On Marquis & fetish photography

Interview Peter Czernich

•	First of all: what's your current state of mind?

Relaxed. We just had a great vacation in Florida, completely without fetish, something I need every couple of months to clear my thoughts and refill my batteries. Right after, there was the Fetish Evolution event in Essen, and a big photo and video production with 12 models. All that was a lot of fun and worked very well, because I was relaxed.

•	Would you tell us something about your personal life? Are you single, married, in love, kids, and while we're asking.....what's your favourite food, drink, holiday and artist? More information is welcome, but we don't to be too nosy :-)

I’m turning 55 this year, married with Bianca since 1999, one daughter of 8 years. My wife and I love to cook, all good things – seafood of any kind is a favourite,also roast duck or goose, beef and game, pasta, Thai & Indian food, Spanish tapas. I’m Francophile; we spend a lot of holidays in South France and want to acquire a holiday home there soon. A French supermarket is paradise to me. I drink mainly wine and try to get ever more knowledgeable about it (by drinking a lot of it!). I have this idea of creating erotic (fetish) wine labels, coming soon at wine-fetish.com… Food & drink are most important to me, as I have no other hobbies due to my excessive workload. My fetish activities consume 120% of my time, really.

•	In your biography we read that you've been working at an advertising agency and started your own agency for industrial design until you met with the fetish scene in London (Ectomorph, Skin Two). What happened then?

I decided to become part of this new, exciting scene, which interpreted “fetish” in a whole new, stylish way. It all happened very fast, I created a new magazine which was successful from the start and allowed me to live from it, and abandon my regular advertising clientele. Over the years, the publishing turned into a lot of other fields of activity, like writing stories, photography, fashion design, event organization (Ball Bizarre, Night of O., Night of Marquis; Art Bizarre), video directing and shooting, and more…

•	Are you able  to visit fetish parties (and do you?) without looking around with a professional photographer's eye. Which parties do you prefer and what are you usually wearing?

I like parties where you can stay in hotel among fetishists, move about in your outfits, and most activities are “under one roof”. That is most fun to me; I hate calling taxis from a venue at 5 in the morning, when it is cold and rainy. I also hate when the music is too loud. I want to communicate, music should just be a side dish. I am a voyeur, I rather watch and enjoy the sights of beautiful women in latex, than participate in the action myself. And I’m not into wearing latex myself; I like it on my woman. I wear it if there is a dresscode, but I’m equally happy with a tux or black suit.

•	How do think the fetish scene will evolve?

Things haven’t changed much over the past ten years. Women have become more interested and are taking a vital part in the scene today. We have reached a high level of organization, there are countless parties everywhere, numerous good designers, hundreds of fetish models. Things get more refined, especially fetish fashion, as can be seen in our MARQUIS STYLE magazine. Quality and creativity can easily compete with the best high fashion designers. However, public perception of the fetish scene is still diffuse; there are still many taboos and a lot of apprehension against us fetishists, unlike gay and lesbians, for instance.

•	What does a normal day's work for you look like?

Getting up at 7.30, kid to school, emails, meetings with employees, editorial work, photo retouching, filling up our memberzones – all on the computer. I’m happy about shooting days when I can jump about in my studio, 2-3 times a week. We often work late in the evening or on weekends, altogether 60-70 hours per week.

•	What, in your opinion, makes a good photo and what is a models best quality (besides being beautiful)?

That cannot be determined in just a few words. There are numerous ways to shoot a good photo, as there are numerous styles and interpretations, each being good in it’s own right and manner. I don’t claim to possess the one and only formula at all. I like it to see things well lit, not diffuse, as the fetish details interest me. I like many aspects in a photo, and I like being looked at, the model interacting with the camera/eye of the viewer.

•	We noticed that Marquis Magazine is also written in Russian. Is there special reason for?

Well, the reason was of course that Russians can read it! It was given up again, though, after four issues, as not enough copies were sold. We may try again some time later; Russia is still a country of a few rich and many poor people. We also had to give up the French edition years ago; it turned out that we sold as many copies in English. With the German and English editions, we are still the most widely distributed fetish magazine by far. To translate and print a magazine in another language is very costly. We will rather translate our website; right now, a Chinese version is about to go on line.

•	What other passions do you have besides photography?

As said above, I’m expressing my fetish fantasies in many fields, like writing, fashion design, videos. And I like wine.

•	Who do you admire, and why?

All the girls in the scene, fetish models, dominatrixes, who give me the gift of their beauty. Thierry Mugler was the most creative, most fetishistic designer of all times.

•	What are your plans for the future?

I’m working on several books, trying to group my 300,000+ photos into categories, which is a hard task. Soon to come out is “Vintage Dita”, a book with my best photos of this outstanding, most famous of all fetish models. Then to follow is “Fetish Top Models” – 24 of the best girls I’ve shot (there were over 300 in all). I have plans for some spectacular fetish films, one of the a Sci-Fi. We’re trying to get a foothold in China, we’re trying to improve our presence and distribution in North America, then there is my fetish wine project…

•	What is your definition of true love?

Trust, long lasting companionship, honesty, trying to be nice to each other and comfort each other, sharing the essential things in life, having a child together.