A 25th Anniversary Interview with Sandra Silvers!

 Questions from my good friend Rob66, over on Deviant Art

 

What were you up to in 1999 before you decided to launch SandraSilvers.com?
I think the thing that amazes me is just how fast the time flew! 5 different Presidents! 4 different decades! 3 different popes! 2 Millenia! Ben and I were only just married, working a lot at our respective careers. I was in banking and he had a tiny advertising agency. We worked opposing hours. It was tough carving out rope-time together. Bondage shooting was something we put into our filofaxes (it WAS the 90s) to plan around. We would shoot Polaroids or look on the newsgroups (alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bondage ... again, the 90s) or look at the fledgling sites around at the time for ideas.  The problem was that we rarely saw models that looked like me: curvier, fluffier. And who actually looked like they were enjoying the bondage, instead of just tolerating it. There were some, but not many.  So we started to think. "...if only someone could come up with a site dedicated to gals that look like me AND love being tied up...you know, the Broads! (smiles)

From the first set of pictures Sandra ever posted online in 1999!

In looking back over the past 25 years, is there anything that sticks out to you as a defining moment for your bondage modeling career?
Well, we kicked around the idea of finding models, building a site and then put it in the back of our minds. Then, one evening at the dinner table after not talking about it for months, I just blurted out, "Why don't I be the model?!" which was THE defining moment because I was, and still am, crushingly shy and do not seek attention. The rest is history :-)

To what do you attribute your success and longevity in the bondage modeling industry?
I think the main thing is that I am super honest with my fan base and my customers, and I never cheated on them. I've NEVER missed an update and they've never seen me doing things I am not really into just to make a few bucks. And then I don't make them go to a dozen of different stores or sites to get my content. All I ever ask of them is to join my site. One place, one subscription, and they see everything I've ever done. Ever. That's the way it's always been and always will be.  That allows members/fans who have been with me from the very beginning (hi, Ozi!) and those who are brand new, to relive my bondage journey with me whenever and however they want.

Sandra Silvers and Darla Crane

One aspect of your uniqueness is that you have not worked for any other producer except yourself/Ben. What's it been like for you to have been independent all this time?
It has allowed us to be nimble and take advantage of locations and opportunities as they come along, and not being a very constant treadmill of trying to please everybody. My site in my career is a body of work. Not individual sets or clips. So I wouldn't have been able to produce the product that I do if I was surrendering that process to others. My fans and members have returned my loyalty to them and enable me to have the resources to create experiences I'd only ever imagined and stimulate imagination I had never experienced. I truly mean it when I say I love them. They have been very good to me and I will never betray them.

Sandra in the desert

How do other producers react when they ask to shoot with you for their own sites/stores and you decline the invitation?
It's run the gamut of reactions over the years, but for the most part they just move on and don't make a fuss. What I do get a lot of is people who have already sold a custom where they have said they hire me for it. It makes me giggle because I have to tell them that they have to give the money back because I'm not available. Every year at convention time I get three or four models contacting me for trade because they've sold a custom with me in it because they didn't realize I'm not available. I actually feel bad about that sometimes.

Since our last interview, you've worked with several models fairly regularly like Cat Sterling, Ami Mercury, Lisa Harlotte, Christina Sapphire, and Whitney Morgan (just to name a few). How do those relationships begin? What do you look for when you seek other models to collaborate with?
I think the number one quality that I look for is is: is this somebody I actually want to spend time with? The gals you mentioned all happened to be fairly local, but that's not a requirement. I have regulars that live across the state, across the nation and across the ocean. All of them are creative, curious, and collaborative.

Sandra Silvers, Christina Sapphire, and Catherine Sterling

Has your approach to or feelings about bondage changed in any ways over the past 25 years?
About bondage? My feelings haven't changed one bit. I love it as much as I did then, except just 25 years more!

Do you have a favorite or stand out shoot or memory from the past 25 years in the industry?
Oh my there have been so many! However, here is one that is fresh in my mind because I literally shot it last week. At the moment, Ben, Catherine and I are in the middle of a five week journey across the country shooting cool stuff in cool locations. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big science fiction nerd. In 2024, we're releasing a big science fiction bondage series at my site. On this trip we picked up Caroline Pierce. We just did a really fun set in the early morning chilly hours at Vasquez Rocks. People may not know the name of that place, but it's the exact location where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn in Star Trek TOS. The giant rock formations are so alien and unmistakable. I was sitting there in my uniform tied up and struggling and the whole time geeking out that 50 odd years ago William Shatner was double karate-chopping a dude in a big green rubber suit in that very spot I was roped up in!


Sandra in 2008

Does any aspect of being in the bondage modeling industry make you feel uncomfortable today? If so, what and why?
Woah, we're going to get serious here, huh? The porn industry in general has a very low barrier to entry. I think a lot of young women are getting dazzled by the very rare exceptions of quick money and "fame" and making a lot of bad decisions and doing a lot of things in front of cameras that they shouldn't be doing. They're letting a lot of GWCs (guy with camera) and non-professional professionals get away with a lot of things because they don't want to gain the reputation of being seen as a problem model. That has always been a concern, but I can see it gets more prolific year after year.

What is the main issue you think the internet bondage modeling industry faces today? How do you think it could/should be addressed?
We've always had a problem with content and copyright thieves, but at the moment I think we have a new problem:

Oversaturation of low quality content. We walk around with entire movie studios in our back pocket, but that doesn't make up for creativity, passion and vision. I don't have a solution, because you don't want to stifle the young Spielbergs. But I do know if the industry as a whole doesn't provide content worth buying, the thievery is going to continue and get worse.

Sandra Silvers, Ami Mercury and Caroline Pierce

Did you ever consider leaving the industry and retiring?
Not even once. Not during the 2257 nightmare in 2005, not during the industry-wide Visa/ MasterCard debacle. In fact, all the headwinds that have come my way have only hardened my resolve to help others who truly have a passion for bondage and plan for the future to achieve their goals.

How do you plan on celebrating the 25th Anniversary of your career?
I'm going to give it all the love and care and attention that I gave to the 24th! But we have some new concepts and ideas that we've been wanting to try out, and I think the fans and members are going to be pleased. Some new adventures, some new intimacy, some new locations. SandraSilvers.com is and always has been an evolutionary body of work. And will continue to be so.

Sandra Silvers, Lisa Harlotte, Christina Sapphire, and Ben

Is there anything that you haven't done yet that you'd really like to do? Or anything you'd like to accomplish with your site?
Well not really. I mean any time I come up with some hair brained idea, Ben tilts his head, strokes his beard, gives it a ponder and then happily gets to work on how to make it happen. Actually, now that I think about it, not only do I love being in bondage, I love the energy of fellow bondage lovers as well. So although I adore being in bondage with them, I'd like to try my hand at more putting them in bondage as well,  maybe taking more of a top role. I'm not a dominant, but I love pleasing people. Maybe I can flex those muscles and see what happens.

Sandra Silvers and Liz River in the Five Point Classic Tie

Finally, after 25 years of bondage modeling, what is your very favorite position for being tied?
That's easy -- the Five Point Classic Tie. Ankles, knees, crotch rope, chest harness, hands behind back. It can be turned into so many other things so easily, but really because it is the perfect one when I just feel like struggling. :-)

XO -Sandra