Hello beloved Kinksters!

You might have guessed by now that I am a huge fan of Dirk Hooper! For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Instagram will have noticed that I am always sharing Dirk’s work. I am a huge supporter of Dirk’s art, writings, photography and podcast channel. Yup! Dirk Hooper is someone I aspire to be like one day. Would you like to know why? (You’ll have to read on to find out!).

Just one thing, before we get started. Did you know that I wrote a guest article for Dirk Hooper presents DommeLinx? In case you missed it, here’s the link to ‘Should Kinks Fetishes and BDSM be taught in schools!?’

http://dommelinx.com/should-kinks-fetishes-and-bdsm-be-taught-in-schools/

1. How did you get involved in the fetish industry?

Over 20 years ago, I got interested in two things at the same time. I was learning photography in college, and I found my local BDSM community. When you’re a photographer, you must figure out what your focus is going to be. BDSM was where my heart was in both regards.

I really wanted to explore fetish photography as a fine art instead of porn, which is how most people see fetish kink and BDSM portrayed. That goes back to my philosophy of not just creating work for the BDSM community, but also to represent the community in a positive light the best I can.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve had work displayed in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Thailand and all over the United States. Plus, to beef up my fine art accolades, I have work in the permanent collection of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, the leather archives Museum in Chicago, and recently had work added to the collection of the Patpong Museum in Bangkok.

I ran a kinky modelling group titled Toxic Goddess for several years and have created a catalogue of fetish photography that spans over 20 years. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of meeting some of the coolest people in the fetish world and adding their look to my photography.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, I won Best Fetish Photographer at the Fetish Awards at Fetishcon, which was the culmination of the dreams I had over 20 years ago.

2. What are your particular fetishes?

In my over two decades of experience, I have experienced both sides of the whip. So, I’ve been both dominant and submissive.

My nonclinical kinks include seeing stockings and high heels on a woman, the Goth look (which I see far too infrequently), and more recently, the fitness look.

As a submissive, I really enjoy extreme humiliation, degradation, tease and denial, domestic servitude, and I’m wide open when it to most activities. I’ve been in a couple of 24/7 long-term relationships with professional dominatrices and what I’ve discovered is that a lot of the things that I enjoy many dommes are either uncomfortable with doing, or too inexperienced to pull off. So, I have a lot of unfulfilled fantasies on the submissive front, which I turn into fiction now.

Over the past decade I’ve been exclusively dominant and what I look for is a woman who enjoys pain, some humiliation, is an exhibitionist, and has a servant’s heart. If all of those things are present, I’m happy to negotiate on all the particular kinks and fetishes that either she or I have. And honestly, if she’s a giving person, I’m happy to cater to her kinks foremost, because I’m going to get what I want in fulfilling her fantasies.

3. What is it like to be a fetish photographer? Is it all glamour or hard work?

When I’m doing photography, it’s 100% work for me. I’m far too focused to pay attention to anything other than lighting and composition and helping the model be as comfortable as possible. To me, there’s nothing really glamorous about the activity of doing photography at all. It’s a creative process, and it’s fun, but it’s just another day of clocking in and taking care of business.

Many people who get into fetish photography, or model photography in general, get into it for all the wrong reasons. And those people screw up everything and make it more difficult for legitimate photographers, and for models who are just looking to get paid or want to create great art.

The work must be the number one reason you’re doing this or everything else that follows will be tainted.

4. You do a lot of other stuff and are obviously very talented, can you tell us about it?

When I first got into the BDSM community, there was so little quality information out there. Once I got some experience under my belt I decided I wanted to help other people who were either just getting into the community or who didn’t have as many opportunities as I did, by providing them with what I had learned, or by reaching out to people who knew more than I did and help get them in front of a larger audience.

That’s led to me writing a lot of articles about BDSM. It’s also led to me doing interviews with people that I think have a unique perspective or who can teach others about kink.

It’s also led me to write erotic fiction that I felt more accurately represented the community than what I was seeing on television, or movies, or in books.

Over the past few years, I have rediscovered my love of creating artwork. Before I got into photography I was doing comic books and illustrations for magazines and games. I was doing analog artwork, which was mostly pen and ink on Bristol board.

After a lengthy hiatus, I began doing artwork digitally around 2016. That led me on a great journey of discovery and has opened up all kinds of doors for me over the past few years.

I think what you’re going to be seeing from me in the future is more and more artwork, and hopefully a steady path of improvement. My next step is to do more explicit stuff for my KinkInk.art Patreon account, offering in NFTs for collectors, and creating new work that combines both writing and art in comic books and art books.

5. Your Safeword Podcast with Mistress Eva Oh was nominated for an award, why was that and why should people listen?

I can’t speak for the people who nominated us for that award, but I can say that many people have contacted us and told us that our discussions are unique and honest and that we talk about things in a way that they’ve heard nowhere else.

I hope that is the case, and if it is, then that may be the reason they nominated us for this award.

Mistress Eva and I both take our responsibility as representatives of the fetish community and our desire to teach and entertain, very seriously.

It’s an honor just to get nominated!

6. Your website is very good and includes links to other platforms? What do you think of sites such as OrgasmicWays and Podopheleus that are trying to enter the frame?

I welcome anyone who has a unique experience and wants to add to the discourse about kink and BDSM. There’s so much terrible, negative, and wrong information out there. I deeply appreciated any help to get collectively above that noise.

I think your own story, and your focus, is powerful and important to this community. I also know that you have some exciting projects coming up and I think that’s wonderful.

7. How can the kink community move forward together and prosper?

I always perplexed by the distinct subsection of people in the fetish community who are either singularly focused on themselves, or who actively try to tear down others to make themselves look bigger.

I’ve never understood that, but I see it so often.

The fact of the matter is, all we have is each other. If we don’t stick up for each other, people outside the community sure as hell won’t.

Given how so many powerful institutions and powerful people are aligned against us, I think it would be great if we could put our petty differences aside, realize that we all have common obstacles, and either keep the negative stuff to yourself, or even better, attempt to support each other.

That means simple things like answering people’s questions or mentoring new people. It means being respectful of other people’s ideas and personal journey. It means watching out for vulnerable people in the community and making sure that the bad characters stay away.

It also means sharing the work and ideas of good people in the community. 

I’ve tried to do that for the past 20 years, and it means that I’ve shared some really outstanding stuff. I wish other people would join me in doing that more often. Sometimes it feels like everyone is out for themselves and that’s no way to build a healthy community.

Let’s help each other out! You’ll be surprised at how much those good intentions come back to you in positive ways.

There we have it, Kinksters! Big shout out and Thank You to Dirk Hooper!

To find out more about Dirk Hooper, visit his website here.

Click here to follow Dirk Hooper on social media, so you don’t miss the latest: Twitter

Instagram And @dirkhooperplu

Let’s support each other, Kinksters! So please feel free to SHARE this interview blog with others. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @Podofeleus and Instagram @Podopheleus.

Much Kink Love

Podopheleus