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Matthew Holliday: Welcome to the not safe for work photography podcast, where we explore the art and business of nude and erotic photography. Today, we're interviewing Wilbur Wauk, who is the owner of Rowdy Digital Images. Wilbur was on the podcast back in episode 31, talking about doing boudoir shoots for the masses.
When I posted a couple months ago asking for unique perspectives in the field, he responded, we've started doing event photography at alternative lifestyle hotel takeovers. Our thanks today, Wilbur.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Things are going good.
Matthew Holliday: That's good. I mean, it's Friday evening. It can't be bad. I guess unless you work weekend shifts, then, then it could very well be bad.
Rhowdy Digital Images: and it was warm and sunny and it's still daylight out. So I'm definitely enjoying this time of year.
Matthew Holliday: Oh, it is still light out. You know, I [00:01:00] should have taken this, I should have done this call on the back porch. Although, there's a road out, there'd probably be a lot of road noise. Maybe, yeah, maybe I'll start doing that. We'll start doing like porch, porch podcasts for the summer. Alright you reached out to me and was talking about this, and this is something that I have Almost no experience in whatsoever.
So I'm excited to learn a bunch of new stuff. And, and, and hopefully you enjoy this too, not just training Matthew and things. All right. We'll start off with what exactly is an alternative lifestyle hotel takeover?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Well, it's a lot of things. It's the swing, the swinger lifestyle, fetish the polyamorous crowd. Some people show up just to dance. It's not the put your keys in a fishbowl crowd anymore. There's a level of sophistication [00:02:00] that the Seventies could have never dreamed of and
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I'm just, just thinking of all the things that I've seen and trying to put those into words is, is a bit of a challenge sometimes. But it, it's people from all age groups, 18 and older, of course and, and all, all lifestyles. I mean, there's straight, gay, trans, everybody with a pronoun is there.
Matthew Holliday: So you mentioned, so it's interesting you mentioned the, kind of the, sort of like for the, the stereotype of the swinger, where everybody shows up and throws their keys and,
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: like that anymore. What, what typically happens at one of these subtle takeovers? Is there like a, a big party downstairs?
Is there
Rhowdy Digital Images: For the weekend for me [00:03:00] starts Thursday when I get to the hotel early so I can be there first thing in the morning to set up the photo area and help the, the crew out any way I can setting up for the party. Registration runs from three o'clock on Friday night party starts around nine, usually with a live band and people just mingling, talking to old friends, meeting new people snacks come out around 10, 30, 11 o'clock in the hospitality room.
Matthew Holliday: that sounds like, that's the part that I care about.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. And then band usually winds up around 1230, one o'clock, somewhere around there. And the DJ plays music till two, maybe three in the morning, then everything goes quiet until the pool party from [00:04:00] two until five, Saturday afternoon. A lot of outlandish games and good times there. Then there's a poker run around seven o'clock.
Where you go to the different stations and they have shots ready for people to do. Jello shots are very popular at these events because you, you know, make a ton of them ahead of time and just keep them in your Core.
Matthew Holliday: Well, it's
Rhowdy Digital Images: The official party for that starts at 9 and runs until 2. Then the music keeps playing until around 3 o'clock. And then Sunday, tear down, pack it up and go home until time to do it again.
Matthew Holliday: so interesting. I it's funny. I'm, this is making me feel even older than I am. And I'm not that old, but I go to bed at like nine o'clock. This is a, so I assume that as the, as the photographer, you [00:05:00] have to stay up as long as there are people that are interested.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. My, my official duties with the party take place between eight and supposedly 10, but usually I keep taking the the prom picture part of it until around 11, 1130 on Saturday night. from there I go over to the fetish crew area. Where they do, you know, rope tying and upping and fluorescent wax on the body. And they have people over there that want pictures taken this, this past weekend, we had three people who got the ropes done on them and then suspended. And one woman actually was turned into what they call a human chandelier where they. Drip the wax on her and then they [00:06:00] put candles on her and she just hangs there for a little bit and it's it's Really really cool thing to witness
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. We've had a couple of people come on and talk about the rope ties. And I know. At least one of the models, I think on a green specifically called out that it's apparently very, because sensation of being tied and restrained is very relaxing for a lot of women. Well, I shouldn't say a lot of women, a lot of people
Rhowdy Digital Images: I had
Matthew Holliday: just say, I think I would be going crazy if somebody restrained me, get me out of this thing.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I mean it it looks a lot of fun but for me it it's kind of a patience thing because you have to stand there still while the Rope master ties you in a very specific way and I'm, I'm just too fidgety for that.
Matthew Holliday: [00:07:00] Yeah, I did. Yeah. They did mention that it takes many hours sometimes to complete the whole thing, so I can definitely understand that. All right so that that is a long weekend It makes sense that you don't start again till 2 because if you're staying up till 3, then you're probably not waking up till noon
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, well it, it, it's surprising how many people my own age or some even older are like still up at the crack of dawn and in the hot tub and walking around the pool and
Matthew Holliday: Yeah
Rhowdy Digital Images: Right there. There's there's a level of tailgating at this thing that I have yet to see at any sporting event
Matthew Holliday: Sounds like they found the secret to I don't know secrets of something secrets.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, I mean, but the fount of youth just might be a hot tub and a good drink.
