The New York-born fetish photographer Eric Kroll (1946) was already exposed to art in his early childhood. Both his parents had refined tastes when it came to the arts, and he and his siblings (he was the middle child) were dragged to every museum in New York,
Fig.1. Eric Kroll holding his book Sex Objects
Distorted Nudes
When Kroll was 16, a friend of his father gave him "a Pentax 35mm". The first picture he shot was this weird distorted picture of his sister underwater in her red, one-piece swimming suit that later reminded him of photographer André Kertész and his distorted nudes.
Eccentric
He also took pretty girls into the woods surrounding his home and doing inconceivable, but photographic, things with them. His work is a reflection of him: very eccentric and personal. He's not trying to please the viewer. Kroll's gift is sensing sexual tension and collecting it in his camera.
Fig.2.
Shooting the Waitress
His ideal models are those who are impatient to get in front of his camera and trust him. He finds them everywhere. In an interview with Dian Hanson*, he tells, 'Once in Flagstaff, Arizona, many years ago, I was at a restaurant with several photographers who were telling me I was so lucky to live in New York City (at the time) because there were no models in Flagstaff. I looked at our waitress and asked if she'd like to shoot with me tomorrow. Two shots of her ended up in my book Beauty Parade (Taschen, 1997).
Fig.3.
Sat On My Face
Today he lives in Tucson, Arizona, where they are not benevolent about sexual imagery, and he has to import his models from out of state. The local beauty standards are something he left many years ago. In the interview he tells the following anecdote, '...I ran an ad on Tucson's Craigslist saying I shot "in the style of Eric Kroll" and met Amanda, a junior at University of Arizona, who came to my place, sat on my face, and masturbated. She claimed to be a junior, but she tasted like a sophomore.'
Fig.4. 'Nude in Field' (1980) ~ performer Agnetis Miracle (Twitter.com)
Fig.5. 'Sun is the Best for My Twins' (Twitter.com)
Fig.6.
Fig.7. 'Chastity and Marriage,' NYC, (1992)
Fig.8. 'Ria on her knees the first nite '
Fig.9.
Fig.10. 'Sammy playing Risk '.© Eric Kroll
Fig.11. "But Officer you told me to attach it to my bush," for a Betty Blue's Junk shop calendar.© Eric Kroll
In the Premium version of this article more about the photographer's work in the 70s and 80s, his influential photo-documentary book Sex Objects, and much more images of his bizarre fetishes...
Vice magazine spend an afternoon with Kroll...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K6fuw6MV0Q&ab_channel=VICE
Click HERE for 58 seductive models of fetish photographer Gilles Berquet
Sources: Twitter.com, The New Erotic Photography by Dian Hanson, tucsonweekly.com
*Published in The New Erotic Photography by Dian Hanson
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