Too much slutness going on

One of the things that bothers me the most about ModelShoot, an Italian photography portal, is the lack of the possibility to choose the sex among the browsing options when scrolling through model profiles. To be honest, I already have so many female models to work with that I could sell them (but I won’t, as they’re among my best friends), so I just have no need to look for new ones. What I need are male models, and since you can only find one every five females, all of this makes my searches absolutely difficult and frustrating (beside unfruitful: strangely, I’ve found more models through Facebook). I just wonder how the webmasters could fail to consider a detail that I find obvious and essential, but that’s not the point.

The point is: being forced to browse through an infinity of female model accounts I’m not at all interested in, I’ve come to the conclusion that I do pity, truly and deeply, all those girls that, despite having nice and artistically meaningful portfolios, just keep totally meaningless profile pictures just because they show their underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose, most likely just for the sake of getting more attention.
Now. You, random girl showing your underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose, please tell me: why should I choose you as my model? What is it so special and worth photographing about you that your next-page colleague showing her underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose doesn’t have? If you take for granted that photographers only look for models willing to show their underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose without paying attention to any other detail, namely the face, the style, the personality and expressiveness that would make a shoot unique, then what’s the point in keeping a photography portal at all? One might as well go to the nearest highway, get the first prostitute he finds (who will most likely be willing to show her underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose) and get the thing done like that without much drama. Because, you know, in the end all underwear, boobs and asses are the same, if you only look for that whatever woman could fit in the role.
Option two is that these girls would like to be noticed by someone holding one of those castings you win via sexual favours. Well, let me tell you this, random girl showing your underwear, boobs or ass in a totally slutty pose: epic fail! To those people any woman would be good for a random fuck, why should they just choose you?

Just a random thought about the photography world.

The Infernal Lords IV: Lilith

“Spreading your feathers, sucking on every tree,
Caught up between the Devil and the deep blue sea.
As you lie across the table you swear and rhyme,
You lie across the table, you swear and rhyme,
Thinking that someone might suit your body,
Your body...”
[ Lilith – Susanne Sundfør ]

Princess Lilith is the Demon of Passion, Instinct and Desire. Being the Princess Royal of Hell, she’s the second most powerful woman at Court and the Leader of the Second Demonic Level, Emperor Lucifer’s entourage, which includes many of the most politically and magically powerful Higher Demons immediately below the Seven Satans. Formerly the Second-in-Command of Virtues, she plotted extensively with her former Chief, Duke Belial, and lured countless Angels to their downfall prior to the Great Heavenly War. She was the first female Angel to be cast out of Heaven and therefore the first woman to appear on Earth, right in the Earthly Paradise. She is best known for having been Adam’s first partner before the creation of Eve, although she refused to submit to him and fled from the Garden of Eden in anger to join the other Fallen Angels in Hell. Afterwards she had a long-lasting affair with Count Asmodeus and even dared to seduce one of the Heavenly Generals, Samael, the Angel of Death, although she didn’t actually lure him to his downfall.

Even though she shares the Sin of Lust with Count Asmodeus, she’s not one of the Seven Satans because she regards it more as a matter of instinct than a corrupting Sin. In return, this gives her access to the power of the Black Moon, a Planet existing only in the Astral Plane that guides the sexuality of mankind; as no Angel in Heaven has power over it, she’s the sole mistress of its influence. Indeed, she embodies the most wayward and instinctual side of femininity.

After her affair with Samael, she had countless flirts and relationships with many Courtiers of Pandemonium of both sexes, including again Count Asmodeus, her dear friend, Duke Astaroth, and even Emperor Lucifer himself. Despite being the de jure Leader of the Second Demonic Level, she finds the Court rules rather suffocating at times and often flies to the Earth where she acts as a Succubus, a nightly Demon who seduces men to lay with them and feed on their virility – she does so to gather more power, as her fall left her wingless. Her retinue of Incubi and Succubi include Marquis Leonard, occasionally Duke Astaroth himself and, most notably, her sister, Marquise Naamah. Thus, the actual command of the Second Level lies in Duchess Astarte’s hands, with whom Princess Lilith shares a friendly rivalry together with Queen Barbelo, each one representing one distinct aspect of womanhood. Her powers are also tied and complementary to those of Marquis Rosiel, one of her fellow Incubi, as she influences physical attraction whereas he manipulates romantic feelings.