Matthew Holliday: I am NOT gonna argue with that All right So what kinds of photography do you do there? You [00:08:00] mentioned prom photos specifically.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah the main the main party theme They the each night has a different theme and usually they kind of go hand in hand for Like from February, one night was Mardi Gras Friday night was Valentine's day, and then Saturday was Mardi Gras. So Mardi Gras was the main setup there with a backdrop and some scenic props.
And I bring out the laptop and the tripod and set up for two hours,
Matthew Holliday: I hate prom photos
Rhowdy Digital Images: photos of anyone who wants them. But I also do in room mini boudoir sessions. I mentioned the, the fetish crew. I hang out with them a lot Friday night. And then after I close up shop at the backdrop, I go over there and hang out [00:09:00] while for them taking more pictures of what they're doing for their purposes and anyone who wants them. So it's,
Matthew Holliday: well, let's, yeah, let's dive into each one of these. So when you say prompt photos, the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, the, the pose guy in a tuxedo or one person, you know, they're both dressed nicely, dresses, tuxedos, all of that kind of stuff. Is this, is it, am I, am I close? Or is it, is it the posed part?
The only part that's really
Rhowdy Digital Images: that, that's exactly what it is. It could be singles, couples small groups. I've had some big groups try and fit it in front of the, the eight by ten backdrop too, with some measure of success. But yeah, that, that's exactly it. People dress to the theme of the night. So instead of the tuxedos and prom [00:10:00] gown unless that's the theme, it's, A lot of people dress nice, but you get some, some wild costumes too.
Oh,
Matthew Holliday: like what?
Rhowdy Digital Images: well, how Halloween people go all out for Halloween and you. Some movie quality costumes for that on any other given night, it could be, you know, she's just wearing underwear and pasties and he's wearing a thong. I, and it up to people, people dressed like they're ready to go out for a night on the town and everything in between
Matthew Holliday: Interesting. So this is, so these, these typically happen I mean, this is in a hotel, right? And they're wandering around in this type of some fetish wear and stuff like that. So the, are the employees there as
Rhowdy Digital Images: There, there is staff [00:11:00] there. Yep. But. The name Hotel Takeover says it all. I mean,
Matthew Holliday: There's no other
Rhowdy Digital Images: us, only us at the hotel, signs on all the doors, you know, booked for a private event, no admittance.
Matthew Holliday: All right, gotcha. All right.
Rhowdy Digital Images: And yeah, it's, it's, it's very, very rare that even whenever like in Gettysburg, there's two hotels that are joined by the conference rooms. And it's very rare that there's any kind of. Other people booked it and the other hotel, so there's no conflict there.
Matthew Holliday: So now. No, folks.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Cause there, there, there's still that level of discretion, secrecy, privacy, however you want to word it. Where, you know, no one who might be [00:12:00] there gets outed the hotel doesn't get a reputation for having those kinds of parties.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: So there, there's still that speakeasy element that makes it a lot of fun too.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. I will talk about privacy in a bit. I would have added a few questions on that, but let's go back. Let's finish going through these. You mentioned the fetish photography. So you said that they, it sounded like they almost set up separately in a separate part of the hotel from the rest. So these, is this like a combined thing where all the different groups come in together?
Rhowdy Digital Images: It, it, it, it's a combined thing. There's a couple of major different areas. There's the dance floor, there's my area, which is close by. There's the bar, and then there's the play area, and that's where the fetish people set up their, their massage tables, their wax [00:13:00] tables any rope rigging that has to be sprung from the ceiling for the suspension. Put up a St. Andrew's cross for anyone who wants to be doing that.
Matthew Holliday: I've seen those. Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: some inflatable hubes. They look like giant igloos so that
Matthew Holliday: What are those for? Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: They're for people to go in and enjoy themselves inside there without having to go back to their rooms. So they're little, little sex huts.
Matthew Holliday: I see. I see. It's just to give you a little bit of privacy.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: I get it. Alright. That almost sounds like something that they'd have at Oh, what is that? Man, I am, I'm apparently losing words and losing things. I'm thinking of the the get together in the desert. Out in Nevada, the really famous, but expensive and now super trendy one.
That's fine. Everybody listened to this. He's yelling at the, at the, the [00:14:00] radio.
Rhowdy Digital Images: yeah. And I'm,
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. You know what I'm talking about, but I can't remember the name
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. And I'm like the bunny, the chicken farm.
Matthew Holliday: now. No, hold on. I'm going to remove the silence here. Burning man. There we go.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Oh, okay. Okay. All right. That
Matthew Holliday: like they've got, yeah, that way. Cause I was listening to a podcast where they're talking about that, where there's, you've got like little, Hotels where you can go and have your, you know, assignations and they've got a little private rooms in the hotel.
It sounded like, kind of like that where you're surrounded by people, but you still have a little bit of privacy.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't, didn't, you know, you can leave the door open or close that as however you want.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, that's fair. All right.
Rhowdy Digital Images: and I've also started the last few months doing a thing called a dark where it
Matthew Holliday: heard of these where you just go into the lights are all out. And it's
Rhowdy Digital Images: pitch black, except for a wristband that glows, whatever your preference is. Okay.
Matthew Holliday: [00:15:00] Oh, that's convenient. Yeah. And it was assumed when I heard of those that when you were going in, you're basically consenting to just about everything because it was very difficult to communicate once you're in there.
