Mayan Lee was part of the first set I ever posted for DeLano Bound; in that shoot we were co-bottoming to Senju's rope and it was the first time we had ever worked together. It took a while for us to set up another shoot, this time with me doing the tying but it was well-worth the wait. Mayan has a natural and beautiful language of gesture that lends itself well to the kind of images Michele loves to shoot. Mayan's movement and composure fed my own and we connected in a way that was ballet-like and classic as we discovered our own style of play in front of Michele's camera.

At first, even though I very much wanted to shoot with her again, I was a little trepidatious because I was internally comparing myself to the tops I've played with and shot with and know as friends and I was coming out on the short end of that comparison. It's sometimes hard to tell my inner critic to shut up and enjoy the ride but he couldn't say a word once I got the rope out and Mayan gifted me with her trust. We both have great respect for each other as models and players and she knows that the reason I do this site is to explore connection between lovers of rope bondage. We subconsciously understood that the way for the two of us to connect would be through bold, grand gestures and dramatic motion.

Mayan's actual rope time is comparatively limited but she took to the partial suspension like a seasoned player and the grace in her restrained movement was inspiring. We matched each other strength-for-strength, grace-for-grace, and trust-for-trust. We invited each other to dance.

And that's exactly what we did. Danced. Not until the cows came home but until we all three of us were sated and happy.

This set, I think very boldly illustrates why I'm ecstatic to be shooting with Michele. She so intuitively understands intent and connection and can find the nuances those concepts inspire in my rope play -- and she can capture it on film for everyone else to see. A lot of other erotic/fetish photographers shoot the girl in the corset or get the fabulous shot of the girl tied up and that's cool (I've collected a lot of these images in my time). Michele, however captures interaction and response between two people and that's the only way DeLano Bound can exist.

I find that I can't break this set up and present it over two or three updates. It's a dance and you have to see all of it.