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:

Last year 2015 was pretty good for me, and I even wrote a melancholy-free blog post last December when I was really on a high. I wish I could say the same for this year, so if you want to skip this one I won’t be offended. But what a weird year it’s been. I don’t like to get overly political here, as it doesn’t seem the place, but well, there was this election here in the States that was hard not to have an opinion about. Let’s just say the news will certainly be interesting in the new year.

One area that many will be curious about, including me, is whether the new Trump administration will push for changes in laws on porn and adult websites. No one really knows and there really hasn’t been that much talk on the issue. Mr. Trump’s hotels still carry adult movies, which is a good sign, but some in his cabinet including of course the incoming vice president are extremely anti-porn. Personally I’m not too worried, as my own site is so small and so utterly tame compared to much of what’s out there (and I’m not even sure my site rises to the level of porn, pun intended, although technically I’d say that’s what is, with adjectives like “fetish” and “kink” also applying.) But with the new political climate it will be interesting to see if anything changes or not in the coming years.

Back in August I also wrote a longer blog post about depression and my own struggles with it off and on over the years, and for the most part I received a lot of really supportive responses, especially from people who struggle with the condition themselves or who have family members or friends who do. There were also a few responses along the lines of, “Oh, just snap out of it. You’re Sandra Gibbons, you have nothing to be depressed about, you’re awesome!” Which is both a compliment, sort of, and also a little annoying. Of course it’s true in the scheme of things I have nothing at all to be depressed about, which just shows how persistent and free from rational thinking it can be when the dark moods do hit. It is kind of like telling an alcoholic to just stop drinking. Well, yes, of course…

I was also impressed and moved by the stories of some celebrities who “came out” about their own struggles with depression, such as Selena Gomez recently. And the one that really blew me away was Bruce Springsteen, who as one writer put it is so macho that you can’t imagine him ever struggling with low moods, which stereotypically seem like an affliction of awkward introverts. And yet apparently it’s been a weight he’s carried off and on for decades, compounded by the shadow of his father who was deeply troubled in his later years. His case is both inspiring and a little worrisome in that respect.

On the plus side I’m probably in the best physical shape I’ve ever been in my life, as I continue to chase that endorphin high in the gym. Of course I wish I were twenty years younger, but hey, you take what you can get.

Also, one of the biggest losses this year was of course seeing so many amazing musicians pass away – first Bowie, then Prince, and then two days after the election Leonard Cohen dies. That one really hit me hard and seemed a commentary on the end of this year, leaving the world a little colder. I’ll admit I didn’t know of Juan Gabriel, Mexico’s LGBT icon, but since his passing I’ve heard about him quite a bit and have seen his face on newsstands. Although never truly “out,” he still lived his own flamboyant life for decades in a culture where being gay is still a big deal.

I also have a couple friends who have had a terrible time financially this year, just barely getting by. And I’m aware of others working in the adult website business who have seen big downturns. Thankfully Trannies in Trouble is a very specialized niche, which is a good thing for me, but still I admit I’ve even seen changes in traffic in the last year or so, and I really get a sense that free sites like Pornhub and Tumblr have become a big challenge. There are just an endless amount of free images and videos out there now, and the online business does seem to be tighter nowadays, probably just an inevitable development. In any case, I plan to keep it all going for as long as I can, and I have some new ideas for the new year. And as always I’m once again looking forward to the anniversary of the site coming up in late March. It’ll be here in no time!

So it’s been that kind of year. We’re all getting through it – well, most of us, but yes, like many I’ve had better ones. Let’s just hope that 2017 is an improvement for all of us and brings some positive changes, or that at least New Year’s Eve is fun and reflective in a good way. And if 2016 has been good for you, then I hope you have an even better one next year. And as always I have to thank all the paying customers who keep my website running. I always say it, but it’s true that without you I simply could not do this. So thank you all!

