Ragthered – 7 May 2024
Enjoy the city roads
As is our general nature in life, we were yet again running late to our next photo-shoot. With the 2 of us on a single bike, and in an effort to make up a bit of time, SophieS gave me permission to enjoy myself on the city roads. This is often the way she tells me to get a move on with a clear conscience. Enjoy the roads I did, maybe a little too much as Sophie remarked on the potential bruises on her thighs that may be visible during the photo-shoot, due to her clinging on for dear life!
Murphy and his laws have a lot to answer for
A short but thrilling time later, we arrived at the studio location. One of Murphy’s unknown laws, is that if you need to carry a lot of equipment, your destination will never be on the ground floor and nor will there will be a lift (or elevator if you are a colonial).
After finally scaling the north face of Mount Neverendingstairwell, or as it’s known to the locals, Mt I’llcatchyouup we bade farewell to our trusty Sherpas and rang the bell to the studio of photographer Krisztian Seiner.
Pleasure or Pain?
On entering the studio, we were met by Krisztian and the MUA Vivien Juhász. After brief introductions, Vivien got underway transforming Sophie into something astonishing enough to be tied up and hung from the ceiling. As you can imagine, the end result wasn’t exactly the same as my original understanding or indeed, the images that were dancing through the fog of my brain.
Instead, Sophie was transformed into this kind of Cirque du Soleil work of art. As Krisztian prepared the ropes he was going to use, he explained that this was not called Shibari but was referred to as Rope Game. The difference to me is that Shibari, in my limited knowledge, looks like an outfit to wear that would leave some interesting tan lines, whereas Rope Game looks like it may have evolved from some kind of Spanish Inquisition questioning technique.
But what did I know? Mine is not to question why but to stand back and watch Sophie fly!
Audience participation
I didn’t really get to stand much in the side-line’s as I was suddenly roped in (see what I did there?) to assist in helping Krisztian hoist Sophie up on to a rig that was hanging from the ceiling. When someone says to me, “excuse me, we have your wife completely bound with rope while wearing a black tutu and was wondering if you help us hang her up on the ceiling?” well, you don’t have to ask me twice!
It took all 3 of us to hold Sophie up, navigate through flowing dresses and high heels and tie each rope individually to the rig. This was great fun to do, well for most of us, as poor Sophie’s entire job at this point was to, well, basically just hang around for a bit.
Ready, action, go go go!
As Sophie was now pretty much suspended by a rope around the waist, Krisztian had to work quickly to get the snaps he needed. Vivien was a blur of motion as she dashed about making sure hair and clothing was in place. She may be a little lady but she has a 7 foot personality and even had a crack at hanging from the rig herself!
After Krisztian was happy with the shots he captured, it was all hands on deck to get Sophie down safely and out of the rigging. My job was basically to stand in front of her so she could rest her weight on me, perfect photo opportunity I thought at this point! As you can see from the result, I do look like I’m about to be attacked by some kind of mad vampiric Harley Quinn.
Weird and Wonderful
After a quick change, we said our goodbyes and headed off on our usual ritual of taking Sophie into a fast food place while still in full makeup. Heads as usual did turn but as with most city dwellers, didn’t last long. People from large cities have usually seen it all from 1950’s wannabe’s and flying mannequins to leather clad biker babes and life size dolls in discarded street rubbish, and these are just the ones inspired by SophieS.model photography.
If you would like to see more of Krisztian and Vivian’s work, please check out their links below:
Ragthered – Behind the scenes
