Steve Diet Goedde, a fine art erotic photographer with a career spanning nearly 25 years, has carved a unique niche for himself in the world of photography. Known for his subtle and down-to-earth style, Goedde captures alternative fashion in an ethereal manner, earning him recognition as the "Ansel Adams of erotic photography" due to his meticulous attention to composition and black and white tonal quality.
Early Influences and the Chicago Years
Goedde's journey into photography began in St. Louis, Missouri, where he learned the fundamentals of darkroom work from his father, an amateur photographer. In 1985, he moved to Chicago to study filmmaking and painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The early 1990s proved to be a pivotal period in his career. He had always wanted to explore fetish photography but in a very ethereal, beautiful, and artistic way, a style that hadn’t quite been done yet at that time. A friend of his named Molly, who he’d known since his teenage years, started dressing up for the club scene in fetish-oriented attire (corsetry, leather, latex, etc.), and so she was a perfect muse for him to explore this genre of photography. They quickly built up a nice portfolio of work which was immediately celebrated in the local fetish scene. Molly eventually started her own latex design label So Hip It Hurts and of course had him photograph all her designs. Through Molly, he met even more friends and collaborators which led to even more work and exposure, and within a few years, he had his first book deal with famed Swiss photography publisher Edition Stemmle.
Goedde established his photographic style in the early 1990s in Chicago, capturing images that would form the contents of his first book, "The Beauty of Fetish" (Edition Stemmle), which was released in 1998. This collection explored his fascination with fetishistic fashion elements such as latex, leather, and PVC.
Los Angeles and Evolving Style
In 1998, Goedde relocated to Los Angeles, where he continued to refine and evolve his distinctive style. This West Coast work was later compiled into his second Edition Stemmle book, "The Beauty of Fetish: Volume II," published in 2001.
Exploring Tactile Photography
Goedde has started producing photography that’s more physical as opposed to photography that only exists in digital form. He missed the days of making real prints in the darkroom and craved the sensation of holding tactile pieces of photographic art. It’s with this concept that he started doing emulsion transfers, a process of extracting the emulsion layer from a standard Polaroid print and transferring it to another surface such as thick watercolor paper. He had a solo exhibition of this work this past January at the Garboushian Gallery in Beverly Hills which was very successful.
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Collaborations and Recognition
Goedde's work has garnered recognition in various forms. In 2006, Slish Pix released a DVD compilation of his work entitled "Living Through Steve Diet Goedde". In 2009, Goedde collaborated with French composer Robert Waechter on a CD entitled “GoeddeConcerto” (ReadyMade Music) in which the ConcertMaster of the Philharmonic of Nice, France interprets 21 of Steve’s photographs into 21 mini-concertos.
"ARRANGEMENTS": A 25-Year Retrospective
In 2015, Steve celebrated his 25 years of photography with a 3-volume book retrospective of his work entitled “ARRANGEMENTS” published by Century Guild. The three volumes will be released over a 3-year period. Renowned photographer Steve Diet Goedde celebrates 25 years of his iconic erotic and fetish imagery with this deluxe retrospective book.
FEMMINSTANTS
In FEMMINSTANTS, Goedde created unique works of art using a delicate Polaroid-transfer process that creates original archival photo-objects that cannot be duplicated. These small snapshots are like peepholes into the intimate personal moments of his models. They are unlike any work he has shown before. They explore the subtle side of feminine sexuality with classic style with a contemporary eye. Goeddes new work highlights the delicate and intimate moments of confident, strong and independent women, taking their destiny and sexuality into their own hands, on their own terms. His compositions have a modern edge, with intentional image-framing, playful poses, and creative settings. His work pushes and plays with classic boudoir style, candid snapshots, and film noir. The end results are compact unique moments with mysterious and powerful women, abstracted by his print process. As they evoke inspired narratives and reflective moments, they have the power to transport the viewer into their shoes, and feel what they feel. FEMMINSTANTS opens on Thursday, January 14, 2016 with a reception from 6:00 to 9:00pm.
The Allure of Fetish: Challenging Perceptions
Fashion magazines are a deliberate reference point for Steve Diet Goedde in his gorgeous "The Beauty of Fetish," a collection of shots of women in bondage and fetish gear that aims for the glamor of fashion photography. Goedde follows a different path from Tony Ward. Dressed in rubber and latex to turn themselves into fantasy objects, Goedde's models all come across as individuals. A big-eyed, full-cheeked young woman named Anna, dressed in a leather corset, peers out from beneath her Betty Page mane, as much girlish as she is forbidding. Goedde's most frequent model, the dominatrix and performer FetishDiva Midori, has a regal grace as she stands on a San Francisco street in a floor-length rubber evening gown, and real casual style in a lovely shot where her knee-high, high-heeled, lace-up boots make a striking contrast with her comfy velour bathrobe. You can argue that Goedde isn't presenting the reality of S&M or B&D, but that isn't his point. He means to get at the surface allure of fetish wear.
Goedde revels in the power of the fetish itself, which exists as a prelude to activity. He offers the mere suggestion of what the clothes really represent, with an occasional dollop of unexpected humor (one shot shows the magnificent intelligence-officer-turned-fetishdive Midori in profile sticking her fantastic tongue out at downtown San Francisco).
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Artistic Philosophy and Creative Independence
"Since I’m a fine art photographer, I’m pretty much allowed to do my art as I please." As a fine art photographer, Goedde doesn’t really have clients - he just creates his work for himself and then sell the work to collectors, show in galleries, and sell books.
Goedde has often contemplated whether he's had any regrets in his life, especially concerning his art. And after much soul searching, he feels like he's been on the correct path all along and can't think of anything he'd do differently. He mean, there could’ve been ways in which he made more money or achieved more fame, but his art is so personal to him, that he’s happy he’s sacrificed additional money/fame for the love of doing his art on his own terms without very few compromises.
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