Lilith: development and symbolism

Credits:
Photo, concept, manipulation, frame design: GothicNarcissus
Model, hair, make up: Briar Rose
Styling: Briar Rose and GothicNarcissus
Additional resources: Amptone-stock (textures)

Who hasn’t ever heard of Lilith, the wayward woman, the Lustful One, the Succubus? As far as it concerns me, I have known her since I was a child and have always had this image of a beautiful young woman with a mass of long, wayward auburn curls and a slightly dark skin in a black lacy nightgown. No wonder I imagined her like that rather than the much more gentle and “tamed” Pre-Raphaellite counterpart, as this is how she was depicted in a 1998 issue of an Italian astrological magazine called Astra. I’ve realised just recently that my mental image was derived from that illustration on an article of some unusual aspect between the Black Moon and Venus which occurred that year, and it has become so strongly rooted in my mind that I eventually decided it would be more or less how my own Lilith would look like.
There’s no real need to introduce Lilith, as facts about her are common knowledge and so detailed that they immediately provided me with a full-rounded character who only needed some minor adjustment to fit in my cosmology (such as arbitrarily choosing a Choir for her to fit my Demon = Fallen Angel motif, and further emproving her relationship network). Choosing a model wasn’t a problem either: after watching some photos of my dear BriarRose with her hair all curled up, my brain immediately connected her sensual figure, somewhat reminiscent of Middle East, with the image of Lilith I have had since my childhood. When I proposed her the role she accepted gladly, as Lilith has always been a figure that fascinated her, as well as a relevant part of her personality. She was even considering dyeing her hair red but was not sure, and this prompted her to give it a try (which eventually proved a very good choice).

Lady Lilith by Gabriel Dante Rossetti (1868).

Anyways, Lilith soon presented me with pretty much the same problems as Asmodeus: I had to provide a sensual and allusive representation without showing too much, as a nude or half-nude would be too obvious and banal (how many undressed Liliths have you seen, compared to the dressed ones? Meh). With the male character I got rid of the problem having him sort of bare-chested, which was impossible with a woman. The solution popped up during some brainstorming I had with BriarRose: portraying her in the act of unlacing her corset, showing her back to the camera. Simple but effective, with a much deeper symbolism. Besides, with black clothes and a corset, our rendition would also be much darker and more extreme than the Pre-Raphaellite one, as I wanted it to be.
Some symbolism now. The half-unlaced corsets has two meanings: 1) although she dresses elegant in order to fit the Court of Pandemonium, her primordial, rebel spirit often surfaces, forcing her to flee from the prison of etiquette and clothes; 2) the act of taking off the corset is a reference to her being a symbol of the feminist movement, which eventually got rid of the oppression symbolised by the tight corset (which is further emphasised by the fact that she’s holding the lace). Differently from most of my other Demons, she has no wings, mainly because they wouldn’t suit the pose, but also because she’s the most “earthly” among all the Demons. Her Seal is on her shoulder blade because, due to her wayward temper, it’d have been hard to mark her anywhere else; she also has the Black Moon symbol on her forehead to represent her astrological connection. The fact that she’s holding the lace of the corset in her hand also represents her reining mankind’s sexuality. The theme-colour is a vermilion and alludes to her lustful and sensual nature.
Choosing a theme-song was quite hard, and I’ve changed my mind several times for years after the photo itself was published. Eventually, I settled for the beautiful Lilith by Susanne Sundfør.

The Infernal Lords III: Asmodeus

“An addict to my tones,
You will drink me till you say when,
And then you’ll have to drink some more.
You’ll love me like the devil loves
To drink his water laced with wine,
But you won’t like him be called an Angel
When you fall.”
[ King – The Romanovs ]

Count Asmodeus, also known by Mortals as Asmodai, is a Higher Demon of the First Level who was previously the Chief of Cherubim and is now the Demon of Lust, thus one of the Seven Satans known as the Count of Judgment. His elemental powers rely on Heat (although he’s not the Master of Fire). Extremely dissolute and vain, he’s well known for his love of alcoholics and gambling, which stretches as far as making him the Director of the Infernal Casino.

