the first shooting of Diva

Let’s talk about another french woman who got some real fans among my audience : Diva, a lovely doll without any experience. She was like a rough diamond … a lot of work was necessary to obtain a jewel with a star-shaped cut. Like Greta four years before, Diva wasn’t old enough when she contacted me. Several weeks were required before to shoot Greta, I had to wait for six months with Diva : when she turned 18, we organized her first professional shooting. She wanted to be a photo model, in fact, she was expecting to become a star of the fetish or burlesque scene. Diva has been incorrect and agressive with one of my friends photographer : I accepted to give her a chance because she was young and probably able to change. That’s how she arrived in front of my lens : the deal was “don’t be a child, work seriously and I will help you to be known” … and she did a nice job for her first time.

For me, the perfect model is a woman with a lovely face and a nice body. Diva had something special : her doll face was sending two contradictory messages … she was looking sexual and innocent, a lethal weapon towards men. In 2004 & 2005, the years of our collaboration, I got a lot of comments about the sessions with Diva : most of guys were crazy about her while girls were used to define her as vulgar. Maybe these women were jealous about this natural beauty : that face and this body was already a lot when you want to be a model … unfortunately, Diva was a petite woman and she couldn’t work in the fashion or lingerie industry. So, she tried the fetish way : Diva was obsessed by some clothes & Dita von Teese but she wasn’t involved into the fetish universe before to work with me. During this first photo session, she even discovered the unique feeling of latex wearing the blue corset used to shoot Anaïs on a beach. She also got the pleasure to wear these fully fashioned stockings brought to Captive Culture by my friend Alain. I focused her first photo series on the fetish universe : lingerie, stockings, corset, high heel shoes. It was the right way to burn some steps : in the beginning of our collaboration, Diva had some limits which were too strict for my productions, indeed, she didn’t want to model totally or partially naked. That’s impossible to work like this when you tell a story through a photo series. That’s why I decided to let play Diva with two different outfits : she had to take her clothes off but was free of her moves. Naturally, we started to break the first limit : Diva accepted to be shot topless for portrait views, no close-up or frontal angle. It makes me smile today because, at this time, I knew that we were playing chess and the game was almost won. I had the feeling that we would quickly overpass this limit related to nudity. Oh don’t be anxious, she wasn’t shy, Diva accepted it very well … she became a burlesque performer after she stopped fetish modeling. She changed her nickname Lady Diva for a new one : Miss Scarlett Diamond.

After the pin-up photo set, Diva discovered something else which totally new for she : nylon ropes. Of course, the sexy brunette had never been bound before but I guessed this game wouldn’t be so fun than being dressed in latex for the first time. I think that she accepted to be tied because Dita von Teese did some bondage sessions with Jim Weathers before to become a star. So, Diva walked on her own way, being bound by me. Like a lot of petite women, she was born to be bound. Her body was very flexible (again, this girl was a dancer when she was a child like many bondage models) … Diva was able to be tied in every position. Watching the pictures of this post, you can see her first time in ropes looked impressive. Unfortunately, I quickly noticed that her eyes were not sparkling when she was bound. Diva was more attracted by the fetish universe but the world of BDSM. Anyway, we got the time to do a lot of images and some videos before she stopped modeling for me.

That’s sad but I wasn’t able to keep Diva involved into the Captive Culture adventure. She was probably too young and thought that anything comes without working hard. In two years, she became well-known on the scene : Diva got her first publication in Skin Two magazine (one full-page ad for Latex Culture) and her first cover for The Fetishistas (my interview for the second issue) … Diva got the opportunity to replace Dana as my assistant but she failed after one month only. Maybe that’s why she started to do some mistakes : Diva used several pictures to win a national contest without asking my agreement. I can understand a lot of things but I don’t accept lies. It would have been better to say “stop, I want to do something else” instead of saying bullshit … especially when you tell the truth to another model who is my assistant too. All this ruined the good memories related to these sessions captured in 2004 & 2005 : Diva learned to be professional working with us. She got a lot of advises about modeling and Dana even explained the right way to pluck her eyebrows. You can feel my regrets reading these lines. That’s not a matter of human being, I know what human nature is and I still have in mind one conversation that I got after my first session with Diva. I told to the friends working with me that “this girl is too much for us, she can stop anytime, so we have to organize a lot of sessions in a short while” … that’s the reason why I scheduled so many shooting dates with Diva for several weeks. To be honest, I have never thought that she would be loyal but I had the feeling that Diva could quickly become a fetish icon. I was wrong & got more time than expected (one year) … Diva didn’t reach this goal even she followed a nice way as burlesque performer..

I got the chance to meet Mina & Anaïs during this year. Diva has been a lovely character for my website but the sessions I did with Anaïs & Mina brought my work to another level. You can be sure this collaboration made me learn several things : I stopped to work with the girls who were not interested by all these things we love. I also did a lot of changes to enhance my photography, technically & emotionally. Before, I was used to create one situation. After, I became the witness of a scene, chasing the truth and capturing the beauty of a woman with my lens.