Rhowdy Digital Images: mean, you can even wear a red one, which means hands off and just, you know, go in and walk around after a few minutes, the night vision kicks in and it's
Matthew Holliday: Hello.
Rhowdy Digital Images: not all that dark dark. You can get around without bumping into people, but yeah, that's a lot, a lot of different ways to have fun there.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, I can imagine. All right. So when you're, when you're filming, when you're doing fetish photography, I assume that these are a lot more spontaneous. You're trying to kind of capture what's going on. You're not, or are you telling them and posing them and yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I'm just an observer with a camera. [00:16:00] You know, the, the only authorized camera there, except for their own personal cell phones and whatnot. But yeah, I'm just taking shots any way I can to, to get the picture and, you know, always be clicking as it goes. And it's a lot of spontaneity, a lot of standing back so you don't get it in. The cruise way. Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, I imagine you have to really kind of try and fade into the background as much as possible.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. What's nice about the one hotel we go to is the play area is often an open corner and I can go up on the second floor and the balcony looks down over. So I can shoot from above when get some cool angles that direction, and I don't have to worry about accidentally getting someone's [00:17:00] face in the background.
And
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: cause I have to be very careful of that too.
Matthew Holliday: So, alright, so that sounds interesting. So are you not allowed to capture anybody's face at all? Or do they have like wristbands that show they're, you know, willing to have their face captured? Or,
Rhowdy Digital Images: The people who get their pictures taken in the fetish area, you know, I, of course, you know, they either approach me and say, I want you to take pictures of this. Cause this is my first time being waxed or cupped or whatnot, or the fetish crew says, you know, Hey, come over, take some pictures. And if it's just me taking pictures for the crew while they're doing their thing, then I'll ask each person, Hey, do you mind if I get some pictures of this?
And nine times out of 10, they'll say, no, just make sure you send me pictures to,
Matthew Holliday: how do
Rhowdy Digital Images: which I have, I have no problem with that because that's, it's such a [00:18:00] cool experience, but it's the people standing in the background, just watching
Matthew Holliday: I
Rhowdy Digital Images: that I have to be
Matthew Holliday: Because they're not
Rhowdy Digital Images: of. And yeah, yeah. And when I'm editing, I have to go in and blur the background just a little bit more so that no one's recognizable.
Matthew Holliday: Let's see. And that makes a lot of sense. That's definitely I've, I've you know, I nevermind. I'm not going to share. Well, we'll just leave it at that. I am somewhat familiar with the, the, the fetish and some of these alternative communities, both from talking with models and knowing some of them personally, and I know that consent is a huge part of it.
So it makes a lot of sense that that extends even to the photography.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. All right. You mentioned also in room photo sessions, I assume that those are a lot more kind of ad hoc.
Rhowdy Digital Images: You know, I do half hour [00:19:00] sessions, couples, singles, whatever. And that, that's more of a transforming the room into my own little portable studio and familiar ground as far as shooting that way.
Matthew Holliday: When you're, when you're shooting in the room, do you have some tricks for trying to make it feel like not a hotel room, or do you more lean into the, like, this is a hotel room. This is a specific kind of aesthetic that we're going for here.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I'm lucky in that they, Go to medium tier hotels. So it's not like
Matthew Holliday: not too. Oh,
Rhowdy Digital Images: the tangerine orange wall of a super eight in the background. But a lot of the couples decorate their room for the theme of the weekend. And so we can lean into it that way [00:20:00] because that's already, they were at when they had these pictures taken. I also shoot in my own room, that way it's completely, for one of a better word, sterile all of that, because,
Matthew Holliday: yeah,
Rhowdy Digital Images: I mean, I have to tear down my vendor display, the photo backdrop area, plus load my own personal stuff from the room, so I don't decorate because that would just be one more thing for me to do Sunday morning. I take a different color set of sheets so that it's not just the white and tan of the hotel. So that adds a little bit of color to it and removes a gradual step away from being, Oh, look, that's a hotel room. I [00:21:00] hide the phones in the alarm clock and move things around. Ways I can get away with so that it looks like if you had a house with a permanently attached headboard to the wall, all that's, that's what you're getting.
Matthew Holliday: it's so funny looking over pictures and being able to pick out like, yep, there's the, you know, there's the the covered thermostat on the wall and, you know, there's the little heating or cooling unit under the, and, oh yeah, that looks like a hotel room with yeah, it's, they just have such a look.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. And I discovered this past weekend that I always try for a first floor around the pool room because that's just easier for loading, unloading, and a lot more fun. I can leave the door open and still be Part of what's going on, I found out that the rooms along the [00:22:00] long side of the pool bigger than the rooms along the short side of the pool, just because, just because of the way they're laid out there, probably, you know, if you measured them, they'd be the same way. It's just that everything's kind of rotated differently that I noticed there's, there's more walk around room in one of the long side rooms than it is the short side room.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. And especially for photography, where you want to kind of have the longest sightline possible. I imagine that the way the room is set up. Yeah. Cause what I'm thinking of is most hotel rooms are set up where you walk in and it's long from the door and they've got the two beds off to on the right side of the left side, but they're lined up again.
So if you're trying to shoot down the bed, you're shooting the shortest dimensions in the room.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm, I have a three step stole that I take with me everywhere. And I've been known to get up on the desk [00:23:00] and shoot down from above.
Matthew Holliday: funny. That's funny. I'll have to remember that too. Interesting. All right. How often did these parties happen? Is this like a monthly thing? Quarterly?
