by Eric Wilkins
Erotic Print Society, ISBN 1-904989-04-7, $36.70.
Available at Last Gasp, http://www.lastgasp.com/, at Amazon.com, and elsewhere.
Now that's what I'm talking about.
It's not arty. It's not classy. It doesn't have anything to say about sex other than that it’s hot, and it doesn't have any artistic intention other than to turn you on.
But it is hot, and it did turn me on. It’s full of energy and enthusiasm, wild passion and dirty fun, couples cavorting in front of the camera with real sexual chemistry and connection.
And with so many dirty photo books these days full of sullen, pouty models staring blankly at the camera all by themselves, it’s a wonderfully refreshing change of pace.
Here's the story. In the 1970s, erotic photographer Eric Wilkins (Top Shelf Girls) was shooting photos for the corporal punishment magazine Swish. Theoretically this wasn't a sex magazine ‒ it was a spanking magazine ‒ but when the spankings were over and the "official" photo session was done, the models would still be hot and bothered, and would start going at it.
And Wilkins would keep on shooting.
At the time, these photos were way too explicit for the magazine to publish. But times have changed, porn laws have relaxed ‒ and Wilkins has published the photos, in a book you can buy on Amazon.
What I like best about these photos is the spontaneity. The authentic energy of people getting hot and getting off is a very hard thing to capture on film. You need models with the rare combination of unselfconsciousness and exhibitionism -- models who enjoy being on camera and know how to work it, while still staying relaxed and being themselves.
And you need a photographer who can work with that balance, who knows when to stir things up and when to just step back and let things happen ‒ and how to get it all on film.
You get all of that with Spank!
Now, this isn't a through-the-keyhole, "pretend nobody's watching" sort of voyeurism. The models are obviously aware of the camera, and in some cases they play up to it. There are too many shots of pussies being spread wide open for the camera to think otherwise. It's a book about authentic, unrehearsed sex ‒ but it's about exhibitionistic joy, not private, intimate passion. Still, you get that feeling of being there, right there in the room with people who love having dirty kinky sex and are going at it like jackhammers.
For instance: There's the brunette in the pink nightie who hollers in protest as her butt is spanked bright red... and then spreads her legs blissfully for her partner's cock. There's the girl in pigtails whose face turns pink as she screams through her over-the-knee spanking... and who then gets on her hands and knees and gets fucked from behind, her bottom still red, her face still contorted in pain. There's the girl-girl sequence where the girl in the red boots bends over a desk and squirms through her spanking, then gets on her knees to go down on her tormenter... and then sprawls on her back and spreads her legs for yet another spanking, this time on her pussy.
That sort of thing.
I realize that this is primarily a book of spanking photos, and I haven't said much about that. Well, everything I said about the sex ‒ the blowjobs and the fucking and the fingering and the forcible spreading of pussies wide, wide open for the camera ‒ all of it applies to the spankings as well. It's the real deal.
It's not just the reddened bottoms and the finger marks and the flesh flattening out at the moment of impact. Although all of that is a definite treat. And it's not just the cringing, contorted faces of the girls (it’s all girls being spanked: mostly by guys, sometimes by other women) as they cry and yell in pain and protest. In fact, some of the cringes are a little over-dramatized ‒ not fake exactly, but exaggerated.
It's… I don't know how to explain what it is. It just is. There's real pleasure in these photos, real sexual chemistry and connection. These are women who love to get spanked, who experience intense arousal and satisfaction from it, who get so turned on by it that they have to get fucked as soon as it’s done… camera or no camera. If you're seriously into spanking, you absolutely must have this book. And if you're idly curious about spanking, this book will give you a much better idea of what the fuss is all about.Now, the photos in Spank! are often crude and raw. There's very little artistry to them, and there's none of the supermodel polish you get in a lot of dirty photos today. (There's also a lot of terrifyingly bad hair and clothing and makeup ‒ the photos were taken in the '70s, after all.) These aren't perfect, beautifully framed examples of classic fetish poses.
Far from it.
But that's the flip side of the authenticity and immediacy, the price you pay for it. This is real sex ‒ awkward, messy, clumsy, human. The beauty isn't in the delicate lighting or the perfection of the poses. The beauty is in the radiant joy in the faces and the bodies of the people being transported by heartfelt sexual pleasure. It's not brilliant and insightful erotic art, but it's the next best thing. It's hot, vivid, authentically filthy porn. And it's definitely making it into the regular whack-off rotation.
P.S. Full disclosure: I work for a company that sells this book -- that’s how I found out about it.
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