VELVET SUSI: FROM CUT THROATS TO CUMSHOTS
Photos of dead bodies in the woods, cut throats, and women on all four with a fox tail-anal plug hanging out — Velvet Susi doesn’t do no half ass shit. Not as a photographer nor as a mental health-social care worker.
Combining the bizarre with the eroticism
of human nature makes Velvet Susi and his fetish photography unique.
But at the same time provoking to the masses.
BERLINABLE sat down with Velvet Susi, the man of many names, and talked about the depths of art, bad dreams, and the person behind the camera.
You are like God — 3 in 1.
You are Papa Perverso, Velvet Susi, Epic Zambo, and even Patrick, the person besides the photography.
But who are you today?
Today it’s Velvet Susi sitting here with you.
How does one come up with a name like Velvet Susi?
I wanted a name that sounded crispy, not the K.I.Z kind of crispy, but thinking of Velvet Revolver, the band, or 8 millimeter’s Dino Velvet I was going for something that just sounds good to the ear.
Does it happen that people see your Instahandle, Velvet Susi, and think: Ah this must be a woman?
Yes, it happened several times, that when I was chatting with models, they were surprised when a guy showed up to the shoot.
I also get dickpics every once in a while, which are more or less interesting to look at.
But you are not only a photographer, right?
No, I also have been working in mental health-social care for the past 7 years.
And how long have you been photographing?
I moved to Berlin in 2013, after growing up in Würzburg.
Here I have started to really get into photography.
Since 2017 I have been professionally photographing humans, before that, I shot the streets, architecture, and what was around me, like every other photographer probably.
What influence does the city have on you?
There are simply more opportunities, especially if you come from such a small provincial town, everything used to be so monotonous.
Berlin is different, no two days are the same.
How does your character, your spirit show up in your pictures?
For many years I have been dreaming very badly, I had serious nightmares even as an adult.
Many strange images popped into my head, and I tried to put them out, to recreate them in real life.
After doing that, the nightmares got less frequent.
So my artistic interest shift to less ghastly images,
away from dead bodies in the woods or cut throats.
Shooting them really had a therapeutic effect on me.
Have you ever thought about quitting your day job as a mental health-social supervisor and just be Velvet Susi full time?
No, I don’t want to work as a photographer and get paid for it.
Honestly, I prefer taking pictures when I want to take them.
Even if someone would offer me full artistic control for a campaign, if I can’t shoot what and when I want to shoot, then I just can’t do it.
Can creativity be bought?
I think not, no.
You can pay the creative person, but I won’t be more creative if there’s a shit load of money on the table.
Money doesn’t make creative.
Not only Velvet Susi shoot like that, your other photos are also full of perversion, sex, and fetish — how would you describe your photography?
As Trash.
Flash-Trash to be precise — that direct, hard, and strong flash straight forward, that’s the trash factor and it can be applied to anything from a Gucci campaign to porn.
Why nudity, why porn? I once saw a picture of yours with a naked woman, legs wide, a tail-anal plug, and a dog mask on her. Why the extreme?
Oh yeah, that was a fun one!
I want the provocation, the indecency.
I like the extremes.
Nudity, porn, and destruction… hate too.
I could also imagine photographing a war scene.
For me, the special thing about nudity is, that it leaves no room for hiding.
Nothing is left for imagination.
You only shoot with female models, right? How is the relationship between you and the model after such an intimate moment spent together?
No, I also shoot male models, but yes, I shoot women the most.
Usually, we meet up at the location, shoot and then just go separate ways. There rarely is a special connection.
Have you ever had sex with a model?
With none.
Being a male photographer working alone with women can lead to situations no one wants to be in.
Do you ever feel shame in what you do?
No, I don’t.
Of course, if I’m on the bus and I want to edit my pictures, I won’t do it next to a group of kids.
But I don’t have a problem with doing my art in public and showing it, most people don’t dare to say anything anyway.
Do you associate nudity directly with something sexual?
I recently had a shoot with a female model from Hamburg.
We were shooting outside, and she was completely naked.
The shoot was great because during the shoot we were talking the whole time, about her life, about her family, about everything that came to mind.
It made no difference that she was naked,
we would have had the same conversation if she had been completely dressed.
But maybe I am just jaded, working in that area can make you dulled after some years.
If everyone would deal more with the topic of sexuality, nudity, and passion, we would all be a little more jaded and have less problems with rape and similar assaults, right?
I don’t know, but you should look that up by talking to a nudist community.
They don’t care if you have your pussy or your dick all out, they see you as a person.
But you do not photograph naked?
Haha, no I am not naked. But if it would make a model more comfortable, why not?
What was the craziest shooting that you, as Velvet Susi ever did?
I had an amazing shooting with this guy.
He jerked off and I took photos of the whole process and later edited it all together for a short stop-motion film.
And while he was jerking off, we had this amazing talk.
Coincidentally we are in the middle of planning another one together, a huge porn one, a Bukkake shoot.
The thing is that a shoot like this needs to be planned through, you need ID shots, HIV tests and stuff.
And the pandemic is not really giving up space for this project, so let’s see.
Generally, I loved the shoots where I could combine something dead with something erotic.
You go very deep into people during your shoots, photographing an orgasm is quite crazy. You can’t get more intimate than that, can you?
It’s exactly those moments where you can catch the essence of someone.
While shooting the Bukkake shoot, the guy won’t think about
how much bigger the penis of the guy above him is,
he will just think about how horny this situation makes him.
He has been wanting this for ages and seeing that desire being fulfilled will be a fun scene to capture.
Do you also analyze your models? Think about their deepest desires and their psyche?
Because that’s your job, not as Velvet Susi, but as Patrick right?
Actually, no, if he wants to do it, he wants to do it. Nobody owes me an explanation.
Velvet Susi only shoots analog, but Epic Zambo for instance doesn’t — what do you prefer, analog or digital?
Def analog. It’s more handcrafty, I only have 10–15 pictures.
I can’t just bounce and clack clack clack away the pictures. I shoot more deliberately.
When I shoot digital, I have no problem with shooting the same picture 5 times.
Analog is more real. You really have to get in there, think beforehand and not just in the post-production.
You seem to have found your place, not just in your work as Velvet Susi or Epic Zambo, but in your existence. How does it feel to be content?
I think so too, I am definitely content with myself, but I think I am still searching.
I am always looking for the next creative task, the next scene, the next image.
FINDING ARTIST VELVET SUSI
IG: @velvet.susi
Originally published on BERLINABLE.com
