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June 2005: PAUL SMITH’S DEVIANT’S DIARY - Live Bex Show.
Coincidence is everywhere. It lurks in every dark corner and basks in the midday sun. It's there when you bump into your next door neighbour while you're half way up a Greek mountain and it's there when someone with the same name as the person you wanted to speak to answers when you've accidentally dialled the wrong number. It was certainly around when I met Bex, owner of Ardent Images.
It started when I recognised the location of one of her photographs as a crumbling house I'd visited a day earlier. I'd never even heard of it, let alone been there before. A week or so later I drove to the local pub (coincidentally quite local to both of us) where I'd arranged to meet her again, in my copy of a Lotus 7. Her dad has one too. They're both yellow. The cars, not Bex and her dad. I was here to interview a photographer, not a Simpsons tribute act. I arrived late to find her at the bar, and was shortly introduced to her mother, who Bex described as her press officer. Over crisps, chips, cola and cider, I charmed the following information out of them.
At 26 she's been working as a photographer for several years. After getting her degree in fashion design, she left the Somerset Collage of Art and Technology (known as SCAT, amusingly) to study at UIAH University in Helsinki, Finland, which is where she was seduced by the mystery of the F-stop and began to pursue a more serious interest in photography. Initially this was taking graduation photos which, as she explained, wasn't exactly challenging or dynamic. I suppose the same clothes, the same background, the same grin and the same 'holding a rolled up scroll' pose must become a bit of a production line after a while. There's been some wedding photography in her past too, but this is now limited to friends and family as a wedding gift. That is unless the right request to shoot a fetish themed marriage ceremony comes her way.
This is because a few years ago a fetishy partner had engaged her interest in the world of artistic kink and she began to develop a portfolio of erotica. In the beginning friends were tempted with the promise of digital defect removal to pose nude but things really took off when Bex had made contact with models through another artist and net-model.com, where she was the featured artist last December. This was often done on a TFP basis, meaning models and Bex would give their Time For Prints. Now she's often approached through a network of pro models and artists on livejournal.com.
Her influences include Rembrandt, for his dramatic yet subtle lighting, and she was inspired by the work of China Hamilton at the start of her career. Other names which cropped up in the course of our discussions were Julia Margaret Cameron, a pioneer of women's photography who made typically romantic Victorian images, and Craig Morey. Bex describes her style as having a narrative quality which appeals to female sensibilities. It's not titillation. It's not tits for tits sake. Her images are intended to engage on an emotional level, and to use thoughtful composition and carefully created atmosphere to express more than just a pretty girl in rubber. Sometimes when an artist speaks, I just have to smile and nod, waiting for the word Zeitgeist to turn up. But I have to say I do understand where Bex is coming from when she talks about attractive and acceptable images of women, for women. By a woman, which perhaps isn't a coincidence?
Her big break came in 2004 when Skin Two published a picture she'd taken at the Skin Two expo. but miss-credited it. In the following issue they printed an 'Oops' and a shot Bex had taken of Ava Koska and added they'd like to use more of her work in the future. As it happens, the picture they chose to print was one that almost never got taken. Bex had been very busy doing something like eight shoots in four days and was fairly knackered. Ava had commandeered her bed so Bex had little choice but to take pictures when the model wanted to... Well, model. She's also worked with Amalthea and Ulorin_Vex, a name which caught my attention when I realised I'd tried to buy something off her on eBay not so long ago. Small world indeed. Amalthea and Ulorin_Vex are well known on the UK model circuit as they're twins who are happy in latex and PVC. Pause and savour that sentence a moment. Others in her portfolio include Morrigan Hel, Harlot Rouge, Kittie Klaw and the mischievously named Satanic Sluts. I'm assured that they're all lovely people and not all that satanic, really. Just a bit. Around the edges. Bex's mum doesn't mind playing substitute mother to the floods of models with 18" waists who periodically invade their home, and I don't suppose her dad really objects to this sort of deluge either.
In addition to private commissions from individuals wanting an unusual gift for a loved one, or a creative record of their curves, Bex has worked for several firms wanting more than just a snap of their wares. Loving Angels was a firm she mentioned doing raunchy but artistic stuff for, and they've helped her double her income from photography year-on-year since 2002. She's now at the point where she can turn business away to focus of the projects that most tickle her fancy. "I used to do ball photography too", she said and I raised an eyebrow just as quizzically as I could. She meant at university, of course, but she was the official photographer at the Corset Ball, held in London in February.
