Fetish Photography
As early as 1979, Allen Jones and his wife, design consultant Deirdre Morrow, visited JH in his home for a mutual interested creative exchange of ideas. He left behind a small, priceless treasure - an original Allen Jones drawn in JH's guest book.
When JH later made photography his main profession, he incorporated more and more elements of rubber fetish photography into his work. The first releases were just covers and sets in fetish magazines, at that time more or less "forbidden" underground publications, but soon his clients for fashion, lingerie and advertising as well as for record covers became also interested. Unforgotten his idea to let Amanda Lear appear on stage in a rubber outfit.
JH has often used his adventurous travels to take rubber fetish photos on the side - even in such exotic places as volcanic landscapes on remote islands in the ATLANTIC and PACIFIC, or in the rainforests of ASIA and SOUTH AMERICA, and always with the most beautiful models accompanying him on his trips.
Long before JH became a professional photographer, as a hobby photographer he developed an inclination and a very special talent for "fetish photography", more precisely for "rubber fetish photography". Still in the Air Force, just for fun he had taken rubber fetish pictures that attracted the attention of the fetish scene that was developing globally at that time.
It was in the seventies, eighties and nineties when JH was significantly involved in the development of this movement in LONDON and HAMBURG, in AMSTERDAM and NEW YORK, involved in creating what today is a global scene with hundreds of millions of followers - the RUBBER FETISH SCENE.
It was the time of people like
John Sutcliffe, publisher of the legendary ATOMAGE magazine, whom JH now and then supplied with unique rubber fetish photos,
Allen Jones, at that time (and maybe still today) the most influental and famous pop art artist on the planet, to whom JH stood in friendly contact,
Vivienne Westwood, cult star of the British and then global fashion and punk scene,
Steve English, founder of DEMASK, globally the first big latex fashion company, whose designs and catalogues were inspired by JH and his pictures,
and quite a few others.
Surprisingly, already at that time it was easier to find girls with a shapely body for rubber fetish photos than for nude photos. Maybe because the girls in these photos often wore rubber masks and were therefore not recognized and could thus pursue their secret little tendencies to something "outside the norm" without having to fear social consequences. After all, we are talking about the seventies and eighties of the last century, and what is almost taken for granted today was still frowned upon at the time.
Model Natalia Muehlhausen who became his muse in those years contributed decisively to the creation of unique rubber fetish photographs. As a model for advertising, lingerie and nude (Natalia! also was a PLAYBOY television and PENTHOUSE magazine model), she was booked internationally, but for fetish photography she only was exclusively available to JH.
Just as the media initially courted JH as a PLAYBOY and "nude" photographer, he soon also became a popular subject as a "fetish" photographer, especially with TV stations in countries such as the U.S.A. and GERMANY, SWEDEN and THE NETHERLANDS, the U.K. and SWITZERLAND, and in some others.
Mostly they invited him together with (or because of!) Natalia, who had become that global rubber fetish model in those years, and who was a real highlight for talk shows and reports, features and home stories.
Also many magazines and newspapers gradually became more courageous and reported about JH and Natalia Muehlhausen. Even some conservative tabloid media did not simply keep quiet about the subject, but increased their circulation with negative reports. That's just the way it is - sex sells, no matter how it is reported.
As rubber clothing and rubber lingerie gradually found more and more interested parties, the sex article market (especially in GERMANY, in GREAT BRITAIN and in the U.S.A.) reacted with better and better products and thus needed good photos for catalogues and promotion. And of course JH was also the first address for this, experienced in fashion-, lingerie- and rubber fetish- photography.
These were often studio productions, but some customers were clever enough to give JH a free hand for outdoor shootings with a little bizarre touch.
The second one was a great success, and although it had a print run of 30,000 copies (which is absolutely unusual for a photo art book), it has long been sold out.
Today these books can only still be found on the internet.
Two further new, large-format and unique books on the topics of "Rubber Fetish" and ”Wild Nudes" are now, after a very long break of more than 25 years, in the planning stage and are scheduled for publication in 2021 or 2022.
Here are some more rubber fetish photos, some out of many, many thousands. Shot in MALAYSIA, in MOROCCO, in GERMANY, on LANZAROTE, on GRAN CANARIA, on VANUATU, in PORTUGAL, in HOLLYWOOD, U.S.A...
Have fun and enjoy!
Some media reviews found on the web on JH and Natalia and their rubber fetish photography:
artphotomailing.com:
Jo Hammar - the unrivaled and unforgotten HOLLWOOD-based doyen of latex fashion and fetish.
centurianonline.com:
An amazing kaleidoscope of bizarre fantasies and imagery: Jo Hammar
eurobuch.de:
Jo Hammar belongs to the founders of erotic fetishism in art... His photos have been showing breathtakingly beautiful women in latex clothing and on high heels, in enchanting corsages and behind bizarre masks. This... art book "Female Rubber" brings 176 from a world that is unreal and yet right next door, a world of women who have devoted themselves lustfully to an erotic fetish.
francescademontslittlesecrets.com:
Natalia! is probably among the best-known rubber Mistresses in Europe. It’s her lifestyle. It’s even her real name – Natalia Muehlhausen.