Rhowdy Digital Images: We just had the last one of the season, May, June, and July with everyone's vacation schedules and everything. They just only go from August through April. And it's one a month, I'm sure there's other groups out there that do more than that, but we, we are in Pittsburgh, Gettysburg Indianapolis, we have a party
Matthew Holliday: Oh.
Rhowdy Digital Images: and it, it kind of works out that. Each location gets at least two. Uh,
Matthew Holliday: During the course of the year.
Rhowdy Digital Images: yeah. Pi Pittsburgh is kind of the, the home [00:24:00] base. So that's where Halloween and New Year's are. And then usually one more in there, somewhere in, in August we're doing an outdoor one, which will be very interesting to, to do that for the first time.
Matthew Holliday: Where'd you say it was?
Rhowdy Digital Images: What's that?
Matthew Holliday: Where'd you say it was?
Rhowdy Digital Images: It's going to be outdoors.
Matthew Holliday: Oh, outdoors. All right. Sorry. Yeah, I was like, I don't, I don't know that city, but that explains a lot.
Rhowdy Digital Images: it's here. We'll be here in Pennsylvania, but it's going to be outdoors at a campground and we'll be very, a whole new experience.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. I can imagine. That's gonna be wildly different. All right. So it sounds like this is all the same group that's organizing it. Is it typically the same group of attendees, or I guess it sounds like it's in a bunch of different cities, probably a different group of [00:25:00] folks in each city.
Rhowdy Digital Images: there's a, a core group that we see. Each weekend and I've been doing this for three years now.
Matthew Holliday: Oh,
Rhowdy Digital Images: you, you begin to notice, oh, I didn't see this couple this past weekend. So there, there is a core group, but there's a lot of new people coming into it especially the, the younger end of the spectrum.
Matthew Holliday: yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: my, my first few parties, it was I'd say mid thirties and above, but seeing a lot more 20 somethings coming to the parties and stuff, but it's a pretty, pretty wide reaching range of folks.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, interesting. Yeah, I've always heard from, again, from some of my history that these are, at least on the Swinger side, it's typically folks in their 60s. But I think [00:26:00] the fetish, fetish, fetish crowd swings younger. And I know we've talked with a bunch of models on here that are into the fetish scene, and they've all been fairly young.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: I've heard Tik Tok blame for that pornography, like people, people getting into this stuff younger and younger,
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. I think
Matthew Holliday: not going to comment on that. Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I think it's people are just getting older, younger now.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I mean, back in the seventies when I was growing up, you know, someone going topless was a big deal. And now it's. Not at all.
Matthew Holliday: that seems like every other person has an OnlyFans now.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: I know it's not true because there's tons and tons of people that generally stay offline and they'll they'll make a scene.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. Ha ha ha
Matthew Holliday: Yep. I am, I'm 90 percent sure that when they look back at how the world ended, it's going to be social media. You'd be like, ah, you did it to yourselves, guys. But that's my, that's my one, one social comment for [00:27:00] the. Oh, no. All right. All right. So you, you've already talked about what kind of hotels these occur out.
We've talked about some of the other stuff, talked about the flow of the party. So how did you get this invite? How did you, were you kind of, were you participating in the parties and they're like, oh, we need a photographer, and you're like, I'm a photographer, or did you know somebody? Or How'd that happen?
Rhowdy Digital Images: It, I kind of lucked into it. I was, there is a group here that you can, it's a group of strippers that go around and you can have private events at different bars and stuff. They, they don't have a home club. They just go around to these private parties. And I was following them. And every once in a while I'd chime in on one of their Facebook posts or send an email trying to get some business doing their promo [00:28:00] shots and because if you know, the area, there's two photographers who pretty much have a monopoly on that kind of thing.
Matthew Holliday: said
Rhowdy Digital Images: but I saw a post from the organizer about an upcoming party. Down around Harrisburg. So I contacted them and said, you know, I'm a boudoir pinup photographer. I saw that you have vendors. Do you have a photography vendor there? Cause this seems like it'd be a pretty good match. And they came back with, no, we don't.
And we kind of have a deal for you if you're interested. And it was, I could set up my vendor display. Okay. In exchange for taking their party photos. So [00:29:00] I jumped right on that thinking it was going to be a one time deal. And then during the course of that event she asked if I'd be interested in coming back.
I said, I'll come back as often as you want to have me. He's like, we have these parties almost every month. I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm your guy. And here we are. Three years later, and it's it definitely evolved into a great relationship Because I mean my first party the whole area in the courtyard was outside and my backdrop area was Inside the door coming in. And so I just hung out there. And so I, I really didn't know the full, full spectrum of what this party was until like maybe two, three [00:30:00] events into doing them. And I'm starting to walk around and see how things are going on and what vendors there were. So it, you know, I went into it pretty much a. A babe in the woods and here, here I am
Matthew Holliday: so,
Rhowdy Digital Images: podcast about it. So,
Matthew Holliday: yeah. So what do you think is. The most important factor of having kept the gig going for three years, is it, do you think it's quality of photography? Do you think it's the relationship? Do you think it's discretion? Like, what do you think is, what do you think is the most important factor in that?
