Bad, but good

I'm a long-time follower of Bad Penny Blues. I'm not entirely sure why - I just love the eclectic mix of stuff that turns up in each and every post. It's not all to my taste, but it usually makes me smile and it has at imtes been something of an inspiration for some fictional bad behaviour.
It bills itself as: 'A motley circus of erotic imagery of interest mainly to transvestites, sissies, femdom fans, retro-erotics, auto-flagellants, lingerie fetishists, the luridly curious and similar riff-raff.' I'm not sure which category I fall into; maybe a retro-erotic, possibly luridly curious or perhaps I'm just riff-raff...
Anyway, today the treat was this Jim Black drawing, which I'm fairly certain I haven't seen before. If I had I think I would have remembered it because I just love the subtlty of the composition.
It's all a bit of a puzzle. Has she just been spanked? She looks quite composed if she has, not a hair out of place, and no visible 'war wounds' on her bot. Maybe, she's about to be spanked and is taking a last look to remind herself of what a bruise-free behind should look like.
When I've got more time I really must put together a post that pulls together more of Mr Black's (or Mr. Luc Lafnet's) work. It really is evocative stuff - at least for us 'retro-erotics'.  

 

Picture perfect

What makes the perfect spanking picture? Difficult to say, isn't it? Everybody's equation of perfection would be different, I'm sure.

In my real world job I get to work quite a bit with photographers, so I take an interest in what is - and isn't - a good image in an editorial context. A friend sent me an online lecture by the photo director for National Geographic, who's called David Griffin.

I've just been watching it - it's worth a look if you're interested. He's got an interesting insight. And he uses funny examples, which helps make the point.

Everyone has a great photo in them, he says. But a great photographer has to have great photos to deliver time and again. 

What Griffin says is that although we're bombarded every day with moving images, the still image still has the power to make a connection at an emotional level - if it's really exceptional. It's like the mental image you have after a car crash, that frozen flashbulb moment that encapsulates all the emotional power of the experience.Anyway, it got me thinking about how there's now a deluge of spanko images coming at us where once there was so little. Old Janus and Februs images are remembered like old friends, now nothing much stands out. 

For me David Griffin's flashbulb moment seems to apply to what I see in the spankosphere to some degree. Stills register, video mostly doesn't and it's the still images where I can find my way into the emotion - the ones where I'm sitting in that car that's heading for a collision.I like this picture because I feel like I'm sharing her apprehension, like its me that's going to feel that nasty big paddle. It makes me want to ask questions like what was it that she did that was so very bad?

But there's not so much good stuff around, is there? Maybe that's why I'm so much in love with spanko art. With so many photos out there it's harder and harder for something to leap out at you, but a great piece of art - a Stanton, a Malteste, a Jim Black or whatever - nearly always makes the connection.

Surf break

Up early today to face a day wading through a mountain of words. I can only do editing in big chunks, but today I fear I may have bitten off more than I can chew - 30,000 words by the end of the day...
I plan to be especially sharp on the use and abuse of the semi-colon today, thanks largely to a useful discussion about punctuation over at Remittance Girl. Already straightened one or two out since I started and it's only breakfast time.
'Breakfast' is probably stretching it as I've only had a coffee and a short recreational bit of web exploration. I've been trying to find out a bit more about the artist Jim Black, but haven't got very far. Apparently he was a Belgian whose real name was Luc Lafnet and who died early in World War Two. He lived in Paris and published his erotic art under pseudonyms - one of which was Jim Black.
The Jim Black drawings are wonderful. I love the energy of them - there's usually a lot of emotional intensity in there. The spanker is in a passion and is spanking in anger. Often every muscle is being tested by the effort of correction. At the same time the poor spankees (both female and male) are overcome by the moment.
Anyway, no more spanko surfing - the semi-colon calls.