I hope everyone has family or friends they can be with during the holidays, whichever ones you celebrate this season, or at least have a decent place to stay and a nice comfortable bed to sleep in where you can face the morning light. Keep the faith, whatever it may be for you. We’re all in this together. Hugs…Sandra

My friend Jessica just made some cute artwork for the next TEASE party, the first one of the new year, on Saturday, January 28th. If you’re in the L.A. area, come on out! It’s always a fun time with plenty of bondage going on. Here are some links with more info. and the RSVP page over on Fetlife…Hope to see you there!

I’ve shot a couple fun scenes this year with Delilah tying me up and dousing me with water. We just shot a new one in the bathtub that will be posted tomorrow morning (it’ll be a little early because of Thanksgiving here in the States). I actually found it a very sexy feeling to be dressed, tied up and gagged, and then completely soaked, and it’s especially intense with a pantyhose over your head and really makes you focus on not panicking. By the end of both these scenes I was practically laughing through my gag due to the crazy intensity of it. Fun sexy times and I hope we’ll do more…

I’m looking forward to our Pre-Halloween Party next month on Saturday, October 22nd. My friend Jessica put together this cute flyer to help promote it. If you’re in the L.A. area, come on out. It’s gonna be a fun one!

It’s always a really fun time shooting with Monica Belle. She’s a blast and is always really into it. She has this adorable voice, so I always make a point of getting her talking on the phone or chatting when we shoot video. She can be both super sexy and hilarious when she’s riffing and improvising. And with her presence and personality, which really comes through in the pictures, I suspect she’d make a great dominatrix too! We got to shoot this set of pictures earlier at the start of the summer and I think it’s turned out to be one of my favorites from all the things we’ve shot together. And a nice stroke of luck, it looks like she’ll be back in town around Halloween so we’re already planning to do another one. Stay tuned for more!

The recent update with Vivian in her latex dress and corset has been a very popular one, not surprising as she looked amazing as ever when we shot these last year. That same day we also shot some pics of her in this sexy red dress, which I found just as hot. It’ll be a while till I post these, probably at the end of the year but it’s going to be a good one, where she ends up with a red ballgag strapped into her mouth and then finally hogtied and vetwrap gagged over the ballgag to make it even more strenuous. I couldn’t resist posting a few teaser shots, with the rest coming later (I know, I’m bad; there are no gag shots in the red dress.) ;-) Hope you enjoy!

My friend TT just did a nice redesign on my old “Sandra in Trouble” webpage. I really love this retro magazine-inspired look that he came up with. The page is basically just a listing of my links – my main site and my profile on several social media sites. The old design was very cool at the time, something that a talented web-designer in Italy named Enrico came up with but it was time to do a makeover and this one is much more up-to-date. It almost makes me want to make an actual magazine like this!

Someone sent me the link to this pic over on Fetlife and I found it pretty amusing. I know some people would be annoyed to see their picture turned into a sissy caption, but I kinda love it. I’d actually love to make a special gallery on my site that’s all unauthorized sissy captions with various pics from Trannies In Trouble. So if you see any out there send me the link. Gotta collect them all ;-)

Delilah and I had a fun time last year hanging out and shooting these pics. I was seriously taped up and going nowhere and she took loads of pictures. I just posted the full set over on the paysite, preview shots here, along with a rather naughty story of what drinking too much can lead to. Pics here are full-sized, just scaled down in the browser. Hope you enjoy!

Well, it’s been another walk down memory lane. I’ve been posting some older pics on Twitter recently from some fun shoots with my ol’ friend Chainguy (Paul Logan), that we did in the mountains above L.A. back at the close of the ‘Aughts. Here they are plus a few more (I just scaled them down for the blog layout but if you save them they’ll be full sized, which, granted, wasn’t that big back then!) These were a blast to shoot, until finally the place burned down in the big summer fires one year. It’s probably back to normal by now but I haven’t been there in years. Fun times – hope you enjoy!