She’s been in the scene, virtually since its beginning. Her fetish photos by Jo Hammar are legendary.
froelichundkaufmann.de:
Jo Hammar… Photos from a world that is unreal and yet lies right next door, a world of women who have devoted themselves lustfully to an erotic fetish.
H.R. magazine:
The “modern fetish scene“ began.. around the mid-1980s. Was there rubber fetishism previously only in small, little known
circles, latex designers now made their way into the public. Rubber became hip, found its way into music videos and haute
couture.
At the same time there was an increasing offer for well-made fetish videos and small photo magazines, lead by Jo Hammar
and his unforgotten model Natalia who dominated a whole epoch.
latexwiki.com:
Jo Hammar… is noted for being one of the early adopters [of latex] in the mainstream of many of the studio effects and production values in so-called underground photography and films that he directed.
marquis-magazine.com
The Godfather of fetish photography, Jo Hammar, photographs the world's first top fetish model, Natalia! Unrivalled images, often copied, never equalled.
metrotimes.com:
Jo Hammar’s pictures are a guaranteed creep-out, with their rubber-encased sexdroids and menacing paraphernalia.
O magazine:
Jo Hammar... He saw the whole world before he realized his second life and became a photographer. Today he is one of the most famous girl photographers in the world and an institution when it comes to breathtaking beauties in… latex…
Peter Leth, Danish rubber wear designer & artist
I have been following Natalia and Jo Hammar for over 30 years and it has been a tremendous kick to see the development… the rubber video series, and it blew my mind.
The series of photos of Natalia in the first H.R. magazines, with all the hoses and it was the first time I saw a rubber pussy integrated in an outfit together with a neckbrace, fully masked and covered. It is iconic to me.
picclick.co.uk:
…Jo Hammar, who for many years, has been a byword in the European market for fetish photography of the highest quality, featuring an enormous variety of scenarios, models and materials.
picluck.net:
Steve English (legendary founder of DEMASK) writes: ” ’Die Gummi-Klinik’…directed by Jo Hammar... Still Unrivalled…! The Rubber Bible.”
PLAYBOY television:
When it comes to latex fetish & fashion, the first name you think of is Jo Hammar.
ROLLING STONE magazine:
The fact that it is normal today for pop stars and celebrities to appear in breathtaking rubber outfits on stage and in public is mainly due to the courageous ideas of the photographer Jo Hammar in the 80s and 90s. He was one of a few who triggered this fashion, this movement.
SHINY Magazine, Special DP Edition No. 8:
Jo Hammar... The air force lost a Phantom pilot but we gained a photographer with a fresh and exciting approach to the world of dressing for pleasure… These are pictures that make you think - that set the imagination off down new sexual avenues.
szrprod.com:
Who are your favorite icons? Where is there a particular image that inspires you? Oh, it was so long ago that it is difficult for us to remember particular people. Perhaps the first thing that marked us were the photos of Jo Hammar…
thefetishistas.com:
Jo Hammar and Natalia… In the late ’80s, what they did was absolutely unparalleled.
thefetishistas.com:
When ATOMAGE did manage to publish professional photography, it was usually, Steve [English, founder of DEMASK] reminds me, work given to John [Sutcliffe, publisher of ATOMAGE] by Jo Hammar. “Jo’s work was another big influence on me,” Steve confirms.
Jo was famous for his work for VIOLA PRESS in the 1970s, and also - with his muse and girlfriend Natalia - for the GUMMIKLINIK films of the late ’70s/early ’80s.
Many fans regard the Hamburg-based lensman as the Godfather of modern fetish photography.
thefetishistas.com:
He [Paul Miller, designer of LACING LILITH] goes on to explain that his personal interest in rubber fashion and fetish wear began early, with Michelle Pfeiffer’s CATWOMAN, SKIN TWO magazine and German model Natalia (famous muse of photographer Jo Hammar) all blowing his young mind.
THE HOLLYWOOD ENQUIRER:
Natalia, famous huge-breasted fetish icon model from Germany and muse of local photographer Jo Hammar, caused a stir in an elegant hotel in BEVERLY HILLS when she stayed there for three days and nights. She showed herself off in public, at the poolside and at the bar in a skin-tight latex outfit that covered her whole body including her head, but which nevertheless was extremely daring and provocative…
tumblr.com:
Jo Hammar… fashion of the Multiverse…
vice.com:
Jo Hammar… the music and PLAYBOY photographer and his model girlfriend Natalia Muehlhausen made rubber and latex popular…