Callidus

Welcome back true believer. Good update at the Archive this week, including great stuff from Jukebox and Vanderbilt. I’m prepping a post now that highlights both of these authors (as well as some others) and some of their recent contributions that I felt were paticularaly strong. But for now, I thought I’d share some more spicy images from the Callidus-manip-treasure-backlog file.

Submitted for your approval…

This first one I like for a few reasons. I enjoy the starkness of black-and-white photography and like to employ that in manips whenever the opportunity presents itself. But obviously, the model’s pose and unique the mask she’s wearing are what’s really catching my eye. It calls to mind the Olithoi guards we had in the final panel of the Witch Queen series.

I think the cuffs she’s wearing are a bit on the modern side (I’d have preferred metal manacles) but I can probably down-play, remove, or just ask the audience to suspend their disbelief. I think if Iago and Tabico gave their blessing for me to revisit the Dark Queen mythos and play with the Olithoi a bit, I’d like to drop in a suitable background behind the model, remove her tattoo, and think about witnessing the final moments as the greatest warrior of so-and-so kingdom embraced the lust flicking between her legs let the dark power of her new deity reduce her to another soul-less body in the Dark Queen’s vast army.

If I’m honest with myself, I normally pass on images like this one simply because its almost too-easy. The pose is perfect, the facial expression couldn’t be better, but it just seems a little vanilla to me. I’m always obsessed with finding unique source images and although I haven’t seen this pic used anywhere, I’ve seen plenty like it.

However, despite my reservations, there is something about this that is really drawing me in. The lighting in the photo is very well done and has me thinking about blinking lights on her face. Multicolor flashes reflecting subtlety on her skin and more directly in her eyes and off her necklace. Although most people probably don’t care, I’d like to explain within the story why a woman who’s dressed in such extravagant lingerie is in such a dilapidated room surrendering her mind to some unseen controller. Speaking of the set, I also see the blank walls behind her as an opportunity to drop something interesting in that could help set up the hypnotic device (which would obviously be off-camera) and/or the plot.

So, this is one of those that I don’t have a clear idea of what I’d do with it, but it has enough potential that I’d want to keep it around and see if inspiration strikes.

Although, I’m not a huge fan of elaborate tattoo work, Sophia Santi/Natalie Cruz is the exception to the rule. She has such striking eyes and a wonderful natural figure; I’ve really wanted to do a piece with her for some time. When I came across this photo set I found myself in a common dilemma: too many good pics to choose just one! Usually, when that happens I just end up doing a series, but having just finished up a big multi-parter I’m thinking more about doing something more in the style of a graphic novel with a primary image and several inset pics to highlight certain moments or convey the passage of time.

This one may or may not be the primary image, but I do think it nicely sums up the themes of the series: bondage, pleasure, and (in some of the other pics) some spicy pony-girl accouterments. I think that with the magic wand she’s being forced to endure, the story is going something along the lines of being pleasure-conditioned to stop thinking like a free-willed woman, and start ‘thinking’ like a beast of burden: work, food, reward. I think I have the pics to do a really hot series that portrays a woman who absolutely hates the idea of slipping into that role, but who is also becoming addicted to the pleasure-humiliation-pleasure-degradation that her programming is imposing on her weakening mind.

And last up, I think we’ll throw another black-and-white photo into the mix. I’ve done a few pics with Taylor St. Claire, but nothing yet that really conveys what a natural beauty she is. Obviously her pose and expression is what initially drew me to this pic, but the more I’ve looked at it, the more the table beneath her is what’s really got me excited. I know, there’s something really strange about looking at this image and getting worked up over the table the hot-naked-woman is kneeling on, but allow me to explain.

As a setting for mind control naughtiness, one of my favorite periods in history is the Victorian era of Britain just prior to the dawn of the 20th century. It was a time where science and mysticism lived along side each other and there was a profound public interest in the supernatural and occult. It was a time when the reserved facade people showed the world cunningly concealed the darker, carnal exploits they pursued behind closed doors. It was the era of Sherlok Holmes and Dorian Grey. It was a time when artifacts, magics, and other phenomena unknown could work their way from the ‘uncivilized’ frontiers of the far east to be employed by unscrupulous peoples in the dark corridors where they gather to engage in unspeakable acts of sexual depravity.

I find so many mc possibilities in that time and place and there’s almost never any photos to exploit it! The otherwise-blank background is perfect for me, as I’d probably be replacing it with an elegant sitting room or the interior of one of the Hellfire Clubs. In any case, I’m seeing Victorian era mind control technology unleashed on Ms St. Claire and her pious, reserved shell being stripped away and leaving an obedient, wanton, whore in its place. Whether by some villainous Prof. Moriarty archetype or a devious conspiracy cloaked by the power of the London elite, I have more story ideas than I know what to do with and (at the moment) just one photo to unleash them upon.

Okay, that’s it for today, I’m off for now but, as always, I hope you enjoyed this trip down the rabbit hole and please don’t hesitate to chime in with your questions, comments, and suggestions.

Until next time.