Rhowdy Digital Images: wow, that's, that's a rotating list there
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, because I can think of a bunch of different reasons potentially.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I mean, it's cause they're, they're all very important. I mean,
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: the, the photography might actually be the, for, you know, not wanting to cut [00:31:00] off my own nose, despite my face, it might be the least important out of those three things because. Even without me, people could still stand in front of the backdrop and click a decent picture with their cell phone. And I'll deny I ever said that, but that definitely the relationship has grown over these three years to where it's I'm one of the, unofficially one of the crew now, and the people who come to the parties know who I am. I'm not some stranger walking around with a camera.
Matthew Holliday: Mm-Hmm. . Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: And so, And the discretion, that's just good business sense there
Matthew Holliday: I have to imagine.
Rhowdy Digital Images: there's not a teacher, doctor or senator out there who [00:32:00] wants outed for what they do, you know, when they're not at the job.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. My my wife is a teacher and I was a teacher for about three years and it it's something that a lot of people don't realize, but as a teacher, you have a morality clause in your contract. If you're caught doing something immoral, you can and will be fired.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, they yeah, I, I was just gonna say, yeah, I, I know probably an equal amount of teachers as I do police officers. And of the two, I would say that the teachers are watched with more of a microscope when they're not at school than the off duty officers are.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, I know. Yeah. Just my. Well, I don't want to tell my wife, all my wife's stories, we're not talking about her, but she had a, she knew an intern, not an intern, what do they call them student teachers, who ended up getting dropped because she had posted pictures of her drinking underage on [00:33:00] her Facebook. I know there's, there's, there's all kinds of articles about teachers getting fired for posting, you know, doing illegal things on their Facebook page or their Twitter. It's been a lot less recently because teachers got the message, you know, don't put illegal things on social media. Yeah. Yeah,
Rhowdy Digital Images: yes, that, that's the soapbox that I would end up getting up on for one social comment. I mean, people there, there's, there's just a lot of double standards when it comes to what people do and what they get teachers fired for. I mean, it's, but we could go on for hours about,
Matthew Holliday: but, but let's, let's let's talk a little bit about privacy you've touched on it a couple of times, but I'm sure that folks who attend these have a pretty serious interest in making sure that they're everyone doesn't know that [00:34:00] they're there. So I know that You talked before that the hotel is cleared of other guests.
But how do you, how do you specifically help protect their privacy from the photos that you've taken?
Rhowdy Digital Images: For the, the prom photos, I have a notebook I'm actually on my second notebook. All I do is I number one, two, whatever. Usually I average around 100, 120 photos, a party. And they just. Put in what email did like the picture sent to, and I don't ask for names or anything other than that email address. And then that, that's where I send it to. Cause there, there's a lot of people they'll, they get up to me and they'll be like what email do we want to send this to? And she'll say, yeah, send it [00:35:00] to yours because I can't get it at work and you're like, okay.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah,
Rhowdy Digital Images: And I mean, it, it's not that, that these are. You know, explicit photos that they're getting from in front of the backdrop.
Matthew Holliday: it looks
Rhowdy Digital Images: Just find the,
Matthew Holliday: like they're a little saucy potentially.
Rhowdy Digital Images: yeah, yeah, they can be, I mean, there's butt grabs and boob squeezes going on, but,
Matthew Holliday: just had that happen in the bar the strange woman that I'm married to,
Rhowdy Digital Images: but the, the photos are branded for the group name and their QR code in the corner. So if someone were to get one of those and go, Ooh, I wonder what. This is, this looks like a lot of fun and they zap the QR code and go to the website and go, Oh, now I know what Mary's into.
That, that could be a potential [00:36:00] problem.
Matthew Holliday: yeah, I could see that.
Rhowdy Digital Images: And I, I, secret's well.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Like you said, there's a, I mean, it's, it's, there've been, there've been numerous artists over time that have talked about how they're not the ones at the top of their game and that's not the reason for their success. The reason for their success is frequently. Something else, in this case, maybe that's discretion.
I definitely, definitely see the last thing they want is a photographer that goes around telling, you know, Oh, I saw so and so at the party last weekend, and you'll never believe what so and so was up to.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: Alright I'm gonna remove all these all rights. I definitely notice that that's a Bad habit I have when transitioning between topics. Pa pa pa. All right, so let's talk gear. We've got about 20 minutes left. What type of gear do you bring? These hotel takeovers.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I bring my laptop and mobile drives so that I can throw the photos on there as soon as possible. Cause I, I don't [00:37:00] trust my cards, so I triple back up everything. Yeah. I have a lighting bag that has three strobes in it, probably half a dozen light stands bring an octabox, an umbrella a couple of soft boxes spare light bulbs, plenty of spare batteries. I bring two camera bodies and all my lenses, even though that's way more overkill than I will probably ever need.
Matthew Holliday: Heh.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I mean the 10 to 24 comes in handy in the hotel room just for the spatial problems we talked about earlier,
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: but out in the backdrop area, I'm shooting with a 35 cause I actually have, you know, the room that I can move back 20 seats in the backdrop and still have a, a decent [00:38:00] photo.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, and you want to get their whole body. You're not just doing the Yeah, that makes sense.
Rhowdy Digital Images: yeah. That's it. Pretty, pretty simple setup, but I, I overpacked just as a backup plan.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, that makes sense. It reminds me in some ways of almost like a wedding. I mean, any kind of a photography and obviously this is not maybe as important as a wedding, but you don't want to be, you're, you know, far from home, you don't are from your studio. You don't have the luxury of going out at 10 AM or 10 PM to.
