Collecting memories

Well, it's a little over-due but I did promise a couple of people a description of Night of the Cane so I shall do my best. I suspect (given that I've a tendency to go on a bit) that the time-delay will result in a better report, since only the most salient bottomspoints will remain in my memory.

Pandora and I arrived relatively early, and unlike previous experience we knew a number of the attendees: Leia-Ann Woods, Governeor Michael Stamp and Sascha, Diablo and Sarah Collins whom I had met at a previous Firm event, Chopper, and many other well-remembered faces (and bottoms!). We also had the opportunity to renew an acquaintance from some time ago with Niki Flynn and the redoubtable Henry Higgins, of which more later.

The social parts of the event were fortunately unimpeded by idiots (such as those who, protected by press cards and official status at the event, had made my last trip to a Night of the Cane rather annoying) and we made a number of new acquantances and enjoyed a lot of very fine costumes as we drifted about between bar, school-room and seminars.

The centre-piece of this tradition of the London spanking scene is, of course, the caning competition itself and subscription was quite high: quality was even higher. The top five or six acts were very hard to pick between: highlights include the (regrettably unplaced) performance by Lady Penelope and Parker, and a very graceful caning for a buxom young lady in remarkably cute school uniform whose name, unfortunately, I did not catch.

El and C won the event (outright, I believe, since that was their third such victory in a row) and very generously donated their prize to charity: the second place was awarded to Governer Stamp and Sascha. Having not at that time seen any of her work with Bars and Stripes, I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed Sascha's beautiful bottom wriggling over the spanking stool, as well as her muffled and obedient counting of the strokes with her lead in her mouth. Pandora and I were very happy to place third and left with three gorgeous canes supplied by Chopper.

The competeition was ably compered by the incomparable Leia-Ann Woods, who is simply lovely. The judges of the competition seem to have come to the same conclusion, for the compere was ambushed between acts and I seem to recall a caning being delivered.

After the main event we circulated a little more, and re-connected with Niki and HH at the bar. They very kindly invited us back to their hotel for a night-cap: since we had three new canes to break in, and since HH had been busy with his wallet and had recently acquired four of his own, we decided (somewhat predictably!) that our new implements should be thoroughly tested.

Niki is an absolute pleasure to cane. She has style and dignity and a very pert bottom, and she wriggles and kicks in the most delightful ways. HH delivered a series of measured, skillful canings to my girl in her turn, and as the girls took six strokes from each of us with each cane the knickers came down and the temperature rose significantly.

I've always had a fetish for girls comforting each other during canings. Other kinds of spankings as well, mind you, but it's much more of a thrill with a caning. The shared experience generates a very powerful erotic charge, and both Pandora and Niki are very beautiful women. We had delegated whichever girl was not currently taking the cane to hold the other down, but this quite quickly evolved into a much more intimate involvement of the girls in each other's whippings, and I will admit that I very much enjoyed both watching my sub being caned by Henry, and watching her bury her face in Niki's lap for moral support.

We eventually departed in the small hours, and I must say once more a very large thank-you to Henry and Niki for their hospitality and friendship, which made a good evening into a cherished memory.

Semi-detachment

Well, I think I'm back. House-moves, I'm reliably informed, are among the most stressful experiences which punctuate the life of a Western adult, and I can testify that there's a reason everyone moves house in the summer months. Not only is the weather much better, but moving house in the month leading up to Christmas is not a good way to relax.

I did manage, in November, to work for the very experienced Spanking Online crew, and very much I enjoyed it, as well. Miss Smith is a delightful co-star, as is the delectable Elizabeth Simpson, and I was made very welcome by everyone on the shoot. Pandora was, as you can see from the first link, also working with us.

This led me into some considerations about the correlations and distinctions between doing professional work with my submissive Pandora, and working with other professionals.

