I've just come across a very cool site called Wordle that creates a tag cloud based the text you give it, or a URL (among other things).   This is the cloud for the site you're on right now.  I'm not quite sure why Unless is so significant, but I rather liked the rest of it!

Tallulah and I took part in Kinkfest - a London based event that is one part fetish fair, one part conference with different seminars going on all day, and one part stage show.  Tallulah was appearing in the fashion show, and armed with a photopass, my new D3 (woo hoo!) and a rented 70-200mm f2.8 zoom that you could melt down to build a battleship, I too was ready to take part in the proceedings. 

The resulting images are up in the gallery, but here are a few of my favourites for your delectation.  I have to say that I'm very happy with how they turned out.  The D3 is capable of some amazing low-light photography.  While the other photographers were hugging the stage and using flash, I was able to sit up in the gallery and capture wonderfully creamy images using just the available light. 

They say, of course, that no camera or lens can make up for poor photography (and the D3 does take a bit of driving)... but having the best tools can free one up to do new things, and that's exactly what I think this new beastie will do.  I adore my D300, but the film-like texture of the new camera has won both me and Tallulah over.  I hope you'll see the difference in the coming months...

While at Kinkfest I had the pleasure of photographing Esinem's new bondage show.  Called "Red Tape", and featuring another friend of mine as "Britannia" (ironically, she's French!), it was a powerful piece of work.  Bruce walks on stage dressed in a civil servant's suit.  To a soundtrack of clips from newscasts, government statements and John Hurt from the film "V": "I want everyone to remember *why* they need us!", he ties and gags Britannia in red tape.  (Well, actually it's pink, but I'm sure there's a good reason for that!).  She is left on the ground and covered in a large cloth that says "CENSORED". 

I'm certainly in tune with the sentiment of this piece, though perhaps not coming from the direction one might think.  As someone who runs a business, I'm very aware of the red tape this government has imposed on people like me.  I have a particular dislike of the Chancellor...

Birthdays. I've always believed in tackling them head-on rather than hiding away, but this was the first time I'd really left the organising to someone else (well, since I was a kid, anyway).  And what an amazing event it turned out to be!  Tallulah arranged for a girlfriend of hers to come over (the lovely Ems - thank you so much!) to play the role of Fifi the French Maid for the day on Saturday.  The two of them gave me my favourite of all experiences in the whole world (yes really!) - a double back massage.  After that I shall draw a veil over proceedings but let's just say a few hours disappeared very fast! 

Tallulah had also organised a surprise party with a bunch of friends from the fetish/bdsm scene.  I really didn't know about this (though I had a sneaking suspicion or two) until we had to go shopping for large quantities of food in the afternoon!  It was a beautiful evening and we all sat in the garden (and no doubt shocked the neighbours with some of the conversation).  The whole thing was topped off when Tallulah became a living birthday cake... talk about having your cake and eating it!!   My face was hurting by this point from smiling too much. 

We finished the night with a group outing to Club Smack, who were very kind and arranged birthday balloons and banners for our group - thank you Alan!  Overall it was an incredible weekend, and just goes to show... life really can be that good ;)  Thank you so much to my lovely little girl for all her efforts, and my genuine thanks too to all those who came along for the ride!

Tallulah and I have just returned from an amazing (and exhausting) week in Montreal, Canada.  In true Knightly style, it was a real trip of contrasts, from an idyllic stay by a lake (see the first picture) with some wonderful swimming and kayaking thrown in...

... to the vibrant fetish scene in downtown Montreal.  We attended Club Sin, the long-running monthly club run by my good friend Eric Paradis (who also runs the Montreal Fetish Weekend), and stayed with the wonderful Mario Bouchard for a while before retiring to a painfully trendy hotel with a pool.  (There was a bit of a water theme running through all this, now I come to think of it).  Mario runs Polymorphe clothing and you'll notice from the recent photo shoot that we did a fair bit of shopping too! 

The water theme continued with a fabulous night in a hottub and an amazing boat trip along the St. Lawrence river with a good handful (and it would be a good handful!) of Canada's leading fetish folk.  Montreal is a lovely city in the winter, when it's covered in snow and the skis are out... but I have to say, it comes into its own in the summer.  We can't wait to go back for the Fetish Weekend in August!

These pictures were taken at Subversion a couple of weeks ago, and I'm actually rather chuffed at being able to see what Tallulah and I look like while we're doing what we do (when we're not doing photoshoots or more vanilla things...) :)  Thank you to David Medlin for the photos (also posted on the rather wonderful LondonFetishScene website).

Playing in public like this isn't for everyone, and even some in the scene find it an odd thing to want to do.  So let me see if I can explain the appeal...  

I've always been something of a "performer" (and so has Tallulah, whose scene nickname is ShowPony!).  I've sung, acted, played in orchestras and so on for most of my life.  I love taking control (no surprise there, then) of the stage and creating something for the people watching.  So that's part of it... but this is also extremely personal with the person you're "doing things to".  While in the thick of things I'm in a deeply comfortable, focused state; hardly aware at all of the people around me.  I'm only really conscious of Tallulah (while tracking anything that may impinge on the scene, through peripheral vision), and it's a lovely feeling when you finally finish and look around, only to realise where you are...

For those reading this who are in the scene I won't need to say this, but BDSM play is also very much about what's going on in the mind.  I may be using floggers, crops, my hands, pinwheels or any number of other tools to create an effect, but what is really happening is putting another person into a deep, different, calming and exciting place.  Yes, it is a whole lot of contradiction but you probably noticed that already ;)  And the fact that we're playing in public adds another dimension to that mental game.  The people watching become part of the scene.  Their very presence changes the dynamic, raising the stakes and allowing me to play with emotions like excitement and mild humiliation in a way that for most "normal" people will seem strange... but what composer, playwright or film-maker doesn't want to create emotions for the people they touch with their work?  And this way I get to do it for the audience, and the (very) willing victim... :)

I'd love to hear your comments on this and other posts so please do feel free to use the "add comments" button.

Photo credit: David Medlin