Rope: A Journey Within

• Photographer
  Joson (Joson Studio)
• Agency / Studio
  Joson Studio- Sf
• Photo Date
  2015-2019
• Website
  https://josonstudio.com

This project explores the relationship between “the beauty of tight binding” known as Kinbaku-bi that dates back to 17th century Japan. In recent years, Kinbaku has become popular in Western culture as one of many dimensions of the BDSM scene. As a photographer, I am particularly fascinated by the symmetry of the lines and artistic forms of the rope and bondage process and the geometric effects that can be achieved by masters of the art and its participants--the therapeutic role and the visual components that can be both profound as well as beautiful.

• Biography
  Award-winning photographer joSon was born in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and an African American father. Sent to live with his mother’s family in Vietnam at age ten, he was educated in a Buddhist temple in preparation for becoming a monk. “I thought that was my calling long before I saw life through the viewfinder,” joSon recollects. “But the truth is, I have never left the monk-hood. I just left the temple.” Today joSon is a professional photographer based in San Francisco whose work is collected by an international list of clients.
• Awards
  His work has appeared in magazines including Scientific American, Outside, Conde Nast Traveler and Vogue. He as won awards from Photo District News (PDN), Communication Arts, and American Illustration and American Photography (AI-AP). As Sunset Magazine described joSon’s first monograph, joSon: Intimate Portraits of Nature, from Graphis Press in 2013: "Had Richard Avedon taken up gardening, he might have ended up with photos like this.”