Replace something.
Rhowdy Digital Images: yeah, yeah, definitely not.
Matthew Holliday: Alright you already talked about what you're, the lenses you use the most. Is there any particular piece of gear that you just couldn't do this without, other than the camera and the lens? That's, that's, that's a given.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, I would say strobe and either softbox or the umbrella. Just because the, once the party's going [00:39:00] and the house lights are down and it's all the disco balls and the rotating lights and everything, it's a lighting nightmare. So I, I need that good strong flash to cancel all that out.
Matthew Holliday: Gotcha. Are you, are you bouncing the flash off like a wall or anything, or are you just doing kind of a direct flash? Do you have like a little softbox you use? You mentioned softbox a couple times, but you didn't mention how big it was. Gotcha.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Just a little softbox. I think it's like an 18 by 24 or something like that.
Matthew Holliday: Gotcha.
Rhowdy Digital Images: A lot of times though, it's too dark and people can't see to write their email address. So I've gone to using an umbrella that way that some of that spillover light is enough for them to, to write neatly.
Matthew Holliday: Interesting.
Rhowdy Digital Images: it's, it's pretty much kind of like the Santa photo setup that you see in, in the mall. Where it's [00:40:00] like camera, light, laptop, all right there to, to take care of stage.
Matthew Holliday: I see. Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to use an umbrella. Again, whole body picture. You want to get, you want to get it everywhere. Do you, do you have like a setup that you use to like move around in the fetish side? Do you bring a flash over there or do you kind of just jack your ISO way up and use the fastest lens you have?
Rhowdy Digital Images: It's actually I'm shooting one 200 ISO of 200 and that that's really all I need. I mean over when I'm doing stuff around the black light, then I have to jack the ISO way up. But it's a very basic straight forward as far as. Using the, the flash and to get the, the prom photos.
Matthew Holliday: Oh, no, no, no. Hold on. I, I moved on to the kind of the fetish photos, like moving
Rhowdy Digital Images: Oh, okay.
Matthew Holliday: yeah. No, I get, I [00:41:00] get, I get it. Yeah, the problem is you can, you've, you've got control over the area, but once you start circulating, you no longer have control of the
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, no, no. So yeah, over, over in the fetish area to get the black light and the glow and everything I'm shooting at around one 80th, one 80 for the shutter speed. And the ISO is up around 6, 400
Matthew Holliday: Oh, all
Rhowdy Digital Images: to get that,
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Which is, really tricky because the photos that I sent you were done in the dark room. So, so the glow was so much more and there was no white light bleeding in or anything, but out on the floor in the play area You still have the walkway lights [00:42:00] on. So that bleeds out some of the black light, and it's kind of hard to get that black light poster glow the way you do in a more controlled area.
Matthew Holliday: is it?
Rhowdy Digital Images: So I I'm always flexing with the settings based on what the last picture look like over there.
Matthew Holliday: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, and for anybody listening to the pictures he sent me, there was nobody's face in the picture. They were, they were perfectly anonymous. So, so when you, when you, when you're in, I'm trying to, I'm trying to kind of picture the logistics of this. So you brought all this extra gear.
Do you typically leave it stored in your hotel room and only take out what you need for whatever specific activity you're doing? Or do you like haul around a, a, a pelican case behind you?
Rhowdy Digital Images: No, everything stays in the room over by where the ironing board and everything is. It all plucks into that little. Yeah. [00:43:00] Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: that you've like, alright, so I know that, you know, I'm at this hotel. There's space right here that I can use.
Rhowdy Digital Images: That's exactly what it is. Going into a new hotel is the, the, oh my God, what, what's this place, what's the set up here going to be like? But once, once I get to a place and I go, okay, I know the lay of the land and I can figure this out. No problem.
Matthew Holliday: That's funny. Alright. How, how do you storage a gear for the trip? Do you, do you use pelican cases, like I mentioned, do you use duffle bags? Do you, I've seen some people with the rolling toolbox. How do you, how do you pack it up to bring it and do you drive or fly?
Rhowdy Digital Images: I drive
Matthew Holliday: I would not want to fly with all this stuff.
Rhowdy Digital Images: this gig actually influenced me to break down and get a minivan for our vehicle. Because when I first started, I had a Ford escape and I could not see out the back window at all. [00:44:00] And there was only ever room for my butt in the driver's seat. Everything packed around me. But with the, with the minivan. Put the seats in the floor and everything lays in there nice and flat, you know, I just look like a soccer dad driving around but for, for my camera, my laptop, I have two of those Harbor Freight aluminum cases look like, you know, a metal briefcase, if you will, and Then I have the rolling duffel bag that one set of my strobes came in and I just use that for hauling around my lighting equipment. The big part is the two totes, the table, and the pegboard wall that I have to assemble for my vendor display.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Is there, is there like a vendor area in there? Where was everybody?[00:45:00]
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, they had shoes, outfits the fetish gear, you know, the floggers and riding crops and electrical things. They have, have the vendors there for that. There's been a travel agent who's been set up the last few times cause for trip to hedonism. For a week, yeah,
Matthew Holliday: My wife and I stayed at a one just down. The beach from hedonism in Jamaica. And it was actually kind of disturbing, not, not hedonism itself, but we did a snorkeling trip and the snorkeling boat snorkeling trip boat deliberately drove like as close to the hedonism beach as possible. And they specifically pointed out, they're like, there's the nude resort, you know, get out your binoculars.
