With the SuperBowl being this last Sunday and then Suzy having some health issues, this is way-way late. Do want to Wrap-Up last week’s Roundtable though, and here is that post.
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Have you ever had a spanking picture taken of yourself? Have you ever shared a spanking picture online? What are your personal policies about spanking pictures… what about hard limits? What are your thoughts on someone else sharing/borrowing/stealing a picture you have posted online? Have you ever shared/posted a picture online of someone else, and what are your policies there? Overall what is the best thing about sharing spanking pictures and what is the biggest headache?

Amateur spanking pictures are getting more and more popular online. Generally spanking though how open are spankos to taking pictures? What are their policies? That was this week’s topic and a big thank you to all that took the time to share their thoughts and insights. Let’s jump into the Wrap-up by taking a look at the Quick Response Poll results.

What are your thoughts on someone “borrowing” a picture you have posted online?
I love having my pictures shared and have no limits on it. ~ 14%
No problem, just don’t pretend it’s a picture of them. ~ 14%
It’s fine, so long as an effort to credit me was made. ~ 24%
They need to get my specific permission first. ~ 5%
I don’t want anyone else using my pictures, ever. ~ 43%

A little over half are open to having spanking pictures taken, which is a pretty high number. Then of those that are open to it, the vast majority are good with others sharing those pictures without a great deal of restriction… mainly just offering credit for most. Interesting results.

For more insights, here are this week’s comments.

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Lea said: I’ve taken spanking pics of myself on many occasions. I’ve shared some on my blog and on Fetlife. I never have my face in them so figure that gives me plausible deniability about it being me if needed. Maybe not true, but makes me feel better about it. Lol.

I’ve never had any of my own pictures used anywhere else to my knowledge. I would request the person take it down though and hope they’d be polite about it. I’ve used some pics on my blog and it’s either with express permission of the person in it or from a major site, like Cane-iac, with their logo and link on it.

~Leaving your face out of pictures strikes us as a really good way of protecting your privacy. Do need to be aware of what else is in the picture… such as say you’re livingroom in the background… but with no identifiers besides your spanked bottom, it’s gonna be hard for anyone to know its you (unless they know you REALLY well, lol).~

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Autumnred said: I am very very careful about pictures. It is too big of a risk. I only allow people that I completely trust to take pictures of me. By nature I’m open and love taking little videos or pictures, etc…, but my professional life leaves no room for any of this getting out, so I’m ridiculously careful. I only don’t like getting pictures taken or a video when I’m being disciplined. For me, discipline goes deep and is a time when I feel very vulnerable, sometimes ashamed, etc.. While later I have no issue watching a discipline video of myself, I often get very tense if I know I am being recorded.

~Yep, some jobs mean privacy must be protected at all costs. While spanking is totally legal, the sad truth is it can indeed cost people certain types of jobs. Totally understand what you mean about discipline too… while pictures are fun and all, they are a distraction and that matters when it comes to discipline… which certainly is a more private and intimate thing.~

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Jane said: I have pictures of my spanked bottom on my profile on FL, but will never have a face picture there. Too much of a risk.
-Jane

~We had the no face rule for a long time ourselves. It makes good sense.~

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CherylKay said: This is a great topic for me as well because spanking and photography are two of my biggest passions. It might seem hard to believe now, but when I first started in the spanking scene in 2003, I had an aversion to being photographed while playing. Much of that stemmed from appearance and self-confidence issues. But a lot of it was also realizing that I was nervous about having pics of myself in a state of undress “out there” for others to see. When I first started, we obviously didn’t have Fetlife. But there were Yahoo groups and those groups all had a photo album section where members could post pics. I was horrified at the thought of a pic of me being online for anyone who created an account to see. Slowly but surely, I began to get over it. This had a lot to do with me wanting to have some kind of momento of the scene. I learned also that many spankos are also avid photographers. The two seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.

My own personal policy is that as long as the person who posts my picture isn’t claiming I’m someone else then I’m fine with the pic being posted. Pics of me are on many peoples’ profiles on Fetlife. Many of them are taken at parties and seeing a pic of that person playing with me lets me know that they had a good time with me and are proud of the scene we did. I don’t have a problem with my face being shown. But I understand that others do so when the top I’ve been photographed with requests that his face not be shown, I have no problem cropping his face out of the pic. If he doesn’t want to be photographed at all, then I content myself with after shots, pics of the finished product. I understand that because of job or family concerns a person might not want to be on a site like this.