In November 2003 Bex was at Erotica in London when she bumped into the Guild of Erotic Artists, who were quickly familiarised with her work and fast-tracked her membership. Since then she's exhibited with them all over the country, and often holds demonstrations at events too. She's also had a lot of support from her commercial customers and Sam of FairyGothMother, who she regards as a mentor. They met at the Skin Two expo. in 2004 and have been friends since.
Future ambitions include an exhibition of her work in a London venue towards the end of 2005. The OXO Tower has been suggested. Such a show wouldn't only be good exposure but would help validate her as an artist on the London art scene and act as a shop window for her work for collectors. Self promotion is what it is. There's also talk of a possible book and online project to tie in with this. In terms of people she'd like to work with, she says she's photographed most folks she wants to, but wouldn't object to a session with Darenzia or the chance to photograph mainstream big-name models in a fetish environment. She'd also like to work with Valeria again. Both well known names if you read Bizarre magazine, or any one of a dozen other specialist publications for the alternative lifestyler.
To be technical for a moment, Bex uses a Nikon D100, a good quality prosumer digital camera (3008x2000/6Mp output, as uncompressed TIFF if that's what you want) but has access to 6x4 large-format film cameras for images which will be blown-up to bigger sizes. Another important part of her work is editing photos, and I don't just mean cropping images. She uses Photoshop to convert colour pictures to black and white, add grain or defuse glow (Vaseline on the lens effect) or even digitally knock a few pounds off someone. Also good for removing spots from bottoms, in my experience. As a frustrated (by my own inadequacy, but let's not dwell on my personal issues) fetish photographer myself, I had to take the opportunity to produce some of my photos. 'Urine splashed spiked heel' was something of a hit, as was a picture I took of my brother after I'd cut his hair. Oh yes, I'm multitalented. Bex and her mother's final verdict was I needed more practice and that my black and white work showed the most promise, so watch this space: [ ].
Bex likes to use various locations for her work. Somerset beaches, a pro-Domme's dungeon, the canal in Camden and a barn in St. Albans have all been taken advantage of. More recently she's begun exploring more unusual locations, including The Nags Head for her 'Bar Sluts' series of pictures. On top of her wish list is a fire station, complete with firemen with shiny helmets, or failing that, access to a police motorbike. A bowling alley was mentioned too and when the subject of pirate themed pictures came up, my joke about being spanked on the poop-deck went down very well.
When she's not behind the camera, Bex draws, paints, sings in rock and folk bands, drinks cider, plays the guitar and violin and is an honorary member of the Isle of Wight Honda Owners Club, although she's never lived on the island, or owned a Honda. She does have a motorbike though (Yamaha), as does her mum (Harley). This passion for bikes has blurred into her business too. She photographs them professionally (her work was seen in BSH recently) often at a garage studio in Kettering. She shots them with and without a nude house model draped over them and the idea of a girl firmly attached to one with ropes of oily rags, spread over the saddle and tank appeals. To me too, actually. She also has plans for a model called Grace to do some heavy bondage pictures. There's talk of 'chains and neglect' as a theme, with lots of peeling paintwork and straps biting into flesh. Bex described how such images of women in bondage are powerful as they pose questions and I felt obliged to agree. She's also photographed Leroy, a black guy with muscles in all the right places. Although she enjoyed working with him, sadly men just aren't as commercially viable subject matter as girls in latex. This annoys her mum too.
Bex continues to develop her portfolio and hopes to have new business customers on her books shortly. Much of what she does is catalogue shots for use on web pages, such as CobraWhips.com and various fetish fashion sites, and she enjoys the challenge of making the subject matter sexy and exciting as well as interesting and accessible. I asked about the cliché of using blinds and bright sunshine for pictures and was assured that while it is a cliché, it's both possible to subvert the image and make it commercial. And it must work as she regularly sells 20x16" framed signed prints for £250 each and charges £100 per hour for photo sessions. But the days of shooting ten models in a week, as she did around Christmas last year, are over.
One final coincidence, although I met Bex in Manchester, she lives in the same sleepy Buckinghamshire town as my mum. For more about her and Ardent Images, as well as other striking images from her collection, but not a word about my mum, visit www.ardent-images.co.uk. You never know, you might recognise someone you went to school with.
1870ish words on Bex and her camera, Dale. Sorry about the wait. Paul.
Paul Smith is still free to a good home. Kinky Job offers to info@snapsandbytes.co.uk please.
xxx words on TBC Dale.
Paul.