The Perfect Setting for a Bloody Fantasy Shoot
When we plan a fantasy shoot with one of our male models, for example, for the upcoming official calendar of the Federal Office for Magical Creatures, we naturally discuss with our photographers how to best showcase and stage the respective model.
Various backgrounds are available in the photo studios of our photographers Barbara Frommann and Niels Brähler. A simple white or black background is used, for example, for product shoots and to get to know the model. Some boys are in front of the camera for the first time and are first explained and shown how to pose.
And then… yes, and then, if the chemistry with the model is right, we’ll discuss together which setting is ideal to optimally portray the model in their role.
In this case, we are planning a fantasy shoot in Gothic/Victorian style. A vampire, lying on a sofa, and in front of him, cowering on the floor, his rather willing victim, exhausted and at the same time blissfully enjoying the erotic vampire bite. Almost the vampire version of “The cigarette after…”
For this, we looked for a background. We found one that showed a black chandelier, several candelabras, and a black sofa in front of a wall with a black and red gradient. The scenario was framed by two black curtains. All very stylish, all perfectly suited as a scenario for a vampire staged as a Victorian aristocrat. The mood expressed in the horror novella about Lord Ruthven is what we have in mind. Back then, vampires didn’t sparkle yet. (Although our vampire boys are certainly allowed to sparkle if they want to. You have to move with the times, and vampires also have their coming out.)
The Background for the Fantasy Shoot
And yet… somehow this background wasn’t enough for us. After all, our models are elaborately dressed in suitable textiles from Devilnight or Boudoir Noir and, if necessary, receive a custom-made vampire denture from the alphabite dental laboratory. And then a simple photo background with fake furniture and depicted candelabras? A no-go!
The manufacturer of the background was contacted, as they also offer the possibility of having suitable backgrounds made to order. We inquired whether it was possible to get the background without the depicted furniture. Unfortunately no, we were told. In this case, it was not possible.
So we commissioned a graphic designer via fiverr to create a print-ready template with the bloody black color gradient.
Well… and the rest? The rest causes discussions in the production team between the producer and his husband, who keeps an eye on budgets for model shoots. Accordingly, the husband is sometimes the “best of all” or “the budget monster I (the producer) am married to”.
Discussion with the Budget Monster
Producer: “Look!”
Budget Monster: “What are you up to now?”
Producer: “Take a look at this photo background for the fantasy shoot with our male models. What do you think of it?”
Budget Monster: “Horrible! Don’t tell me you ordered that thing?! Please, tell me you didn’t order that?”
Producer: “Of course not. I would never do such a thing!”
Budget Monster: “Thank God. I thought…”
Producer: “I got a print-ready template without furniture from an illustrator. This can be used to create the photo background for the fantasy shoot. And imagine, I was able to organize a black crystal chandelier with black light bulbs. It’s already fully assembled in Niels Brähler’s photo studio. Isn’t that great?”
Budget Monster: *Coughing fit*
Producer: “And – hold on tight – I found four five-armed black-lacquered candlesticks and forty red-black taper candles that drip red when burned! Isn’t that awesome for a fantasy shoot with a vampire? But the best is yet to come!”
Budget Monster: “I dread to think…”
Producer: “In Gelsenkirchen, I found a furniture manufacturer who has suitable sofas. In the most pompous Baroque style with a touch of 5th Neo-Rococo and a dash of deuxième Neo-Empire à la Napoleon III. – absolutely insane! You can’t imagine!”
Budget Monster: “Since we got married, I’ve seen many things I couldn’t have imagined in my darkest nightmares before our marriage. And you keep topping it!”
Producer: “Isn’t that nice?”
Budget Monster: “No, that’s not nice!”
It’s not always easy to implement creative model and fantasy shoots. But we’re working on it.