Apart from the obvious safety and security factors, one of the reasons Pandora asked me to be involved in her career from quite early was that we make pretty hot scenes. Even before we entered our current relationship, we knew each other well enough and had enough experience of the chemistry we can create to know that we would show well on film. In practice a number of adjustments needed to be made: not least, I needed to get used to the very distinct difference between Pandora's responses, both during action and between shots, while she is in her professional mode and the ones I get at home. I knew such differences were inevitable, and fortunately we seem to have made that adjustment quite easily.

Working with my partner is easier than working with another professional. This may seem an obvious statement but I've never seen it investigated by another spanking professional. There is a certain confidence-level that I will make the right calls, read the co-star properly, and get responses from dialogue and body-language that develop and enhance the scene. Knowing I was to be working with other models for the first time made me very nervous (yes, we do get nervous too) because I was afraid my habits might inhibit my professional fluency.

As it turned out, this hasn't been a problem (yet!) and I can only thank Miss. Smith and Elizabeth for making the SOL shoot so easy for me. Both have a wealth of on-camera experience I lack, and have worked with many co-stars; their warmth off-camera, combined with their skills when working, allowed me to very easily adjust.

Comparison is easiest between Pandora and Elizabeth: I mainly worked with Miss. Smith as a co-Top. One of the things that I was interested in was how accurately I could judge pace when working with a model other than Pandora. It helped that Miss. Simpson is very, very good and can take some pretty serious punishment in her stride, and it was good to be able to relax into what I was doing as I began to get a read on her responses.

It was also an eye-opener how comfortable both Elizabeth and Miss. Smith were with dialogue and physical action in cramped circumstances. This, I suspect, is the a mark of experience: Pandora and I are both quite involved in main-stream acting and so I've always been able to rely on Pandora's improvisations, but working with two new models gave me an insight into quite how good some of the untrained actresses in the industry are. I certainly felt Miss. Smith handled improvised dialogue in scene better than I did myself: Elizabeth and Pandora, obviously, did more squeaking than talking but I also found myself genuinely enjoying the role-play aspects of my scenes with both Elizabeth and Miss. Smith.

The third leg of a spanking scene (as it were!) is, of course, communicating energy and sexual tension to the camera. That's all about eyes, voice and body-language, and I went into the day wondering how I would perform without the safety-net of the relationship Pandora and I share off-camera. Again, I should have rested secure in the professionalism and talent of my co-stars. Miss. Smith has a fine touch for body-language to raise the tension in a scene, and Miss. Simpson has very expressive eyes and a remarkable sense of timing.

Obviously, there were differences. The main one I was able to observe as we worked was that while Pandora and I have a lot of experience getting thoroughly into our characters and playing off each other to raise the temperature of a scene, there was a real, and quite powerful, thrill and tension to my interactions with both Miss. Smith and Elizabeth which came precisely from the fact that I didn't know them. They are both vigorous and energetic ladies: exploring dynamics with them was a fairly heady experience and very different from the something-old-something-new tensions of working with Pandora.

I was expecting to find the experience very detached: I was mentally gearing up to have to create the appropriate emotional engagement, but I didn't need to at all. It was like, yet unlike, the experience of playing with a new bottom in a social context: similar in the the explorations and new textures to the interaction are thrilling and fascinating, yet unlike in that there is a sense of externally controlled pace to a scene in front of a camera which leaves me knowing there is more to learn than I will have time for; a sense of secrets still to discern which I hope will carry well.

I hope you all enjoy the scenes: I'm certainly intending to, next time I have a quiet evening with Pandora to follow up on any technical observations. Descriptions and pictures may well be posted, so stay tuned... The producers certainly seem to have enjoyed the work, as they have contacted me since about further work with them. Hopefully I'll be able to offer more well-caned bottoms for your perusal soon!

Oops.

Unfortunately, the server on which I host Pandora's professional websites and my own email suffered a disk head crash resulting in 100% loss of user data, including my own: and while I was trying to fix it I fell victim to a winter lurgy. Hopefully normal service has in most ways resumed.

Unfortunately, various pictures linked from back entries in this journal have evaporated, and it'll be a while before I get them put back again. Please excuse some unwieldy formatting in the mean time.