My hard limits for photography are pretty straightforward. I don’t want too much of myself showing (if you get my drift lol). I’m happy to do pics where I’m naked, but I insist that my stomach be covered. I hate how it looks and I can’t stand to see it poking out. Obviously, I don’t do explicit photos and probably never will. If someone likes a pic that I’ve taken with my camera and they’re in it and ask me to email it to them (this happens at partiees, too) I have no problem doing that, provided that they acknowledge that I gave them permission to post it. This negates all those “Does Cheryl know you have this pic?” interrogations that I’ve seen before.

I love “action shots”; pics taken when the spanking was actually happening. A blurry hand or a nice impact shot are among my favorites. This is a very nice group and I’m a little sorry that I didn’t join sooner.

~A lot of people don’t like their pictures being taken, period. Throw in the fact that there is often nudity in spanking pics… and it can be that much harder. We too want to do what we can to look our best… basically pick flattering pictures… avoid showing too much tummy, too much nudity, no dopey looking faces, etc… common sense stuff. That’s part of the trust too in allowing someone else to take a picture of you. It’s not that they’ll use the pictures in an intentionally bad way, but rather they’ll pick and/or edit pics that just flat don’t look good.~

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***Suzy Says: I have had a bunch of spanking pictures taken, obviously and shared many/most of them online. I don’t have a policy but I have requested that pictures taken and/or shared of me aren’t horrible (use some common sense, if my worst features are more apparent than my best, don’t use it lol) I used to not have my face and spanking both be in the same pic if it were shared online because of raising my son, but we don’t have that concern anymore, he’s a grown young man now and I think he can deal with it if he happens to be perusing spanking sites and sees his mama’s bottom on here. As far as someone stealing/borrowing/sharing a pic of me that’s already been posted online and they are sharing it online too, that’s not really a big deal to me because I realize that what goes on the internet doesn’t stay where you put it on the internet. There are literally tons of programs that share stuff online that you can’t even control if you wanted to so I don’t have the time or the inclination to worry about a picture other people have seen, been in, or even taken of me themselves. As far as what I do with others pictures. It’s pretty easy, when we are going to take a picture, I ask if they care if it goes on the blog or online and if they are ok with it, I consider that an OK. If they aren’t, it doesn’t go there. The idea of putting something online and then removing it later seems silly since you are never going to remove all traces of it online (can’t control what others might have done) so you are only fooling yourself believing so. The best thing about spanking pictures is that it shows the good and fun times involved in spanking, even the discipline ones are enjoyable after the discipline is over. The biggest headache is the stress some people put on others trying to change their mind years later just to be petty and vindictive. But whatever, I have a good life, I’m very happy, I have wonderful friends I love and care about and I have my husband Todd and my girl Crimson to share my life with… I’m one lucky lady and happy to share any pics of that I can with the world.

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Todd Says: Suzy and I have taken lots and lots of spanking pictures (and videos) over the last several years and we’ve shared many of them online, both here on the blog and on different social networking sites (such as FetLife). For me personally my policy is to just try and pick pictures that look good and pictures that in no way would cause embarrassment. Really not any hard limits beyond that. I’ve long been okay with face pics.

As for other sharing/borrowing my pictures, I am totally fine with it. Don’t pretend the picture is of someone else, and then don’t use the picture to make a profit. Other than that, I’m laid back about it. Credit would certainly be nice, but I realize that isn’t always possible (you can’t always figure out what the source of a picture is). If I post a picture online though, I’m not going to get my panties in a bunch if it appears elsewhere.

Obviously some aren’t as laid back about pictures, and often that is for very good reason (such as their job). Whatever limits they have, I’m more than happy to oblige. No face pics, no this, no that… always-always respect that limit. Always want pictures to be fun and positive, so whatever that takes (including not taking them if need be).

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been issues from time to time. A few former friends have made a stink about their pictures. Total nonsense, almost always coming ~years~ after the pictures we posted… and *days* after a falling out occurred. It’s transparent nonsense. Luckily that has been the rare exception.

Now we do also post spanking pictures that we didn’t take. That’s mainly done over at the About Spankings blog. We work hard to give credit there. If we know who took the picture, we share that. It’s not always possible, but we do our best. In over 3 years we have had all of *one* complaint. We had posted a link to where we’d found the picture… which was all we knew. The girl who had actually taken the picture made a stink about it… her complaint driven by an extremely obvious desire to wallow in scene drama… but whatever. We of course removed the picture immediately.

So a couple of headaches but overall sharing spanking pictures has been an extremely positive experience and one Suzy and I have both greatly enjoyed.

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All the pictures in this week’s Roundtable Wrap-up come from Amateur Spanking, which is moving to a hi-def format.  This means one of the best sites is getting even better!