures document more than a technique, but also a single perfect moment of connection between two or more people, and that's special.

On the other hand, I really, really don't like very sexually explicit pictures. I don't want to see a large object up someone's butt, not matter how skillfully it was placed there. Likewise I don't want to see cocks in cages, dripping vaginas etc etc. I can't quite figure out why, it just feels like a step too far for me. I suppose it feels like, by putting such an explicit picture out there, that person is getting off on me seeing it, and I don't want to be part of their sex games. I know someone could also be getting off on me admiring their rigging, but it doesn't seem the same somehow. It's not as classy.

I'm also not overly keen on self bondage or any sort of solo pursuit, but I think my opinion has just been coloured by some of the profiles on the other side which give the impression of begging - look, this is what I want you to do to me!



BambiBoi -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 5:06:46 AM)

I a reverse-Athena, I checked out the pictures first.

Usually I dislike play shots because they fail to avoid the lewdness Athena addresses, often times feeling exploitative. I see very kinky pictures that were doubtless fun to make, but I think "welp... I guess you want to be perceived as a temperature regulating sex toy." Too often the play photos that are proudly shared stray into amateur pornography. I don't want to see your (the general you) amateur pornography. If I want fetish porn I know where to get the good stuff. 49 kilos of pure, uncut, German.. nevermind.

I prefer photographs that suggest the user has a strong grasp on WIITWD. Your work with bottoms as a canvas is very nice. If I may be so bold, the photographs capture art and memories being made. Your play pictures are more like trophies. I know you are no braggart, but the pictures have a point of pride and dignity. "I don't care if its not a pane glass window of wax over a budding model's perfect breasts... But it's people and activities I care greatly for." The same goes for your lovely dungeon: A hotel room bed covered in dildos makes me thing the profile's typist is missing the point. A sturdy St. Andrew's Cross...

I can't fault people for being proud/happy/nostalgic of the toys, tasks, places, and people they have crossed paths with. But I judge people from the photographs are available. Yours (namely the play photos) tell me "I know what I'm doing. I have a skilled hands, but more importantly a prepared mind."

...All of this is coming from a person who took down all publicly available photographs...



SimplyMichael -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 5:16:52 AM)

Pictures rarely capture the level of intimacy the top is capable of producing. The "art" is a pale substitute.. I find most shots lewd and crass but good ones tell a story. I cerntainly like the one I have posted of me playing on the street in San Francisco during Folsom tells a decent stort although the best one got deleted.



LafayetteLady -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 6:15:28 AM)

Since I know you do a lot of classes and such, that may have colored my opinion of your pictures. Normally, I don't like the whole "implements" type of pictures, but I think I do view them differently when they are only a few, and there are pictures of the person as well. Because I know how much pride you took in the dungeon that you built, I viewed those pictures differently than if some random person put them up. Whereas Michael has quite a few implement shots, but really no shots of him, so I don't really like his implement shots. I mean there is nothing wrong with them, but because the person is lacking, it is like it is all about the implements in the picture array.

Regarding the other people stuff, which was your main question it seemed, the soft focus shot that is next to last says nothing to me. The other shots do not have the person's face and are obviously depictions of things you have done. Again because I know you do classes on this stuff and do a lot of top play, I look at them differently. I do have to say that the one with the two lit candles looks like the chest has been cut open and was a bit disturbing when I first looked at it, but that's just me. I don't know whether that was the point of the photo or not. In any case, your picture array is a little of everything, and well balanced.

Now those differences could very well be that because I'm heterosexual and monogamous, and not looking for a play partner, I look at men's photo arrays with a different viewpoint entirely. Basically, I view men's photo arrays from the perspective of whether or not I would be interested in them. Now there are certainly those that I might look at just because I've seen things on the boards from the people and want to see their photos.

So essentially, since the pictures you have of other people is obviously showing a particular skill without showing faces and I know you do classes and such, I don't look at them the same way as I might others who I could be interested in for other reasons.

I NEVER want to see genital shots. When I see pictures of only other people in someone's photo array, it is a complete turnoff. When the pictures are done in a way that is attempting to be tasteful and show a particular type of play, like yours are, they are fine. Now if you had photos of the marks you had left on a bottom rather than wax, I might have a different opinion.



Rasciallymisty -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 6:53:15 AM)

I go with what Athena said, my view is the same. I thought the ones you have posted are tastefully done and have no problem viewing them. I also think all of Michaels are tastefully done.


misty



SimplyMichael -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:01:10 AM)

You guys may not know it but those pics are of impliments I hand crafted for myself.



LafayetteLady -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:12:34 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: SimplyMichael

You guys may not know it but those pics are of impliments I hand crafted for myself.


You are right, we don't. Now if you said something about that in your profile text, I might view you posting them in a different way. Because then you are posting something to show off work you are proud of. Without anyone knowing, it is more a "look at what I can use on an s-type for our mutual enjoyment," and doesn't go over quite as well. For me anyway.




SimplyMichael -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:19:12 AM)

I edited my photos and I appreciate the criticism.

I have had a profile here for ages and so some changes over time that leaft things hanging.



