needed. The scene surely has its highlights. I wish it could grow even more and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will.”
From the pros and cons of the Swedish scene, our conversation moves on to the pro and cons of model-photographer partnerships — an area in which, as already indicated, Nik does have some experience.
Such relationships are not exactly uncommon on the fetish scene: we’re probably all aware of some that seem to be for life and others destined not to last beyond a couple of years.
“There are always pros and cons when it comes to relationships and partnerships with the people you also work with,” he says.
“One can get support, feedback and also strength and encouragement from a close partner who shares your work, be it family, a friend, a lover or someone with whom you form a relationship.
‘Having common interests means one can easily find ways of effectively working together, taking advantage of combined skills and networks and so on’
“Regardless of which, I believe people need some kind of support structure in their lives and that can surely be one of the benefits.
“Of course, having common interests means one can easily find ways of effectively working together, taking advantage of combined skills and networks and so on.
“Still, there are lots of cons as well. For example, if you are not careful, that partnership can also be something so strong that it builds a wall against others.
“Sometimes you find couples who cannot part for a second — and not in a good way. I have always been very careful with trying to keep a balance, but of course the one lesson to learn in relationships in general is always to try to stay open-minded.
“Observing others I would say that one can sometimes clearly see if one partner is encouraging or discouraging the other partner’s ambitions.
“The scene has some strong partnerships that I believe have been the key to success for them, but of course there might also be examples of the opposite.
“I think it is important to always try to encourage each other even if that also sometimes means one cannot be around to support every move they make, and that sometimes the turns might not be what you expected.”
The most recent example of a Nikdesign and Kari Berg photographic collaboration is the ‘fetish fishing’ expedition that gave us the picture above our page 1 headline as well as four images in the first gallery of this article. How did that shoot come about?
“I have many times tried to portray the fetish lifestyle in an ‘ordinary’ fashion so to speak, and this shoot was one of those times when things were so close you could hardly see the picture before you.
“Both Kari and I love fishing and latex. But it didn’t strike us to actually combine these worlds until Kari one day had new high heel rubber boots when going fishing, and she wanted to have latex on too.
“From there on it all just became clear what we should do. The pictures were taken in the county of Jämtland at a lake where I grew up.
“It’s a beautiful place, so adding beauty to beauty was obviously a winning concept!”
In Berlin this year, Nikdesign shot video around the various GFB Weekend events and created a cool piece for The Fetishistas which we’ve added to our new Videozone section as well as at the top of this page.
I ask Nik for his reaction to my sense that, while there is some great video work out there, creative people in
“I most definitely agree,” he says. “Some 15 years ago we saw the revolution when digital cameras reached a price level that made it possible for people to start taking pictures.
“That was an important piece of the puzzle when we look back at the evolution of the fetish scene — the models and photographers of the past ten-plus years.
“Recently we have seen that video technology has also come to a point where the prices are becoming reasonable, and we have the computer speed and software available that will allow people in general to create high quality work, at least if they have the skills.
“Good imagery will still be more about the context and content rather than the technology, but it allows talent to reach out. I foresee that we will see a quite explosive growth of video in the scene the next five-to-ten years, mark my words.”
But why are so few latex designers and latex models putting the same effort into creating or collaborating on good quality short videos as they are on getting good still photography?
And why do event promoters not realise that a short and sharply edited video record of their fashion shows is far better than an hour-long real-time record complete with poor quality live sound?
“I believe that we have still to reach a breaking point. I would compare it to the MTV phenomena of the ’80s where all of a sudden music videos came to be crucial for the marketing of music.
“It came when the distribution and the technology and the art combined, but then things changed as the music industry suffered a collapse that it blames on the download possibilities.”
Nik feels that the music video “got lost in the shadows somewhere along the line” and its revival as a medium is still in the early stages. He believes a full revival of the medium is bound to come but is being held back by the “panicking” music and movie industries.
“I think that subcultures including the fetish scene could be among the pioneers of renewing the way we look at videos and the way the moving picture format can be used. Interesting times ahead!”
Finally, if Nikdesign could specify a dream latex shoot, putting clothes from any latex designer(s) on any model(s) from fetish or mainstream in any location… who, what and where would they be?