Over on Twitter lately I’ve been occasionally posting some “oldies” with pictures that were removed from the site several years ago. Looking at them again I was really struck by how bad my photography was back then! But in some of them I think there’s a raw “kidnappey” quality that I think still works pretty well. I really would like to go back and find some of the original pictures and re-edit them at a larger size sometime and make them look better in Photoshop – something else I can do in my copious spare time ;-)

All these pictures were shot sometime back in the early to mid “Aughts” in the little bungalow where I lived for several years when I first moved to L.A. I never talked about it much at the time because the place kind of embarrassed me but it was actually in Hollywood, right by Paramount Studios. In fact I could walk to the corner and see the studio where the Dr. Phil show continues to be videotaped.

People often think that Hollywood is glamorous but the reality is that much of it is a dump. A lot of the neighborhoods are rough and worn out and this one was no different. I was actually kind of scared when I first moved there in 2001 and the first years were tough. I missed my ol’ regular life back in Colorado and many times wondered if I’d made a big mistake moving to this city. I could have moved back once the lease went to month to month but I stayed on, I think mainly because I knew if I were back in Colorado I’d probably stop working on this website that I wanted to make. I just knew I’d have a harder time meeting people and getting it off the ground back at home. So I stayed. I don’t miss the old bungalow at all, and tend to avoid Hollywood in general now, but at the same time it is where I started the website and shot and edited a ridiculous number of pictures there, in those tiny rooms, and the landlord never had any idea about any of it. Later when I finally moved out in early 2010 my good friend Paul (Chainguy) and I took a drawer out of the kitchen and with a sharpie wrote “Barton Avenue Studios” in the space under the counter and then replaced it.

So it is a walk down memory lane seeing these. I’d like to think my photography has improved since then though I sometimes wonder if I’ve lost some of the edginess that the early shots might have had. I don’t know, maybe. In any case there were some fun times there, especially with Delilah and with my friend Kim (who doesn’t appear on the site), and, sadly, with some friends who are no longer with us (like Paul) or who have drifted apart. The only thing I wish I’d done is shoot even more pictures there than I did…and figure out my camera settings better! I hope you enjoy :-)

Well, it’s that time of year again, March 23rd, and the anniversary of Trannies In Trouble, thirteen years now and going strong. Perfect timing too, as my friend TT who’s a very skilled website designer just finished the new look on the site, which went up over the weekend. The new front page is below, and underneath it the way the site used to look way back at the start in 2003. TT reworked the old “kidnap text” that used to be on the front page and added some bright colors. So the site has changed a lot, and at the same time in other ways it’s still the same CD / Trans Girls in Bondage site that it’s always been.

As always thanks so much to everyone who currently supports the site or has supported it in the past. Without you it would just be an occasional update in the Yahoo Group on those weekends when I could get away from what would probably be my lucrative data-entry career and talk someone into getting tied up (which, well, probably wouldn’t be that hard.) And thanks too to everyone who just checks out and enjoys the free pages. That’s totally okay too.

Although it is a paysite – and I couldn’t do it without all the paying customers – in many ways it’s also a labor of love. Looking back I don’t know if I’d actually recommend starting up a bondage website as a wise career path for any enthusiastic newbies, especially if they’re looking to get rich. But it has been fun (well, most of the time) and I’ve met so many nice people and have made some dear friends. So thanks to everyone in our small and unique little scene – it is kind of crazy and must look completely wacky to outsiders. But here we all are. In any case, I’ll be shooting more in the year ahead and hope we’ll all be back here again for next year’s anniversary! Till then…Hugs, Sandra

The yearly Trans Erotica Awards (The TEA Show) happened earlier this month. It’s a good event and I got to hang out with my good friend Jessica (who’s not on my website, although I’ve tried!) We had a fun time, and I also was thrilled to shoot again with Ashley A. and Ada Black, who were both in town for the event.