ChatteParfaitt -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:38:02 AM)

B/c of this thread, I viewed both your's and Michael's profile pictures. I would not have done so otherwise. It's not that's I'm not visual, I just don't look for CM to be the height of BDSM art photos.

I strongly prefer not to see genitalia, other than that, I don't have much of an opinion, since I don't troll for pictures here or anywhere else.

I did very much like the wax shot, LadyP, probably b/c I like wax too and know the exquisitely subtle work that went into that shot.

Let's face it, most pics on here just don't portray that.

I agree we should know that Michael makes his implements, and that thing with the thorns, keep that the hell away from me.

I have posted pictures of my own sub on FL, that was more to show my ownership of him, then to brag about what a cool domina I am. (Though I do fashion a pretty nice zipper.)



SatinWhip -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:40:24 AM)

I think it is important to secure the permission of anyone in any photo you post before you post said photo and I commend you for doing so. I think people get a little too nit picky sometimes when they critique the content of pictures on a person's profile. When I do look at them I appreciate what is there for what they are even if the photo isn't my cup of tea. It's their profile, not mine. I don't currently have any photos on my own profile but if I post some at a later date what I post is between me, the other subjects and the site moderators.



searching4mysir -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 7:52:35 AM)

FR


I'm not a fan of pictures of toys laid out on the bed or just hanging up or of people being played with in a sexual manner (whether forced BJs, stuffed in a variety of orifices, etc.) however, this being said, well done photos of shibari, wax play, needle play, etc. can be quite interesting. I would want to know that the subject consented to having the pictures posted.



Spiritedsub2 -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 8:37:22 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: SimplyMichael

You guys may not know it but those pics are of impliments I hand crafted for myself.

That thing with the thorns is crazy. Ummm, have you ever used it on anyone? Or is it a conversation piece (for an interesting sort of conversation)?
The Bay Area and marina photos are gorgeous.



SimplyMichael -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 8:48:02 AM)

I made the thorn cane as an advertising piece when I made toys for sale. It was meant to be over the too...

However, turned out to be a best seller and yes, I have seen them used. Boymeat a well known presenter and one of the founders of TNG did a a class on golden showers and he used it on a fluid bonded partner's back before pissing on her. Pretty hot.

Me, I am just a soft fluffy top...



JeffBC -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 9:22:23 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyPact
So, opening up the thread for discussion. I'd like to hear your opinion on pics involving other people. I appreciate all input. Thank you in advance.


Uh... I kind of assume that on a BDSM discussion board and in a BDSM profile people will post photos of BDSM activities. Generally I don't' have much reaction to such things. I'm a relationship guy not a sex guy and not a sadist. So for me they are just a complete miss.



SimplyMichael -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 9:28:55 AM)

For me, the sort of photos someone posts tell me a lot. Cocksucking pics are a deal breaker. Ugly, pale, poorly lit cunt shots, same. Shots with anal plugs, well okay, kinda hot. Tastefull, oblique photos, teasingly revealing, showing some class can be intoxicating. A mix of kink and vanilla shots gets me too.



ResidentSadist -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 11:31:24 AM)

Well, wax is pretty. So is a lot of rope bondage. Those types of shots seem to have a universal appeal. I used to have a shot of my girl bound and hanging by the wrists (not shibari). You could see the single tail, she was looking up into my eyes and she is crying . . . I mean she was balling her eyes out and her cheeks were soaked. People either hated it or absolutely loved it. I guess it depended if you think crying is attractive or not.

So, yes there is a lot of aesthetically pleasing BDSM pictures that have universal appeal and people enjoy them.



LadyPact -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 11:38:05 AM)

Thanks for the replies so far. It's kind of cool that the thread is helping Michael out, too. I haven't looked, but I'm guessing folks are talking about that cane that is similar to the one that I saw as it was headed to Detroit?

I'm not big on sexually explicit pics, either. Not something that I'd be likely to post.

With the input so far, I'm thinking adding the part to the profile about having permission from the bottoms to post the shots is a good idea. I realize they are just words on the screen, and some folks probably put up the same thing when they don't have permission, but hopefully it does take that concern away in some cases.

A good point was made about that play or toy pics don't always go over the same way depending on the gender of the person who posted them. I've mentioned the same thing on threads that we've had on this subject in the past. It's one of the imbalances that seems to happen in the difference between male and female tops.

I do want to thank those who complimented the pictures. Yes, a lot of work did go into them and while 'art' may not be favorable to some, in the last month, there have been a lot of shots done. It can be hard to pick out just a few to post.



TheLilSquaw -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 12:01:15 PM)

LP,

I love to see play pictures.
I've never come across a picture of a scene that I didn't find artistic or thought provoking.
Btw... your wax pictures look great!

As far as permission from those in the pictures, a basic model release would do.
I can email you the text for one if you would like.




tazzygirl -> RE: Opinions on top/bottom pictures (6/11/2013 12:24:10 PM)

Just my opinion, LP....

I think people should simply post those photos that "talk" to them. For you, those photos to speak to you, that pull you the most. I just feel those will speak to others who are into the same things as you.



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