‘Subcultures including the fetish scene could be the pioneers of renewing the way we look at videos and the way the moving picture format can be used’
“I guess if you ask me today I will say one thing and tomorrow something totally different. To me the dream shoot is always changing and I believe that is a good thing, or else what would be the next challenge?
“There are always people in the scene I haven’t worked with yet that I would love to work with — for example Bianca Beauchamp and Sway — and that would be great fun.
“But to imagine a dream shoot, first of all I believe it would not be a shoot but a combined music, video and still photography experience.
“To at least try to give it a go, I would say that if I could have the honour of working with David Bowie and getting him to visit the county of Jämtland, Sweden, adding the talents of some well chosen latex designers… that would be my dream come true.”
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“In that field (artist/band photography), I think it has been an advantage to have worked with what the mainstream sees as ‘extreme’ sides of the alternative scene, the fetish scene, designers and models and so on.
“I believe the influences from that scene are sort of always on the edge of the next thing to come, and interesting to be part of and to bring into assignments.
“Many film directors and photographers from the mainstream industry tend to look at the alternative scenes to find inspiration and ideas. For myself I try to include, and work with, people from the alternative scene as often as I can in my work.
“I believe that it is also a good way of finding a win-win situation for the people who contribute to the videos — the models, designers, make-up artists etc.
“There are many advantages of being on the ‘alternative edge’ when in this business. The downside of it is that sometimes the mainstream companies also steal ideas from the underground artists and give no credit.
“I have not suffered from rip-offs myself so much. But I have seen tons of stuff that people in the mainstream say is so innovative and cool, that has been around for a decade in the subculture scenes…
“I mean, for example, all of a sudden artists like Rihanna and Lady Gaga started wearing latex, but it had already been used in the alternative music scene for years.
“And working in that field, not having made a breakthrough to the big money can sometimes be a bit frustrating. But then again I usually remember that for me it is not and never has been about the money — and I hope it never will be.
“I personally feel that it is more genuine to work in an environment where one can place art in the first room rather than depending on some big dollar producers’ opinions.
“Therefore I have always been taking pictures as a side-job, to be able to choose my collaborations, and not depending on photography to make a living. That has also kept my interest and passion for photography, I believe.”
As regards music videos, directing is only one angle for Nik, since he has also contributed production skills such as lighting, cutting, producing or effects to various projects, and has even performed in front of the camera for videos of his own musical collaborations.
A selection of other videos Nikdesign has played a part in making is listed alphabetically below:
Cecilia Gärding: Fool For You
featuring Sister Sinister
(Director, lights)
Chaos All Stars: Autumn Nights
featuring Kari Berg
(Producer, lights, directing)
Chaos All Stars: Defenses
feat a/o Kari Berg
(Producer, director, lights, music, acting)
Chaos All Stars: I Need It All
feat a/o Naucler Design and EMP
(Producer, director, lights, music, acting)
Chaos All Stars: The Contract
featuring Kya Wolfwritten
(Producer, film assist, light, music and acting)
Dark Side Cowboys: Story of Stories
(Producer, editor, cutting, colours, directing)
EMP: Burn It Down
(Vocals, acting, producer, director)
Johan Piribauer: Rällsbussen
(Cutting and music/remix)
Johnny Glaas: This World Is Not Enough
(Producer, lights)
Mona Roukachi: Mama
(Producer, lights)
Ninedee: Miss Wannabe
featuring Sandra Swe in Naucler Design, and other latex models
(Producer, director, concept, light, set design, stills)
StrongHeart: Scream Out Loud
(All except camera 1 and lights)
Plus a few oldies:
6th Awakening: Tongue Reaper
(Director)
Naglfar: I Am Vengeance (Live at the Opera of Norrland)
(Camera 4, live recording and mixing)
Subspace Surfers: U Become What You Hate
(Director, editing, mix)
And an award-winning full-length feature movie:
Vi Är Som Apelsiner
featuring Kari Berg in a lead role
(Light, still photos, assist and more)
Tags: Clothing, Designers, Fetish Video, Latex, Leather, Models
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