"I cannot think of anybody who could with such sublime ease combine the athletic with the erotic and at the same time preserving so aesthetic an approach" ~ Mark Williams

On the Creation of Fine Art

This photo was taken by one of my all time favorite photographers, Pat Barrett.  Pat photographed my first nude photo shoot out in the desert when I first started competing in figure and bikini shows.  He was the first person that made me feel comfortable in my skin, and allowed me to have my own creative and artistic license in front of his lens.  This photo was taken on only our second photo-shoot back in 2006, when I was preparing for the Master’s Nationals bodybuilding championships.  Looking back on these photos, and there will be more to come, I am struck by a couple of things.  On the day this photo was taken, we did about a one-hour shoot out at a very exotic, desert location.  Getting there was a bit of a ride, but once we got there, it was perfectly calm and still.  Eventually, the wind started to kick up and dark storm clouds began to intrude on our magical shoot.  We got what we got, and headed towards his studio to get some indoor shots.  This photo is one of them. What stuck me about the photos, are the poses I got into—and the lighting on just the right muscle groups.  I do not have a dance background, but I did take gymnastics at an early age, and have always been athletic.  Looking back on these photos on that dry, windy day in June of 2006, Pat and I created something very special.  And, I want to share that with you, my loyal fans, friends, and lovers of Amber DeLuca. 

 A good friend of mine, Dave Rogers, a ‘jack-of-all-trades', master of many, came to my home yesterday for a Photoshop play date.  Dave was my editor/web designer for the Goddess of Fetish in the early days.  We would have these jam sessions where we would talk for hours and hours, then finally get a little work done.  During these early jam sessions my vision and mission was created, and over time, I evolved to where the Goddess of Fetish is today, and ultimately, myself.  Over the past several years, he has been scarce due to his own creative work, designing knives for Special Forces, badass mountain men, collectors, and anyone that appreciates functional beauty.  I always seem to attract like-minded people in my work.  I was sad to lose Dave, and I struggled for a few years after we stopped working together. After a long hiatus, I found a very creative, intelligent artist, Alexander "Xander" Paul, that stepped in and took over my filming and editing productions in early 2014.  Xander is my long cool drink of water in the desert heat!   

 As I was show casing my fine art prints to Dave at my home yesterday, I was describing to him the difference between a good photographer, and a great photographer.  The truth is, with today’s technology nearly anyone can capture good photos, and with Photoshop, make ordinary folks look like super models.  A great photographer has three key traits.  They are:  1) He has the “eye” for what looks best for that model.  He studies her body type and knows her best angles after only a few minutes time.  2) He then allows the model to take on her own persona in front of his lens, giving her positive feedback, and encouraging her to do as she pleases.  This is called chemistry.  Just like all good things in life, if the chemistry is there, the magic happens. 3) He does not pose the model in cookie-cutter poses that he does for all of his models.  Arguably, most photographers’ work is recognizable, what is known as branding.  Branding is good if you must work in a particular industry where expectations and defined parameters rule the day.  It typically is not good if you are attempting to create something memorable, lasting, unique, and magical.

To this day, some of my best photographs are from local photographers, that are not well known, established physique photographers.  In fact, some of my most average work is from well known, very famous photographers, but that was due to the fact that I was like a "deer-in-the headlights" and too awestruck by their work to just relax and be natural--therefore, the natural chemistry never happened, and, they did not have the unique capability of drawing me out. (Sounds like bad sex..LOL).  And, that is the very reason why I believe I have created magical poses, and fine art in the beautiful landscape of New Mexico over the past decade.  My dear friend, Mark Williams, waxed eloquent upon viewing the photo for the first time, hence, I was compelled to use his statement which best characterizes my studio shoot with Pat.  This statement could very well have been inserted into the Ironman Magazine, 2004, featuring Bill Dobbins’ photograph of me posing on a rock, bent over at the hip, exposing glutes and hamstrings, completely nude.  When I first saw the pose, Mark’s comments are something I think Bill’s photo captured.  It is interesting that a completely nude model can show so much, yet so little.  The implied eroticism of a completely nude, powerful female physique is something to behold, admire, even worship.  It is also interesting to note, the evolution of the development of my physique and also the creativity in my posing from Dobbins’ 2003 shoot, to Barrett’s 2006 shoot. In the top Barrett photo, I was 190 pounds, and the Dobbins photo below, I was 155 pounds. 

