Fetish photos exhibitions on

Veronica Gonzales doesn`t want people getting the wrong idea. In her photography, she steers clear of vulgar images of women - what she describes as hardcore. But she does sign her work, `Fetish Desires by V.` Gonzales was introduced to photography at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, informally known as Dallas` Arts Magnet. She began taking pictures to capture a model or scene that she wanted to draw, but photography became her main interest when she began working in the dark room. As a commercial photographer, she has done weddings, parties and even pictures for Dallas Voice`s Scene section, but `I don`t like commercial shooting,` she says. She finds this format too constraining to express herself. `I want to shoot imagined situations that leave you guessing as to how, where and who did I shoot.` Nor does her day job allow her the creativity she craves from her art. Although employed in the fashion industry, Gonzales isn`t part of the creative team - she heads the accounting and credit department for a division off the conservative Dickies clothing company. `I chose fetish photography because what I want to see is not out there,` she says. `I want to keep the artsy edge in my photos.` Since school, Gonzales has participated in about ten shows that were mostly one-night art-warehouse parties. An exhibit opening this week at Plush Gallery is only her second show to enjoy a weeks-long run. While her work deals with women and fetish, she strives for universal allure. `I want my work to appeal to everyone, not just those in the [S&M] scene. My ideas of fetish will differ from the ideas others may have. I like that my art is different.` Before beginning a shoot, Gonzales makes sure that her models are relaxed and she must be at ease with her subject. Once comfortable, Gonzales and her models have gotten themselves into some interesting situations. To capture a scene involving heavy construction equipment, she found a tractor parked on the side of a road. After quickly binding and gagging her model and perching her on the seat, she snapped a few pictures. But that was a difficult situation to explain when the police showed up. `No, we weren`t stealing anything. We were using it as a prop,` she told the officer, using as much creativity as she could muster. Although some of her photography is done on an indoor set, Gonzales prefers the gritty reality of an outdoor shoot. A damsel in distress tied to railroad tracks provided such a setting as well as another visit from the police. Pictures she doesn`t exhibit are of the dozen officers surrounding her scantily-clad model tied up on the trestle. For a White Rock Lake shoot, friends steered young mothers pushing strollers away from the action. Vintage pin-ups play a recurring theme in Gonzales` work. Using costume and lighting, she enhances her works through printing techniques and matting and framing. Expanding upon the classic pin-up girl theme, Gonzales has photographed pixie Wiccans, girls in bondage on a baseball field and dressed in latex and harness in pony play. What future fetish themes would she like to explore? `Vampires.` For the exhibit`s opening, a Saturday night party includes performances by fire performer Sean Mathis with music provides by electro-jazz DJs to compliment Gonzales` art.