I first shot with both of them about a year and a half ago on my rather ill-fated East Coast trip. It was a good trip in terms of meeting people and shooting pics but the planes and trains seemed to run late for the whole thing, so I consistently felt six hours behind schedule. Shooting here in L.A. was much easier!

Here Ashley appears as a webcam domme who pisses off one of her clients (we also shot a second scene that’s coming up real soon on the site). And Ada appears as a schoolgirl who gets caught smoking and ends up in the detention cell for a long night of restraint and punishment. We also shot a couple other scenes including one with her as a nosey tomboy who snoops around where she shouldn’t be. The whole tomboy look is incredibly hard to pull off but Ada does it effortlessly. It was great seeing both Ashley and Ada again and I hope we’ll be able to do a repeat in the future…Hope you enjoy!

Kyra Pixie is always fun to shoot with, and I really enjoyed her most recent video where she’s a drugged-out gurl in a hotel room who meets up with her dealer and has to pay a steep price to cover her debts. She’s a natural at improvising dialogue, which makes it really easy for us to shoot little intros where she’s trying to talk her way out of a situation. Another of my favorites with her was from late 2014 where she’s a mouthey rich girl who ends up getting kidnapped. There are a few more Kyra galleries in reserve right now, and I’m sure we’ll be shooting more this year…Plus, the redesign of the free pages on Trannies In Trouble is very very close to being unveiled, and there’ll be a new preview video featuring Kyra. I’m real excited and will post more here and on Fetlife and the Yahoo Group once everything’s online.

I’m really thrilled to have Sybil back with another guest blog post, with her perspective on our very first shoot together back in the day…Thanks, Sybil, for the nice description of what really went on and for all your nice words!

I really haven’t done that much bondage modeling…Before I met with Sandra the first time, my resume was very short! I had shot with Jean Bardot in her studio, but Jean was definitely the feature in those shoots (and rightfully so!). Shooting with Jean also had more of a latex fashion and BDSM angle for her website at that time. Other than that I had some bondage pictures taken of me at home or at parties or during private play while I was tied up, but those pics were not for the purpose of being sold, distributed or anything like that. Those times I was tied up, I was tied by people I knew very well and vice versa, so there was plenty of trust and comfort there.

So when I contacted Sandra to arrange for our first shoot together in Hollywood, this legitimately was my first bondage modeling shoot! I was really nervous when the day came – not at all about personal safety – I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself or waste Sandra’s valuable time in not being able to produce usable content. I had so many thoughts which I laugh about now…Thoughts like, “What if I get really excited and there is a wardrobe malfunction? What if Sandra molests me, how should I react? What if I can’t take the bondage and have to end a scene prematurely?” But it turns out I had nothing to worry about, I could have only dreamed of Sandra molesting me or doing something inappropriate, and we would have laughed off just about any other situation we would have encountered.

Before we met, I tried to warn Sandra that I was basically a novice, but she was very encouraging and really made me feel confident as the time approached. She did an excellent job of setting expectations from the beginning; she took a very professional approach. I knew to expect paperwork, how much time it would take, how the content would be shared/used, and had a pretty good idea of what the scenes would be like.

I was staying at the Renaissance hotel in Hollywood with Jean on this visit from Minnesota, about six years ago, and Sandra thought it would be fun to shoot there, so we made that our plan. When Sandra showed up, she did all the hard work of setting up lighting, arranging the background, and laying out all the gear for the shoot – all I had to do was try to look my best! Sandra was very calm and confident; she obviously had tons of experience and had no trouble making decisions that I would have struggled with. It was just the 2 of us, Jean had a client at a local dungeon and would likely come back sometime while we were shooting. Sandra and I made small talk for a bit, discussed the first scene, and then she started doing practice shots, testing the lights, we were shooting!!

