Site Review: Holly Randall & Forever Vamp

Chancing upon Holly Randall's work, I was briefly flung back (an undisclosed number of years) to illicit reading material of my youth, featuring racy photos by her mum, Suze - only to be brought back to the present by Holly's own talents and expertise.

Having recently reviewed Ellen Stagg's Stagg St, Ms Randall's photography could draw comparisons; both contemporary photographers, and featuring many of the same models - from fetish regulars such as Mosh, Darenzia, Angela Ryan, Vanessa Lake & Jade Vixen; to some of the biggest names in more mainstream smut, like Aria Giovanni & Ryan Keely. Ms Randall focuses more on the latter, though, adding considerably to it with many well-known porn actresses, including Alexis Texas and Sunny Leone.

But I'll try to avoid comparing, by way of a disclaimer - Holly's style of photography is a little more centerfold-glamour than the kind of erotica or fetish that I'm normally drawn to - most scenes being very strongly lit, the models quite made-up, the locations exotic more than evocative. But that's purely a matter of taste, and I'll counter that by saying that the standard of her photography is never less than excellent, and that I still found a lot to enjoy there.

My initial lure, her sets and videos of Mosh, Angela Ryan and Jade Vixen, are wonderful, as are those of the other fetish and pinup models, including the stunning Vanessa Lake. But the extra explicitness of the porn models - many sets leaving very little to the imagination with fingers and sex toys - was actually a welcome diversion from the kind of latex and nylon teasing that I like so much. And even though it's not normally my area of interest, I'll confess to enjoying the hardcore extra-racy photos and videos - perhaps it's because they are shot by a female photographer, but I found them more balanced and considered than most porn.

Now, although much of her work is arguably relatively mainstream, there's glamour and there's glamour, which brings me to one of the sister sites, Forever Vamp - subtitled Ultra Glamour Fetish, that's as apt a description as I'd be able to come up with. Here we see the glamour angle ramped up even more, but focusing on latex, alt models and pinups - just my territory, although I'll admit that some of the BDSM shoots out-kinked me! But with a great selection of models and fetishwear, for me this is the perfect direction for Ms Randall's talent and style - and although the site is relatively new, and with not much material yet, I'm looking forward to seeing more there in the future.

A brief note about specs - the sites are easy to browse, search and switch between (with number of additional sites included); recent videos are HD - my main complaint being picture resolution - OK-ish at 1600px, but I'd rather see at least 2000, preferably 3000, especially from such a well-known photographer. But such quibbles aside, the sites are great fun, and definitely worth joining.

Visit Holly Randall or Forever Vamp.