 

 In summation, when there is chemistry between two people, no matter what the activity, there is always a positive outcome.  Like fine art, it is is rare, and should always be treasured.  Stay tuned for more fine art by Amber DeLuca and Xander Arts.  

Miami Beach Hosts Amazon Erotica

I have not been to Miami Beach in several years.  I finally made my trek back, and had a great visit.  I squeezed in a shoot with a petite model, performing my signature brand of one-arm overhead lifts combined with an erotic edge.  The weather was gorgeous, the beaches stunning.  I love my life! 

Ode to O'Keeffe

Photograph by Eddie DeLuca, 2005

I dug out some photos when I was getting ready for the 2005 Nationals as a treat for you.  I have literally thousands of unpublished photos over the years of my evolution as an Amazon.  You see, I am essentially the "Georgia O'Keeffe" of the Amazon fetish world. If you know anything about her, you will know what I mean.  Like Georgia, I fell in love with the New Mexico desert, 24 years ago, and have never left but for temporary stints, and my heart belongs here.  This is my home.  I have traveled and lived in many places around the globe, and there is nothing more beautiful than the New Mexico sunsets on the desert landscape.  Which is one reason why my bronzed, polished physique looks so stunning against the gypsum outcropping of these rocks.  It just feels so natural, so real, and so good.

Georgia was a feminist, artist (not just a feminist artist) and independent soul.  She went against the grain, doing as she pleased all of her life until she died at a ripe age of 98.  Her watercolors were representational of womanhood.  She struck me as a woman ahead of her time in so many ways.  She was an old soul--a handsome woman, but not attractive by beauty standards of the times.  She developed her own sense of what beauty is, and embraced it, which I think, manifested through her work and being.  If you look at her body, it was tanned from the New Mexico sun, lean, lithe, and even modern looking--a great body even by today's standards.  Her only real exercise regimen was walking and sex.  What a great lifestyle!

Judy Chicago created a mixed media representation, The Dinner Party.  Chicago is an icon of feminist art, which represents 1,038 women in history—39 women are represented by place settings and another 999 names are inscribed in the Heritage Floor on which the table rests. This monumental work of art is comprised of a triangular table divided by three wings, each 48 feet long.  If you get a chance to visit NYC, it is housed at the Brooklyn Museum.  See:  http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/georgia_o_keeffe.php

Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1919 Palladium Print, Plate 172 by Alfred Stieglitz

Not only was Georgia a groundbreaking artist, she was a living, breathing work of art, in my estimation. There is a museum in Santa Fe dedicated to her life work.  Her homes, Ghost Ranch and her Abiquiu are just north of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  In summation, what greater words to live by:

"I don't see why we ever think of what others think of what we do--isn't it enough just to express yourself"--Georgia O'Keeffe

 

Pedernal Mountains at Georgia's Ghost Ranch Home

Princess Amber...from a not so distant past

Once upon a time, in the North American lands now known as the United States, lived a princess named Amber.   A full-blooded Native American, descending from powerful leaders, of the Omaha, Shoshone-Bannock, Lakota and Ojibwa tribes.  She went to war with her people and fought like a She-Wolf.  Her tribal people, fierce warriors and hunters, lived on the open plains and hunted the buffalo and other wild animals.  They followed the Missouri river, hunting and trapping animals and trading with the French and Germans fur traders.  Quite often, they preyed upon the European traders who did commerce between these two kingdoms.  Amber’s people were a powerful, self-sufficient nation, where the strongest and bravest women fought along side the men, against European settlers/traders and other tribal factions. 

