Memories of Mr. K.

I posted this magazine cover a few years ago when I wrote about Mr. K., who took the photos in it, and today I’m sad to report that he passed away yesterday, Friday, January 13th, in the hospital back east in New York state near where he lived. He’d had some health problems the last few years and the last time I spoke with him he sounded weak but I still hoped he might get to go home. He even talked about going to FetishCon later this year.
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He was a huge fan of damsels in distress and especially loved crossdressers in bondage. I know he met quite a few of us for bondage and photos, including Audrey Miller, Babs, Babette Jones, Jenny Page and others. And he was an active photographer in his own right and shot pictures for several years in the 80s, especially for Friendship Studio, who published the magazine above. He never talked much about those days and I always had the feeling that there were maybe some regrets or disappointments from those times. And I always found it a little sad too that he wasn’t better known, as though his moment had passed – isn’t that life? But he was a great guy and had a huge heart, a truly sweet man who loved what we do in the kink world.

To be honest, I really only got to hang out with Mr. K. a few times, I think three total. But we stayed in touch over the years and I always recognized his New York accent immediately when we’d talk on the phone – and I’m not a big phone person but with him I always tried to make an exception, not always as well as I wish I had. He’d call me by my boy name on the phone and always seemed to see my Sandra side as a distinct personality, almost another person, which was kind of cute. He admitted he wanted to do naughty thing to me as Sandra but coming from him it never seemed weird or creepy and he was always a total gentleman the few times we did shoot.

My memory is a little foggy now but I believe we shot two separate days with SweetTies back in 2001 (see pic below). One memory that really tickled me was getting ready Sunday morning for the shoot and Sara from SweetTies telling me that Mr. K. was away at mass but we’d start shooting when he got back. We never talked much about his religious beliefs but I’m pretty sure he had no guilt about being into bondage and CDs. I just thought that was really cool, since for some people it’s a struggle. Then a few years later I saw him in Newark, I believe, for a couple evenings of shooting at the Hilton by the airport. And that was in 2006, the last time we were ever in the same room together.

I always figured this day would come, for he’d been in the hospital a few times and put on and then rapidly dropped a lot of weight in the years following the picture below, which he sent me with his face obviously obscured just a wee bit. I don’t think he’d mind that I’m posting it here :-) I do wish though that I had more of his magazines. I just looked around and dug through my closets but this old dog-eared copy of Bondage World is all that I can find. If you have any more of his pictures or scans of his magazines online, especially the “Bondage Babe” issue or the “Tanya in Bondage” issues, feel free to email me and maybe I can do another blog post later.

Rest in Peace, Mr. K. You will be missed, my friend.

Win a Copy of My First Photobook: Caught!

Hi Everyone,
I just finished up my first photobook, which is a 97-page look back at some of my “best of” Sandra photos from ’03 till ’13, plus five pages of text on the early years of the website. If you’re a member of the paysite you’ve probably seen most of these pics already but there’s something really special about seeing them on a printed page instead of a computer screen.

So now I’m doing a little contest to give away a signed copy of the new book, and I’m trying to get a hundred comments here on this post. Scroll down below for more details.

Here are the rules:

One of my goals for the new years is to make a 30-page Trannies In Trouble magazine, including some material submitted by fans of the website and members of my Fetlife and Yahoo Groups. So I’m asking you to write an exciting caption for your favorite bondage photo (mine or anyone’s), or a few lines, or even a mini-story (a few paragraphs at most), and post it in the comments section below. Or you can even add a link to your own artwork. (If I use your art you’ll have to sign a release form and supply a copy of your photo ID.)

You can write or post whatever you’d like, dealing of course with bondage. It can be sexy, dark, playful, intense, femdom or sissy themed, humiliating, involving robbery or kidnapping – basically whatever turns you on. Basically anything that gets written up here or posted I’ll consider for re-use in a magazine, so by posting here you’re implicitly stating that you’re okay with your words being used in print. Don’t worry, no one’s real name will ever be mentioned.

So once I get a hundred comments here (that’s the goal!), I’ll select my favorites and then randomly choose a winner, whom I’ll email to get your address. So to get those hundred comments I’m going to need your help or else this blog post will just sit here empty ;-)

I can only send the book to the United States, Canada, and some parts of Europe. Maybe someone in the UK can let me know what the laws are like for mailing racey stuff, as I don’t want you to get busted if you live there (although the book itself is all non-explicit).

And if you’d prefer to just buy the PDF version (only $4.95) or contact me about the print version there’s a page here with more details.

I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with…Thanks and have fun! ~Sandra

And here’s a few more pics from the book: