It’s August, so FetishCon 2019 is coming up soon. I no longer attend, but I attended each year from 2006 through 2017 – 12 times in all, and it was always a very memorable experience!
The first year I attended was 2006, when FetishCon was held at a hotel in downtown Tampa. I had worked with about 20 models by that point, but I hadn’t yet met any other producers yet, although I had been in touch online with several, especially those that also focused on bondage and/or were selling through Bee-Tokens / BondageTokens. The other important thing about that year is that I was one of the few producers not even 30 years old – in fact maybe the only producer there that was in my 20s!
I had set up about 8 shoots for the 3 day weekend that I would be on-site. All of these were with models I hadn’t met before, so it was important to get to the “Meet & Greet” to make sure people would know who I was. Most assumed upon first seeing me that I was
- A model’s boyfriend or husband
- A low-level hotel manager
It was perfectly understandable for a bondage producer to be a normal looking guy with a normal day job – as long as he was 45+. So I was ahead of my time and it took a lot of people by surprise. I still vividly remember meeting Christina Carter there, we were scheduled to shoot later in the weekend, and she literally did a double-take when I said I produce Jeansbound and would be shooting with her the next day. Fortunately that shoot went very well, and there were a bunch more through the years – but that’s a story for a later post.
Besides the new models, I also met so many producers who’s work I had admired for several years, and that had inspired me to get into producing myself. There were too many to name each individual, but among the producer contacts the best were the others right there in New York City, because getting together a group of producers that could enable models to book 3-5 gigs in a 2-3 day span, and among us have a place to stay or transportation help definitely allowed the site to grow, and for me to meet and work with more models.
One producer that I did meet with that wasn’t local to me (actually he was local to the event) but I formed a friendship with was Paul, producer of Laughingstocks. 2006 happened to the first year he did his demonstration of the homemade wooden stocks he built, and I very much wanted to see him lock up a lovely lady and tickle her bare feet. He did exactly that in the course of the demo, and later on we met and I would go on to assist him with his demos over the next 10 years.
Last memory of that first FetishCon worth sharing was that it was the first time I had been to any bondage-themed “play” parties – and it led to 2 more shoots at FetishCon – 1 that weekend and 1 a few years later. I met Tina Marie at one of the parties and she was so excited to shoot with me (also an incredibly new feeling for me) because it gave her a reason to wear her jeans that she packed for a trip to Tampa in August! Also, I tied her up at the Castle, where the party was, and she enjoyed that. So I guess I passed the audition. We had a great, but short shoot, and all the pictures are available here. The other person I recall binding that night was Leda Locke – she was wearing these decorative ribbons on each wrist, and soon enough she found her hands tied together behind her back with her ribbons.
Here’s the models I shot with at FetishCon 2006:
- Christina Carter
- Kendra James
- Addie Juniper
- Tina Marie
- Akira Lane
- Isabella Lace
- Lydia
- Slyyy
You can see the clips from these shoots (and many more through the years) here. Also, as mentioned above, I had set-up 8, then describe setting 1 up, and that I ended up with just 8. Yep, because that’s the other thing I learned about at FetishCon – cancellations happen. Guess what, they happen at many mainstream business conferences I go to also. I didn’t even remember who ended up cancelling later on, because it happens. But all those shoot were great.