Princess Amber stood 5’11, and 231 pounds, extremely strong, and was known to wrestle European traders for their caravan of pelts, spices, dried meat, beads and fabrics.  She was much larger than her male tribal members, and most of the male settlers.  Her strength, beauty and power were legendary across the Americas, and word traveled to Europe that she could lift men overhead with a single arm.  The Comanche and Apache warriors feared her.  Just at the European traders trapped wild animals, Amber would stalk these fair haired men in a similar manner.  She possessed wolf like senses and instincts, and she could pick up a foreign scent miles away.   She would set up booby traps to close in on a small troupe of men, and would often corner them while they were watering their horses.  She never lost, and after beating them, she often submitted them in various sexual ways, and often used them to please her and a few of her hand picked raven-haired female lovers.  It was not uncommon to see well-seasoned French and German trappers leave Amber’s camp empty handed, horseless, and without their caravans, stripped of their finest pelts.   It often turned into a weekend event around the campfire, where her fellow braves would wager on Amber, and she often made them drink moonshine with her before the games.  Amber could out drink any man and was impervious to both pain and drugs.  When Amber was victorious, it called for a big community feed and the entire tribe had provisions for months on end.  She was a proud and ambitious woman, with the morals and sexual appetite of a lone alpha female wolf. 

Although she had the finest braves and wealthy European traders around the globe bringing her the finest buffalo and bear hides, shiny glass beads, shells, sugar and moonshine, she really did not want to keep her teepee and blanket for one man.  Too much of a woman for any one man, she was much happier wrestling and exhausting hundreds of temporary lovers.  But, she found it an exciting game to issue challenges to her suitors.  ~Anonymous Contributor

Dia De Los Muertos and Goddess Origins

 Often, in the modern world, particularly Westernized society, we celebrate so many holidays, which, in essence, just turn out being an exercise in retail therapy and we forget  the origin of the ritual of celebration.  Halloween, or Dia De Los Muertos, literally, "Day of the Dead", celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to a precolumbian past. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors had been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years.^[3] In the pre-Hispanic era skulls were commonly kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.
The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess^[4] known as the "Lady of the Dead", corresponding to the modern Catrina.

So, just when we think the meaning of Halloween means trick or treating, dressing up in kinky costumes (the part I like) or other superficial activity, when we step back and understand that it is really a day of remembrance of our loved ones who are no longer on earth with us.  

Many of you that know me personally know that I study ancient goddess culture and rituals.  I collect Goddess figurines and wear them as jewelry from a few famous jewelers, of which Robert Lee Morris is one. His figurine in silver, is more of the Venus figure, and is very voluptuous, a symbol of fertility.  He has a cool studio in SOHO, New York City, and has spent his fair share of time in New Mexico.  It is interesting to note that most goddess rituals refer to woman as a figure of strength and fertility.  I found it interesting that goddesses are also known by the "Lady of the Dead", as in the Aztec society, as cited above.  I also own a pendant from a jeweler by the name of Nomi, in Santa Fe, who designs goddess figurines in silver, "Bird-headed snake goddess". I bought my first goddess figurine from Nomi about 15 years ago, long before I became the popular internet persona I enjoy today. 

The  bird-headed snake goddess has been found in many ancient archaeological digs, as well as prehistoric rock art.   There are a lot of common themes among goddesses amongst many cultures, as well as "origin stories".

Egypt, 4000 BC
This statue is from Egypt, 4000 BC, but the imagery is far older and the motifs were common throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. Snake Goddesses represent rebirth and renewal; as the snake sheds it skin, so the soul is reborn. Snakes are dualistic; they can be maternal in their protection of crops from vermin, but also threatening and dangerous.
They also represent sexuality, as seen in the curving, fluid nature of Her spine. Her bird head represents Her connection to heaven; this Goddess is both the Earth Mother, and the Queen of the Skies. Her snake body is of the maternal earth, and her bird head is wisdom and the sky.
She raises her arms upwards in an act of worship, reminding us that Goddess and worshipper, human and divine, are one.  

