Ben Bale Photography

I spent last week sitting by a crystal clear blue pool in boiling heat on holiday…which has made this week in London grey, cold and wet. Well, greyer, colder, wetter.

So to try and bring back some of that relaxed sunset feel – here are a couple of photos from Santorini. The first one is Thira and the second two are from the island of Thirassia which only got electricity about 25 years ago and has one tiny village on it.

Can I go back please!?

I’m pretty sure that the result of those two – Lady Gaga and Steel Panther – would probably come up with something that looked and sounded a little like a bad Ratt b-side. However luckily this isn’t an audio post. This is the glammed up results of my photoshoot last night with Sophie. The second half was a little bit more luxurious than the glam/sleazy/hippy photos below and I’ll post those later.

What do you think?

Hmm, maybe with a bit of Cheryl Cole and Glastonbury mixed in as well.

Ironically I hate pretty much everything I’ve referenced here – other than Steel Panther, I’d get my tits out for them any day.

Did you know you can buy banksy stencils for you interior decorating now? I mean how fan removed from rebelion is interior design? “ooh look at me, aren’t I shortditch – I have banksy in my bedroom!”

We’ll here’s 5 bits of street art I’ve seen with my camera recently.

This one isn’t that rcent to be honest – I took this image years ago and used it for a song I wrote, recorded and never released to the world when I was about 16. It was called “Toy of TOnight” and sounded resoundingly awful and dull.

This is on the side of a Toys R Us in Southampton – I love how these kids are complaining on the said of a toy shop, yet were too short to continue their protest due to the stairs, damn that physical world manipulation!

This pretty much sums up our economy right down, doesn’t it?

Sting would have been proud.

Wow, just wow. Wouldn’t you rather this than yet another banksy rat?

I’ve just watched Versace’s comedy take on Caligula – yes I know I’m 5 years behind most people, but I love who gorgeously tacky the whole thing is while being so ornate at the same time. It’s like watching a porn film designed by Jeff Coons (oh, no wait – this is).

Anyway, back to the photography. I’ve just finished a shoot with Adrian. Wax & Rope abound.

My favourite image from this shoot though, is this one…

Having just finished a bondage photoshoot with Adrian, the results of which will appear here later, I’ve been thinking. What are the best songs based on bondage? Since I have a few photos that seemed to fit, I thought I’d put together my own (since the world cup is almost here) first XI of bondage songs.

1. The Velvet Underground & Nico – Venus in Furs
   This song is out an out BDSM classic – I mean you can’t get more obvious than “Comes in bells, your servant, don’t forsake him
   Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart”. 5 minutes of amazing atmosphere creating soundscapes. Ok, it’s not specifically bondage themed, but damn it’s a good song.
2. Recoil – Breath Control
   Wow. I’m a sucker for narratives within songs, but this is fantastic. As the relationship in the song moves on “it’s been fine so far, but after a while I want more than a soft style” in to the practically orgasmic middle, this this bondage in audio form. As a side project of Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder, I should also give honourable mentions here to two Depeche Mode songs – “In Chains” and “Master and Servant”
3. Closer – Nine Inch Nails
   Ok, I’ll admit it, this song is only hear so I have an excuse to show you a photo of Marvin here. He’s made of nails and a pig’s heart – a bit like this song!
4. Under My Thumb – The Rolling Stones
   Who said bondage had to be about leather straps? This song is a celebration of breaking someone’s will. “It’s down to me, the way she does just what she’s told”. Unlike a lot of these songs, this seems quite one sided, there’s no ‘she asked me to’ here. The closest we get is in the opening lines of “The girl who once had me down”. Revenge is sweet?
5. I’m your man – Leonard Cohen
   More psychology here. This is the ultimate song of submission, if ‘Under my thumb’ is the celebration of domination, then this is surely the other side of the coin.
6. Head like a Hole – Nine Inch Nails
   Again, more BDSM than bondage, but a fantastic song. I couldn’t have made this list without including “bow down before the one you serve, you’re going to get what you deserve”.
7. Whip in my Valise – Adam and the Ants
   Tongue firmly in cheek, this is a great glammed up punky song with some great lyrics.
8. Passenger – Deftones
   Yes this has now got connotations of ‘Queen of the Damned’ but this wall of sound builds up into a brutally soft song – and that’s really not a paradox here.
9. SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
   Who says we can’t look at mainstream pop? You certainly can’t get any more mainstream than Justin Timberlake and with lyrics like “You see the shackles
   Baby I’m your slave
   I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave” this song needs to be here.
10. Leather – Tori Amos
    You couldn’t do a list like this without at least one religious reference and Tori Amos brings all the catholic guilt you could ever want to most of her songs, but this simple song and it’s blues piano solo are fantastic.
11. Oh Bondage, Up Yours! – X-Ray Spex
    Go check out Poly Styrene at wikipedia, that’s a pretty damn good description of this song!

Any more you could add to the list? If you want this lot on spotify, you can find them here

Oh and finally…