I had followed Sandra’s site pretty extensively for the past couple years before this, and I loved the classy nature of her site, the sexy secretary looks, and the way she could make girls look teasingly sexy. So for our first scene, I chose to wear a tight black skirt with suspenders with a purple top, which I thought would be right in line with the styles I’d seen on Trannies in Trouble. My intention was to have the welts of my stockings showing, maybe even the tops of my stockings if the skirt rode high enough during the shoot. I love that look – it’s something Sandra does amazingly well in her shoots. Underneath the skirt, I was tucked really well with a black satin gaff and I wore a 26” Versatile Fashions corset, laced very tight with 8 garters pulled snugly to the Secrets in Lace nylon RHT stockings, which had an imprint on the welt. I used medical glue to attach the silicone breast forms to my chest – I did not want those sliding around that day and peeking out around the black lace 36C bra! I wore a pair of 5.5” heels which I had custom made with a thick leather strap over the arch. These pumps are really difficult to remove when that strap is tight. And I wore leather gloves, my favorite for bondage – I love the way they look and feel as they protect my wrists while making it a little harder to undo knots.

So the first shots were “glamour” shots and we got some sitting, then standing, and we tried to get a shot with the Hollywood sign in the background. I had no idea how to smile while making it look natural, no clue how to pose, it felt like my first time being in front of a camera, so I kept looking for feedback from Sandra. She was great, she started saying right away, “oh that’s nice, these are going to be great. Love the lighting. The outfit looks fabulous.” She knew I was nervous and she did a great job of building up my confidence. I was just praying the pics would come out as good as she was telling me.

After a few dozen of those shots, Sandra just said very casually, “Ok, well let’s get you tied up now.” OMG! I was so excited and scared! I sat on the edge of the bed and she started tying my ankles, and we were chatting the whole time, telling stories, discussing the things we liked and getting to know each other better. Sandra used a magician’s rope, soft cotton and it felt wonderful as she circled my ankles and cinched them snugly. The rope grabbed nicely below and above my knees, even though I was wearing some very slippery nylon stockings. She knew she had to cinch those ropes very tight to keep them in place; my legs were locked together and it felt fantastic. Sandra then asked me to turn to the side and put my hands behind my back, and at that point I knew my freedom and control were going away for a while. Sandra circled my wrists three or four times, the rope was threaded between my wrists and then with a firm pull, my wrists were tightly cinched together and Sandra was in complete control. I had no idea when Jean would return, I was on my own, I was the damsel in distress, my favorite fantasy was on! She added some ropes to my elbows, around my chest, did a little cinching on the chest ropes and there I was, inescapably tied up.

I tested the ropes a bit, but I was helpless. There was no slack in any of the ropes and yet it was very comfortable – I could have stayed in this bondage all day. Sandra had me hop over to the chair and then came the matching purple ball gag, what a nice touch! She pulled the gag pretty tight, enough so that I would not be able to get it out of my mouth. I was starting to get a little excited at this point, but that’s when I found out that this was actually work! Sandra directed me to do a number of things to create the image she wanted. I had to sit in certain postures and put my legs in a variety of different positions, which I found to be very challenging while being tightly laced into the corset and mixed with the tight bondage. I needed all of my core strength to keep legs out in front of me with my toes pointed while sitting on the edge of the chair. I broke into a bit of a sweat a couple times, but Sandra always recognized it right away and patted me down with the kind of care only an experienced tranny in trouble would understand

After a lot of shooting, Sandra abruptly said, “ok, we got some excellent shots, let’s get you untied.” And that was the end of our first shoot, just like that. She didn’t rape me, there was no play session, I didn’t have a wardrobe malfunction, there was no panic attack or anything that pushed my beyond what I was capable of or willing to do. Sandra intentionally made this a quick, easy shoot to build my confidence and see how I did, so there was no video, no hogtie, no bdsm or tickling…She untied me and I think I babbled incessantly after she ungagged me, I was on an endorphin high. Once we all agreed the first set was a success, we started working on the next two…Jean returned from her session, and we had a blast doing the next two set-ups.