You may wonder why I am so intrigued by goddess culture.  It is an ancient practice amongst many societies of people, but over time, and with the influence of modern religion, the focus of worship has been on a paternalistic, masculine figure.  I think modern religion has lost sight of how valuable and precious women are to the world.    Women are the beings that give birth.  Even if they do not have children, they can exploit their warrior strengths, or engage in other care-giving roles to their respective communities.  It is truly in women's nature to give birth, whether literally or figuratively.  People ask me if I have any children, and I reply, gleefully, "No!  All men are my children".  And, I know this to be true, as my passion in life not as the "Goddess of Fetish", but as Amber DeLuca, to take care of many men that cross my path in life. It is my mission--often times to a fault.  I would not have it any other way.  

When I wear my bird-headed snake goddess pendant, people ask me if it is a bodybuilding figure.  It does look like a front double bicep pose.  When I explain it is an ancient goddess, they are intrigued.  I am not heavy into "ink" or tattoos, as I believe that pure, plain unmarked skin is the ultimate hallmark of beauty, but I did get the bird-headed snake goddess on the back of my neck, a very discreet place unless I have my hair up, about three years ago.  I had the artist make her resemble more of my body type, and that is with broad shoulders, abs, full sweeping legs, and much bigger breasts that sit higher on the chest.  I got the tattoo for two reasons.   At that time in my life, I was at a crossroads.  I still strongly identified with my fierce independence and taking care of all men as the "Goddess of Fetish".  But also, I felt that I would explore my ability to actually give birth to a child.  As things worked out in life, I found that I was more deeply committed to being a wild tigress, a wild woman, and I realized a child would more than likely burden my ability to be wild, and stay true to my nature.  The tattoo is symbolic to me because it has a dual significance--just as the goddess figures of many ancient societies.  

Here is a poem a lovely fan sent to me this evening, which inspired me to post in my blog.  I have been wanting to write for you for a very long time, but I get so immersed in my training and productions that I cheat myself out of the pleasure of writing, and letting you get a glimpse into my private world and what motivates me.  

Amazed by the strength of you

So charmed by all you say and do

On Halloween Day, the celebration of fright

You lifted me up to your delight

I was put under a spell, my feet not touching the floor

You squeezed me tight against your core

This night full of black bats and a distant owl

Oh Amber, you did make me howl

A time of costume parties and candy pleasures

Your friendship and bear hugs, I do strongly treasure

Amber

Strong Woman & Friend, Kortney Olsen

One of my dear friends, Kortney Olsen, "KO",  a tribal member of the strength and bodybuilding community has a very powerful message to send to today's young women.  I have known KO for about four years now.  She has always been a spitfire, a ball of pure, feminine raw energy.  She grew up as a troubled youth, and faced many demons with drug/alcohol addiction and suffered sexual abuse.  

KO has never been one to comply with mainstream societal standards in either body type, expectations, or mindset, which is why I have always admired her so much, because I never have either.  She is channeling her energies in helping young women to think like powerful women.  

KO leads by example.  Plain and simple.  She leads a healthy lifestyle, and "walks the talk".  Please go to the following link and make a contribution to her project.  KO's long range goal is to bring the program to the USA after she has launched a successful campaign in Australia, and she has enlisted my help. 

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kamp-konfidence--2

Kamp Konfidence

WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD! a preventative, seminar series for teenage girls to beat the epidemic of issues they face, and create a generation of female leaders.

Yours Truly, 

Amber DeLuca

Poem from a Friend

A dear friend, who is a musician/writer, sent me an email today.  I am both honored and flattered by his elegant prose.  Here it is:

For Amber

Seismic shifts
Forces unimaginalbe
The magic of creation
The mortal endeavor
Of a supreme will
A Goddess walks among us
Sharing her gifts

The simplicity and rhythm astonished me, but most importantly, the truth in every word.  The poem reminds me of how each of us on the planet have certain gifts, and, perhaps the greatest sin of all, is to not know them, and if we do know what these gifts are, fail to share them.  What a beautiful reminder to live life mindfully each moment of every day.