'I was born in a war where the battle was fought between my own angels and demons. My art, therefore, reflects my soul… sometimes heavenly and pleasant, other times dark and stormy.'
Fetish was a word I didn't really understand until about two years ago. It was then that I discovered the world of Von Melzer. I instantly fell in love with Von Melzer's work, the deep colors, the angles, the way in which he captured both ecstasy and pain simultaneously. Until then, I thought the pain associated with fetish was just physical and not the emotional torment Von Melzer so beautifully captures.
Over the past several years, I have done several posts featuring the work of Von Melzer. There is such depth in his images that remains imprinted on my brain long after the visual has gone. Because of his imagery, I have realised that fetishes are not just something that only effect others, but instead touch us all. The difference is not whether there is something we sexually fixate on, the difference is weather we choose to acknowledge it, and then act upon it.
In books, or on television, when fetish is the subject, the author or artist tend to focus on those who act them out. Those who put on the mask, tighten up the leather and hold the props. Although Von Melzer has certainly chronicled those who act out their fetishes, my passion for his work is due to his ability to capture the fetishes within those who do not.
'While I enjoy photographing landscapes and objects, my first love is portrait photography. The expressions human's make in both their face and body language is incredible to me. It's about that unexpected moment when the subject is unaware of me taking the photo. Not posed or planned, just someone acting naturally. That's when the truth comes out in the photo.'
What makes this set of images so erotic, besides of course catering to one of my own preoccupations, is not necessarily just what you see. What makes them so arousing to me, is the ability to feel the intensity and imagine what feelings, that the model is experiencing at that moment of capture.
