Speaking of Lochai, the rigger and bondage photographer joins the photo book showcase with a surprising and disarming document, Occupied. If you're familiar with Lochai, it may surprise you to learn that Occupied is not a showcase of the photographer's amazing and intriguing bondage images, but a fetish exploration of that most private room in all homes -- that's right, the bathroom. Sound like an improbable topic for a fetish book?

Maybe, maybe not. As an occasional fetish photographer, I can vividly imagine how the idea for this book took shape: we photographers spend a hell of a lot of time hanging out in hotel rooms, residences, lofts, studios and other locations while our models primp and preen and get themselves as exquisitely perfect as a fetish model is expected to be. This book focuses partly on that process -- but with a subtlety that conjures a strangely enlightening sensibility. Most if not all of the images stand brilliantly on their own merits, but as part of this inspired assemblage, they create a lush sense of the playfulness and energy that informs the world of fetish photography. It's a wonderful and engaging collection of photographs, as sexy as it is illuminating.

One for the bookshelf with your collection of fetish and erotic art and another for the bathroom. A tour book for your imagination.
This book is a testament to why Lochai's art is known and recognized internationally, an inspiration to other artists and a hint at the depths of one mans kinks.
Thanks for sharing Lochai.

Being a photographer of erotica, I am always in search of fresh new work by gifted photographers. Lochai's new book "occupied" fits that bill to a T!! (book title purposely left in lower case as on the cover of the book). Wonderful images shot perfectly, you cant help but love this book. Lochai has a sense of shooting style that I like very much. His photos are candid..yet obviously composed with the utmost care. I highly recommend this book of "fetish images for private viewing" to the discerning connoisseur of erotica.
btsmut
www.btsmut.com

Lochai disgusts me.


I came to this realization last fall at the Austin Rope Symposium. I was sitting in the audience as he presented a slideshow of his new work, image after image in black and white showing the kind of casual elegant composition that, like good makeup, you don't really notice because it simply looks right. He was bantering with the audience as they gave their reactions to the images, and the room was filled with laughter mixed with appreciative gasps as the next image would come up.


It hit me when an image of the stunning Mayan Lee came up, the very shot you can see on page 43 of this book. Lochai made some offhand comments about the ropework, the signature knot that formed the centerpiece of the densely complex corset and body harness, about Mayan's professionalism and the joy he'd had in photographing her. That's when I realized it.


He's a phenomenal rigger. He's a skilled photographer. He's a consummate performer. He's an educator, a writer, a political activist.


And to top it all off, he's a hell of a nice guy.


It's disgusting.


As you page through the images in this book, there's a quality about the images that you may miss the first time through, and that's fine; these are images of beauty, and should be taken as such on the first viewing. But I think it's worth a second look, so that you can see that quality of Lochai that is in the images.


You'll notice it in the model's faces, whether they are smiling at the camera, or simply looking in the mirror, oblivious to the eye of the lens. It's a level of comfort, of trust, of enjoyment in the company of the man behind the lens. And what his eye is capturing is a shared joy in their company, not just in the lovely lines of their bodies but in their personalities, their presence.


Not that Lochai is shy about his love of sexuality. In some circles, he is known as the "Polite Pervert", who will give his partners the goofy grin that makes them laugh even as he is making them helpless in rope. But it's this acceptance of himself, of his authentic love of what he does, that makes the people he works with so comfortable.


This combination of trust and authenticity brings something to these photographs that is rarely seen in fine art photography. It is intimacy, two people sharing the beauty of a moment together. Captured in the lens, Lochai shares it with the rest of us, adding something to the beauty of the world and for just a moment drawing us into that moment with them.


We need more moments like that, all of us.


Thank you, Lochai.


Graydancer
February 3, 2006


Graydancer is a rope artist and podcaster whose work can be found at www.graydancer.com/ropeweekly. He interviewed Lochai for the February 1, 2006 show, which can be found in his archive.

Lochai is a wonderful man to shoot with. It was a honor to work with him & Janice, a chance that I would do again in a heartbeat. (In case anyone is curious, I'm the girl in the shower, about to lick the vibrating duck ... yup, that's me, woohoo!)

What a differt look at fetish! The images are beautiful, energetic & fun all at the same time. I will never enter my bathroom without seeing it in a "different light"

Lochai has an eye for beauty in a genre that is thought to be more "sex" than fine art. Well this book proves that fetish fits in the fine art section of the book store!

This book is a MUST PURCHASE book for yourself as well as for a good friend!