And it's kind of like, huh, that's a, [00:46:00] like, they're just, they're just there minding their own business.
Rhowdy Digital Images: that's kind of the, the opposite of what I'm doing.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, it was a chance, not. I don't know. My wife and I have talked about going there but she's deathly afraid that one of the one of the staff members will have a secret camera and record her. She absolutely, it's actually interesting talking to you because she's deathly afraid of going to one of these places and being, you know, recorded as being there.
Rhowdy Digital Images: some people,
Matthew Holliday: Yes. Yes. So you mentioned before that you had been, you just recently took in a shipment of black lights. Is that for use during these parties or is these something, is this something you're starting to get into more in your own shooting?
Rhowdy Digital Images: They're for me to practice shooting under black light conditions while I have the time to really hone that skill set. And then I, I hope to start using it more in, in my own stuff. Because it [00:47:00] can be really, really cool. And I'm, I'm, I've got, you know, like I said, the next two, three months to perfect and explore and maybe offer something new next time around.
Matthew Holliday: Is there a lot of demand for that to try and come up with new or is it two people kind of want the same? I guess if it's the same people coming over and over again, they probably don't want the exact same thing every time.
Rhowdy Digital Images: For me, I, I always like being able to do, try something new
Matthew Holliday: If not
Rhowdy Digital Images: that so many people before, before, if you had a nice camera, you know, You considered yourself a wedding photographer, and then came the senior picture photographers. And now there's so many other people out there doing boudoir and pinup that need to, need to try skipping one step ahead every once in a [00:48:00] while to, to do something new, something that no one's seen before.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Yeah, I imagine definitely so with again, if you've got a core group that comes over and over again. Oh, I want to see something. Something
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah. Yeah. And each, each month I have a little, they're watching. Call it a raffle but I do a drawing for a free session.
Matthew Holliday: Huh.
Rhowdy Digital Images: so there, there's a lot of interest there. And when I talk to people, Oh, I love to have this done, you know, maybe the black light is something that someone says, you know what, that's really cool.
Now I'm going to pull the trigger and actually schedule a session with this guy to, to do that.
Matthew Holliday: Yes. I could see that. All right. I think we've about reached the end of the questions. [00:49:00] Is there anything that you thought of during the course of the discussion that you wish that we talked about?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Aside for some shameless plugs, not really.
Matthew Holliday: Ha! Well, we'll get to that. That's coming up next. Shameless blinks are coming up next.
Rhowdy Digital Images: No, okay. We, we covered just about all aspects of this that I can think of shit into an hour. Okay.
Matthew Holliday: well, and I hope some people satisfy curiosity is satisfied on what goes on with these types of things. And what type of photographer photographic opportunities there may be. Although we should of course, caution them that they should stay away from the parties that happen in Pittsburgh and Gettysburg and Indianapolis.
Those are taken. But there's probably vendors that are doing very similar stuff and the rest of the U S and
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, there, there's, there's two, maybe three other groups in the Pennsylvania area that do these kind of takeovers.
Matthew Holliday: There must be a business. There's a lot more. It's not more interesting this than I thought.
Rhowdy Digital Images: [00:50:00] yeah there's actually a couple, couple alternative lifestyle clubs in the area to sprinkled across the, the Quaker state, which is, which is really funny. There's two down around the, the Harrisburg Gettysburg area. And when you think of Pennsylvania Amish country, that's the same. Same hair as
Matthew Holliday: I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh at that. The Amish, the Amish need this kind of stuff too. Yeah, that's funny. I took a look. I took a search for fetish hotel takeover party and there's a bunch of results. So yeah, Naughty Revival, Two Night Hotel Takeover, December 6 8, Fetish Factory. Just, just just a lot of them. I don't know, man. Like, on one hand, I'm curious. On one hand, you know, some of the, some of the stuff you're talking about jibes with some of the stuff that We're not getting into that.
That's not this, that's not that kind of podcast. But then on the other hand, I'm listening to something like 2 AM. I can't stay up that [00:51:00] late. I want to be in bed and sleep by 10. I'm too old for this stuff. Like I'm just, I'm just, I'm just mentally and culturally too old. I don't know if they have a quiet floor. I want to participate for the first two hours. And All right. All right. Do you have any tips on staying up late? The energy drinks.
Rhowdy Digital Images: no, I mean, no, I blew through a six pack a minute and do each weekend, but I still, by the time two 30, the Saturday or Sunday morning rolls around I'm still ready for bed.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. Yeah. Caffeine's got more, or Mountain Dew's got more caffeine than most. Yeah, it does. So Mountain Dew is like the original the original. Energy drink.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah.
Matthew Holliday: Not quite as much as coffee though. Wow, coffee's got a lot. It takes, it takes like four Dr. Peppers to make one drip [00:52:00] coffee. Coca Cola has almost the least amount of caffeine out of the sodas. We are just learning all kinds of new stuff today, aren't we?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Interesting. Yes.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah, Coca Cola Classic only has 34 milligrams of caffeine whereas Mountain Dew has 55 milligrams of caffeine, so almost twice as much.
And drip coffee has 115 to 175.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Wow.