Being the Demon of Lust, it’s not surprising that most of the memorable things about him are connected with his love affairs: he had a long-lasting relationship with Princess Lilith shortly after she fled the Garden of Eden after her Fall, and is famous in the Sublunar World for having fallen in love with a mortal woman called Sarah, to the point of killing her husbands before any of them could even touch her and fighting against Great Angel Raphael for that. It’s not surprising, though, that he had so many remarkable lovers, since his own Sin makes him an extremely good one, who is almost constantly flirting and having affairs with countless Demons of both sexes: rumour has it that he was bold enough to sleep with Archduke Beelzebub despite the latter’s reserved nature, and even dared to seduce Queen Barbelo and Emperor Lucifer themselves. His company is very enjoyable also outside of bed, for he’s a real gentleman, very polite, galant and subtle when flirting, with a good sense of humor and a lot of entertaining gossip to tell. This is what makes him a good friend of both the indolent Duke Astaroth and the vain Duke Belial, his favourite comrades when it comes to wasting time in the Court or spreading the Sins among Mortals.
Nobody tries to guess how many lovers he had, and rumours have it that the only Courtier he hasn’t slept with is Count Mammon, the Demon of Greed, as the two openly hate each other due to their opposite activities and different personalities. As a huge womaniser and alcohol lover, there’s almost no need to say that Count Asmodeus particularly likes Marquise Decarabia, as she can make the best beverages in Hell, and as an art lover he’s the patron of Count Naberius, the Demon of Figurative Arts.

Asmodeus: development and symbolism

Credits:

Photo, concept, manipulation, styling, frame design: GothicNarcissus
Model, hair, make up: Nick Chiron

Assistant: Ayl Rose
Additional resources: Darklaela-stock (wings)

Asmodeus is another Demon I came across through Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary. This time, though, her influence was quite limited, as Asmodeus’ figure is unusually well defined for the Jewish/Christian mythology standards, and I had plenty of sources which didn’t even contradict each other I could develop my character on, namely the Bible, the Talmud and many grimoires. Most of the sources agree about him being the Demon of Lust, most notably the Malleus Maleficarum (to which Sebastian Michaelis agreed) and Peter Binsfeld’s classification of the Upper Demons based on the Seven Deadly Sins. To my pleasure, I found more information about what he does in Hell and his relationships: he is depicted in the Malleus as the director of the Infernal Gambling House, some sources cite him as being an alcohol lover and having had a relationship with Lilith, and the Bible describes his fling with the mortal woman called Sarah; other sources said he was the Chief of Cherubim before the fall. Gosh, finally a fully round character!

Asmodeus from the Dictionnaire Infernal.

I had more than enough material to base my Demon on, but I decided to stick more closely to the Deadly Sin part, representing him most prominently as the Demon of Lust. Now I only had to come up with an aesthetic idea, as neither his “official” appearance nor Kaori Yuki’s depiction fit my ideal. It’s quite useless to say that the portrait found in the Dictionnaire Infernal was anything but fitting, so I had to do it by myself.

The first thing I had clear was that he had to be clothed, as a naked Demon of Lust would be rather banal. So, I decided for clothes that were elegant but messy enough to leave him strategically half-naked: a white shirt with a vest, black trousets and a loose tie (which I find sexy).

Asmodeus from Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary.

When looking for a model, I scrapped Kaori’s rendition all along, as her Asmodeus’ features were too sharp for my liking. Thanks to Ayl Rose, I found out about Nick Chiron, whose features immediately caught my attention, as he is somewhat cherubic but incredibly sexy. I decided that it had to be him, but was somewhat reluctant to approach him, as it would be the first time I asked someone I didn’t know before to pose. I eventually got in touch with thanks to my dear Ayl, who basically started the thing on her own out of frustration for my procrastination. Despite my worries, the photoshoot went smooth and I got Asmodeus at the third photo overall. I even eventually found out that Nick is quite a sex, alcohol and poker lover himself, so he was most definitely the best choice for the role.

The main symbolism in this photo lies in Nick’s outfit and pose; the latter is allusive but not vulgar, as I wanted to keep it classy. I decided not to include symbols related to alcohol consumption and gambling, as they would look excessive. The theme-colour is Persian rose to recall lust. It was not easy to find a fitting (and possibly not banal) song for the Demon of Lust, but eventually the amazing King by The Romanovs proved a fitting choice.

Brand new stuff coming soon

“I’m just a holy fool.
Oh baby, it’s so cruel,
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby.
I’m just a holy fool.
Oh baby, it’s so cruel,
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby.