Sandra gave me a copy of all the pictures immediately after we were done; I was so glad to have them right away. We had agreed to share content vs. having Sandra pay me for the shoot and owning all the content. Out of respect for Sandra’s business, I only posted two pics from the shoot, and I made sure to tag them all with TranniesinTrouble.com to be sure I was doing my best to drive traffic to her website. Another reason I have always enjoyed working with Sandra is that when choosing what pics to feature from a shoot, Sandra has an uncanny knack for picking the same pictures I like. There have been times I have shot with other folks and thought, “omigosh, why did they choose to publish that shot??” Not that I am complaining though – different people obviously have different tastes and preferences, and I totally get that – it’s good to understand other folks’ perspectives and tastes, so even if it isn’t my favorite angle, I’m still honored when people choose to share a photo of me. But Sandra and I have very similar tastes in that regard; I know she is going to make me look good! And that is the reason I will always cherish any opportunity to shoot with this fantastic lady – she always makes me look good, better than I think I’m capable of. Thank you, Sandra, and everyone who has supported TranniesinTrouble.com over the years! xoxoxo

Jocelyn L. is one of those gurls that the camera really likes. She pulls off the party-girl look effortlessly and is really comfortable at striking a pose and looking over her shoulder with that look. She was basically introduced to bondage when we shot last fall and at the time I really hoped that she’d be willing to do it again, so I was thrilled when we shot these pictures just a couple months ago. We had the classic theme in mind of the hotel handyman who finds a cute CD practicing self-bondage alone in her room and who is “persuaded” to go along with whatever she’s forced to do to eventually be set free. I know I’ve been in a few hotel rooms late at night wishing I could get into some kind of trouble like this, and I suspect Jocelyn would do whatever was required of her. Why else would she dress like that if she didn’t want the attention?

Most years I get rather reflective and a bit melancholy when I write this end-of-the-year blog post. But you know, I have to say this has been a good year for me, so even though our world is still utterly insane, there’s really not that much for me personally to be moody about – Wow, that’s a change for me! Okay, well, I did have a slump this summer where I got into a bad emotional place worrying about the future but I got myself out of that. And I have noticed that I’m just not as tough as I used to be with the heavy bondage that I like so much, which inevitably happens to us all as the years pass.

So although there were a few setbacks, it’s been a fun and interesting year, with the amazing trip to Europe and BoundCon in May with Delilah, more fun shoots as usual, some great TEASE Parties with really good turnouts, and good visits with friends and family. Also a newly redesigned Members Area on the website done by my friend TT who’s just started working on the free site. And I always just really LOVE December and Christmas time – my favorite time of year!

I don’t think there’ll be any big trips in the new year, just planning to stay close to L.A. for a while. But I think it’s going to be another interesting year ahead in 2016…Once again, to everyone who supports the site: Thank you, I couldn’t do it without you! I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Super Solstice, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad and a fun New Year’s Eve…Here’s to 2016!

My friend Nina is a very busy girl so it’s actually been over three years since we’ve shot together but she’s back this week on the site! We had a really fun time with this one, where she plays a closeted and married CD who meets me on Craigslist but learns too late that I’m really just looking for new victims to rob – It’s happened enough times to me that I finally became an expert at turning the tables!

Al from AltomicVisuals took care of the camera and Delilah was able to stop by to do some rigging, so we all had a great time and shot this set at the end of a fun day. I really hope Nina can get back for more trouble again soon. She looked fantastic in her green dress…Hope you enjoy!

Sara O., my photographer friend Al and I had a really fun and naughty afternoon recently, where I tried out my new short hair. Once you cut it there’s no going back (at least for a few months ;-) Al and I shot most of these while Sara was still getting ready, so here are a few with some extras that didn’t make it into the set on the paysite. Hope you enjoy!