Matthew Holliday: Red Bull's only got 80, so drip coffee has twice as much caffeine as a Red Bull. Ugh,
Rhowdy Digital Images: crazy.
Matthew Holliday: yeah, that's wild. Alright, let's get this, let's get this podcast closed, and let's get us back on our Friday evening, whatever we're doing this Friday evening, and given that it's 817, I'll tell you exactly what I'm going to do, I'm going to be in bed in an hour and a half. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Are there any models or photographers that you would recommend following and or working with? And I know that you mostly shoot shoot a lot of civilians, not models, but are there any that you've worked with that you really enjoyed working with?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Wow. There, there's quite a few Miranda Macabre from the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania [00:53:00] is a great model to work with. She was the first professional model I ever shot. And every chance I get, I, I. Book with her to do a, you know, a, a workshop or something like that. Cause she, she's a lot of fun. She's originally a classically trained dancer. She's got the tattoos and the personality that blends in with everything that we've talked about tonight and before. And she, she's just a great model to work with.
Matthew Holliday: Awesome. I am actually, I was, I was not good about this the first time I asked folks but the last interview I started looking them up when people tell me about them and putting them so I can actually put them into the show notes. So people who are listening to this can go into the show notes. And I did that last month as well, if you missed it.
Hey, she's got a picture when she was with Ah, what's the name of [00:54:00] that? They just changed hands. It's Iron Ore Studios now. I have some pictures of some models at that same desk. It's always funny when you recognize studios and you're like,
Rhowdy Digital Images: The the Scott church studios.
Matthew Holliday: formerly Scott Church, now I think it's Iron Ore and I think it changed hands again.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Oh, wow.
Matthew Holliday: I don't know. I haven't been following it exactly. I just noticed the last year when I went there, it was different. What is your favorite piece in your portfolio and why?
Your portfolio can be your website. It can be your Instagram.
Rhowdy Digital Images: my, the favorite piece I have in my portfolio is actually a shot I did with Miranda at the last workshop I did with her. It was at a smaller studio in Lancaster, but it's her wearing this big elaborate beaded neck piece in front of a mirror and off to the left there's. Glass block [00:55:00] window and the in the background you can see some of the stuff just pot around the studio And it's I just love that shot I it's I just think it's really cool because it's a little out of the ordinary of the It's posed in a Victorian setting, it's not the brash as a fetish, fetish centric photo. It's, I just think it's really cool
Matthew Holliday: Yeah.
Rhowdy Digital Images: can say so myself.
Matthew Holliday: Yeah. I know it sounds that way. I don't see it on your Instagram.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Probably not due to their standards.
Matthew Holliday: Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, Instagram sucks. Man, we hate Instagram.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah,
Matthew Holliday: Oh, well.
Rhowdy Digital Images: I can send it to you later.
Matthew Holliday: Ah, no it's fine, it's fine. I'm just scrolling through here. I see you worked with InkedPanda a bit. I worked with her, [00:56:00] I don't know, three years ago? I think I saw Ayla Evangelista as well. I think.
Rhowdy Digital Images: And who is that?
Matthew Holliday: Ayla Evangelista?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Oh, yes, yes,
Matthew Holliday: her. Yeah, I saw her in the gallery. In fact she was at a workshop. I don't think I worked directly with her. Maybe I did, I don't remember. I'll have to go back and look. Anyways, alright, awesome. Do you have any projects that you'd like folks to be aware of? Be aware, this podcast, even though we are recording in April, it is not going to come out, let me think, May is Taylor, June 1st is, I just had the interview with Kat Ross, interview with Kat Ross.
And so July 1st is when this will come out. So if you tell people about your project in June
Rhowdy Digital Images: okay.
Matthew Holliday: you can tell people about it, but they'll be able to participate.
Rhowdy Digital Images: don't, don't have any real projects, but I am always willing to book and shoot with [00:57:00] anybody and that I don't have another party until first or second weekend in August, I think. So.
Matthew Holliday: You said they're taking a break.
Rhowdy Digital Images: Yeah, so if, if you're hearing this on July 1st, you've got an entire month and a half to get in touch and we can shoot,
Matthew Holliday: All right. Where do you like, where do you like people to find you online and send you a message if they wanted to go shoot?
Rhowdy Digital Images: Online. My website is Rowdy Digital Images R D I G I M G. com. And you can look me up on Facebook and Instagram under Rowdy Digital Images. And if they're interested in the group that I do the parties for, they are mysecretsensations. com. Sensations with an I.
Matthew Holliday: So they've even got their upcoming events listed on here. So [00:58:00] yeah, so it's a booty camp. That's, oh, that's funny. Super hoes and villains. Wow. They've got this planned out through April next year. Oh, hedonism two. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Anything else you wanted to plug?
Rhowdy Digital Images: No, I think that's about it.
Matthew Holliday: All right, well, with that, we are done. You can find us at the nsfw photography podcast.com. On Twitter is at NSFW Photography. Instagram at the NSFW Photography Podcast. Currently have a Mastodon
[email protected]. Dedicated to nude and adult photography. I keep a very light hand on the moderation.
And also, finally, I'd appreciate it if you guys could tell another photographer or model about the podcast and just say, Hey, if you get value out of this share it with them. I would appreciate that as well. So I hope everybody has a lovely weekend. And I know that you're listening to this in three months and it may or may not be the weekend for you. This is what happens when I go off script. [00:59:00]