Woah, I’m in love with Judas, Judas.
Woah, I’m in love with Judas, Judas.”

[ Judas - Lady Gaga ]

Quite not my usual style, isn’t it? Not only because I’d bet many of you wouldn’t expect me to love Lady Gaga (let alone get inspired by her), but also because this photo is much more revealing, explicit and anti-classical than the vast majority of what I’ve done so far. Nevertheless, I chose this particular photo to introduce my latest artistic collaboration, as it is strongly representative of its main aim: innovation and self-challenge.

I recently met my dear Briar Rose, one of my favourite models and best friends, and we had a very satisfying and rich three-day collaboration, with a whole kind of different ideas and outcomes that left stunned myself to begin with. As she’s now exploring the world behind the camera beside that in front of it, we took turns in shooting and posing, so quite a lot of variety is to be expected. Unfortunately, weather didn’t help us, but didn’t prevent us from taking, beside this single shoot, two mini-series with Briar Rose posing (one with her boyfriend Yue), and another two with me as the model. We only wroked indoors, so we were forced to explore the tricky world of artificial lights, try and provide variety to our photos without the help of the set (as we always used a flat black background) and focus more on outfits and make up.

I must confess I just love working with Briar Rose. We’re very similar when it comes to ideas and their development, as we come from a similar background and point to the same direction: we’re both tired of the strict clichés of Gothic imagery and constantly aim to reinvent and improve ourselves, keeping our work open to a handful of different influences and inspirations not to end up doing the very same thing over and over again. This latest collaboration perfectly represented this aim of ours, as putting our creativity together we pushed our boundaries further than we ever did in more than one direction. You can still expect my distinctive gloomy atmospheres, as well as my classical touch, but the themes I explored while shooting are either pushed further or completely new; also, you will see me modelling in a totally different context that you’re used to. I will talk about each mini-series when I publish it, so stay tuned!

The Infernal Lords II: Astarte

“From our castles we sent ships with demons,
Witches’ lovecraft.
Now she’s gone, yet I feel her breathing
While I tell her story.

Bow my head to the allmighty,
I have lost my way.
Time stood still when we danced the last
Dark and pure September day.”
[ The Allmighty – Gothminister & Nell Sigland ]

Duchess Astarte is a Higher Demon and the third most powerful woman in Hell. She is the twin sister of Duke Astaroth, whom she loves dearly, but her powerful sibling is certainly not the reason of her high status in the Infernal Peerage: she was the original Queen of Heaven before her own Fall and the subsequent ascension of the Virgin Mary, and as the Chief of Seraphim, the highest-ranking Heavenly Choir, she was adored like a Goddess by fellow Angels and mankind. She was not part of the first group of Fallen Angels because, after the Great Heavenly War, she stayed in Heaven undercover, faking loyalty to Yahweh while using her pure, holy appearance to lead the newly-created mankind to adore female motherly deities instead of the patriarchal Yahweh. Such was her appeal that, through many different names, she was known to the majority of ancient human cultures. Her cover resisted the turmoil caused by Countess Agares after the Babel Tower incident, but she rebelled openly and was cast out of Heaven when her close friend and fellow Fallen Seraph, Marquise Anamelech, foretold her that Yahweh intended for a mere Mortal woman to become the new Queen of Heaven in her place, in order to have mankind adore a surrogate, less powerful Heavenly Mother to bring the cult into his patriarchal religion.  Thus, she was the last Great Angel to officially fall from Heaven.
As the nemesis the Virgin Mary, who stole most of her looks, Duchess Astarte has become the Demon of Abortion, Miscarriage and Infertility. Sharing part of her brother’s elemental power over Air, she can control Humidity and related atmospheric phenomena, playing an important role in the fertility of Earth itself. She is also an Astral Demon, mastering the astrological influence of Planet Venus. She still occasionally appears on the Earth as a fake Madonna to hinder the Virgin Mary’s propaganda.

