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Gay sex is many things: silly and rebellious, invigorating and shy, transactional and transcendent. It can be hot, it can be sad, it can be a form of liberation or a source of shame. A reflection of our messy lives, our sex is a web of overlapping urges and experiences far too complex to articulate in any paragraph. But what about an image?
There’s no need to repeat the old adage; just take a look at one of photographer Alex Kacha’s beckoning tableaus of queer intimacy. In a recent piece, Kacha lenses a dominatrix and their sub standing outside what looks like an idyllic, flower-filled yard in Southern California. There’s a surprising peacefulness to the sunny scene, a serenity not often used to depict those who don full gimp suits for fun. And in the unexpected calmness of Kacha’s approach, a vision for a more tolerant neighborhood comes into focus. It actually made me cry.
Born and raised in San Diego, Kacha got their start after responding to a Craigslist ad seeking a photographer for a BDSM porn shoot. Though just 18 years old at the time, Kacha was by no means a novice with a camera; they were already one of those kids who went everywhere with film in tow. “My first love was the dark room,” they remember. “I was high on drugs and failing every class except for photography — it honestly saved me.”
By 22, they followed their passion to Austin, Texas, a city whose tightly woven world of sex workers and trans folks helped Kacha hone their passion for “boudoir photography,” as they put it, a slight twinge to their tone. “I hate having to market myself as that,” they explain, adding “It’s just so…professional. I don’t know if there’s a quick and easy way to describe what I do.”
“Sexy pics for freaks?” I propose.
We laugh. “Yeah, exactly,” they reply, which feels like it means, Yes, and yet so much more.
Below, Alex and I discuss the so much mores of boudoir photography, the difficulties of directing doms, and why trans people are “just hotter.”
You mentioned the dark room was your “first love.” Tell me a little more about how photography “saved you.”
By helping me connect with people, and by helping me find myself and who I was. During my senior year of high school, I took photos of my friends in pajamas in their bedrooms. I loved shooting people in their honest spaces, in their natural environment. So I started bringing my camera to every show, around my house, to school; it was always with me. I documented people during their hardest moments, their happiest moments, doing what they love. The families of all of my friends who have passed away contact me for photos because everyone knows I have so many. I truly documented every little thing in my life since I was 16 years old.
How’d you get into shooting kink?
I've always just really related and felt an ease around the rejected parts of society, because I'm a freak as well. [Laughs].
I imagine when you’re starting out in that world there can be a bit of a learning curve. Was that true for you?
Totally. Those shoots are so vulnerable, especially when people bring their submissives. I’m subby myself, so it can be difficult working with doms, as I have to be so direct in telling them what to do. So it’s like this switch of who’s performing. I also had to learn so much about the safety around shooting with sex workers, some of whom are anonymous, others aren't out yet, or just not to their family and friends. It was a weird line trying to grow my career while trying to be as safe as possible.
That’s really interesting — the dynamic of being a sub who has to step into that space of directing a dom. What’s that like?
Really scary [laughs]. To be a dom, to take that path in life, requires so much resilience, such an indescribable energy…I was really scared to speak up to them specifically in the beginning of my career. Over time, as I learned more about lighting and exposure and posing, it became easier to direct. As a sub all the way, shooting is the only place in my life where I can be dominant in declaring what I want.
I had such a beautiful evening poring over your work ahead of our chat. One image I wanted to ask about in particular was the gorgeous shot of the couple in fetish gear standing on what looks like a residential block in Los Angeles. There’s such power in the stillness of that moment. Can you tell me a little about helping create it?
That shoot was so fun, because we did this at my home studio, in L.A. I loved the fact that B was so tall, especially in their heels; the height difference is so powerful in regards to this relationship. I asked if they would be comfortable going out into the street and we all laughed and agreed. My neighbors loved it; all of them were outside at this moment. A guy was walking his dog and said, “I love your dog to Coco, to which she replied, ‘I love yours too!” [laughs]
Okay, now tell me about the underwater bondage shot. That one is so impressive and must have required so much care.
That image came out of a trip when I rented a cabin in Joshua Tree with a group of queers, sex workers and creatives. It was full of intimate relations, and about every hour there was something incredible happening, whether it was rope tying, needle play, gimp masks galore. At this particular part of the night, Charlee and Beau were very beautiful to watch; their connection is out of this world. I had full trust in them both. As Beau later told me, “My thoughts from that moment are that there is nothing in the world except Charlee. They have every ounce of my energy, I have one job, which is to monitor them for their signals to resurface. It’s incredibly intimate for me and meditative.”
“Sexiness” feels like such a central theme in the work you do. I’m curious how your own understanding of what’s hot has evolved over the nearly two decades you’ve been shooting?
My view on sexiness has evolved ever since coming out as trans five years ago. I was never drawn to the ordinary or basic; I have been a freak since I was born. Finding other people within a community who share that bond has helped me grow within my work and who I seek to shoot: anyone rebellious, kinky, unique.
How’d you reach this place in your practice?
Around eight years ago, the erotica and kink I was putting out was a little too much for people to digest. Now I see people embracing who they truly are, finding others just like them, and I find that to be very sexy.
And a lot of that sounds like it had to do with being in trans spaces, among trans models, working, in general, with trans people?
Trans people are just hotter! [laughs] Trans people are the most resilient people I have ever met, and they make me feel very comfortable. Also shooting trans intimacy makes me very happy. I love watching queer and trans people begin to beam during a shoot, for them to truly see how beautiful they are. I have the privilege to shoot all types of people, and for me to even have been granted the privilege makes me extremely honored, because it is a tender space. The camera can be a powerful tool for healing. It can help you see what you really look like beyond the dysphoria.
Quickly, who’s in your top five of folks you’d love to shoot?
Cam Damage, Janie Blade, Lil Nas X, Dana Dentata, Mia Goth.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.