Beside her friendship with Marquise Anamelech and fellow Astral Demon, Marquis Andrealphus, she shares a sort of friendly rivalry with Queen Barbelo and Princess Lilith, two other prominent ladies who embody other aspects of femininity. Thanks to her great powers, prestigious past and the delicate mission she carried on, she’s one of the highest-ranking Demons just below the Seven Satans, being the de facto Leader of the Second Demonic Level, as Princess Lilith often neglects her duties. Due to her seraphic, solemn appearance and gentle manners, many Fallen Angels still tribute her the reverence she once received as the Queen of Heaven and take part in her retinue, most notably fellow former Seraphim Archduke Beelzebub and Marquis Leviathan.

Astarte: development and symbolism

Credits:

Photo, concept, manipulation, frame design: GothicNarcissus
Model, make up: Ayl Rose
Hair, styling: Ayl Rose and GothicNarcissus
Additional resources: Amptone-stock (textures), Alegion-stock (wings), Jen-ni (star brushes)
 

Similarly to her “twin brother”, I first found out about Astarte as a Demon thanks to Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary. Although largely outshone by her fascinating brother, I quite grew fond of her character and her relationship with him so, when I decided that I would eventually shoot the Infernal Lords, I wanted her in – also to have some more female characters in the series.

Astarte from Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary.

Like Astaroth, both the physical appearance and the general characterisation of this Demon are largely reminiscent of Kaori Yuki’s version, also because the information I could found about Demon-Astarte was really scarce. Before reading the manga, I only had some general knowledge about the Semitic goddess, roughly corresponding to other figures such as Ishtar, Anat, Isis, and Aphrodite, but didn’t know anything about her adoption into the Christian pantheon-in-disguise as a Demon. When I tried to look for something about her Demonic self, I only found “behind the scenes” stuff about the goddess, how she was perceived by the Hebrew culture and then absorbed into the monotheistic system. After that, particularly in the Middle Ages, she was mostly confused with and merged into Astaroth, with basically no mention of her as a stand-alone figure. After some discouragement, though, I found out that, as a demonised figure, she was held responsible of infertility and miscarriage. Great, finally something that, together with some borrowing from Kaori Yuki and from her pagan background, could provide a base for the character. Looking further, I also found out about Asherah, another version of Astarte who was considered the Queen of Heaven and spouse of Yahweh, which would perfectly fit in the character. Beside that, anthropologically speaking, Astarte is basically the same virgin-mother figure as the Virgin Mary and many depictions even portray her with the same attributes as the Madonna (the crown of stars and the colour blue, for instance). Basically, the Virgin Mary was the alternate Christian adaptation of Astarte into the pseudo-monotheistic system.
Thus, I decided to give her a double background, one in which she was still in Heaven and adored as a Goddess at first, then cast out and replaced by the Virgin Mary, becoming a Demon. This helped me diverge from Kaori Yuki’s material as I considered Astarte and Astaroth two completely separate entities; also, as she was considered a Goddess of general fertility and subsequently became the demon of abortion and infertility, she could as well share her brother’s powers over Air, although specialised in the humidity kind of thing; thirdly, there was no mention about which Choir she was in whatsoever, but as the Queen of Heaven, by logic she had to be the top of the top Choir, namely the Chief of Seraphim; finally, as the former Queen of Heaven, born an Angel and now the anti-mother, she was the perfect nemesis of her “alter-ego” Mary, born a mortal and become a mother. To sum things up, what came out was basicaly the anti-Madonna.

With the characterisation done, once I found the fitting model, the symbolism came out much more smoothly. I chose my dear friend Ayl because we sort of look alike (which is quite notable in these works), her thin shape was perfect for the role, and her face may be so gentle I would simply define it as seraphic. We had to do some brainstorming together about the outfit and pose, and then we were ready to shoot.

Like Astaroth, the hairstyle is strongly based on Kaori Yuki’s character, but the outfit we chose was totally different, as we needed a very tight corset to symbolise constriction on the womb; also, her right hand, which bears the Seal (and thus the power) is placed upon her uterus. She has six wings because she is a former Seraph, and a halo of stars similar to that of the Virgin Mary which symbolises her status as the (former) Queen of Heaven; the Seal is simply made of a heptacle with decorations similar to those of Astaroth to fit the seven-letter name. The azure theme-colour, beside being the colour associated with both Astarte and the Virgin Mary, gives a (fake) heavenly feeling and recalls cold (thus infertility) and air/humidity, and is also Ayl’s favourite.

Finally, the song, The Allmighty by Gothminister featuring Nell Sigland, sounds quite heavenly itself, and the character described fits with Astarte.