BY URVASHI

Thank you soooo much for your support. You cannot even imagine what it means to us that you share our vision, enjoy our art, and believe in our efforts.

We wanted to take a little time to let you know a little more about the birth of Spark Erotic and where we are today.

Spark was born from Urvashi’s Eye, an erotic photography business created and operated by Kama and myself, Urvashi – a husband/wife team. Celebrating the New Year of 2015, I began to form the idea of taking our signature look into film.

Having been an erotic photographer and model for the past decade had forced me to take a deep look at myself and my views on sex and sexuality in general. It pushed everyone of my buttons. I remember each step of the way feeling very nervous and afraid but deciding to press into the discomfort rather than shield myself from the experience. I asked the hard questions of why I felt the ways I did and if that was an appropriate response or a trained one. I wanted to reclaim a part of me I felt had been shamed and guilted into hiding. Doing the work through photography was gratifying and fulfilling. I felt that I had healed from the many wounds society and personal experience had placed upon my sexuality. It left me feeling humble and unable to be judgmental about other’s genuine journeys and expression. It also left me feeling proud, strong, and confident. I loved being female and I loved being sensual and sexy and sexual.

I wanted to use Kama’s and my experience in photography to artfully depict authentic sexual expression in film. I felt as if there was nothing I had found in porn that felt real when sex was involved. Whenever I watched porn, I cringed. It always left me feeling uncomfortable, embarrassed, slightly dirty, betrayed, angry, and confused. I could feel aroused, but the other emotions got in the way. Instead of making me amorous, porn usually made me feel sexually numb. I wanted to make films that had hardcore sex that women would want to watch. Not only would they want to watch them, they would be turned on and want to share this with their partner(s). These films would make them feel sexy, confident, and powerful. I also wanted to reach the male audience. I wanted them to see a hot, hardcore sex scene, but one that they didn’t want to just get their rocks off to. I wanted to draw them in as well, to make them identify with the story that led to the sex. I wanted sex partners to watch our films in mutuality, sparking discussion as well as passion.

Another major part of this, is that I wanted to make films that I felt would educate the viewers on accurate human sexual experience. I felt that from what I was observing and the conversations I had with so so so many people, that people were getting their sex education or sexual expectations primarily from porn. As I delved into the facts I discovered that the average age children see full on hardcore sexual acts is 11, that young men in their twenties are having erectile dysfunction from porn addictions, and that 42% of sexual images/films represent different forms of abuse and misogyny towards women, to name a few. I wanted a true representation of sex but also to portray ethical sex. I didn’t want anyone shamed, humiliated, or harmed, or to depict any situation that would be deemed wrong, ie: cheating or incest. I wanted people to feel good and to feel good about themselves after watching our art.

As I explained my desire to Kama, he instantly caught the vision and whole heartedly supported my efforts. Together we took the leap from photography to film. A whole new world!!! Our first obstacle hit immediately. We had to decide how we would stand out. We both felt that anyone could make “pretty” “feminine” porn, but what would differentiate us from the old formulas and still maintain an audience?

In the films we wanted to produce, I wanted to use real life couples and singles who had actual passionate connections. I wanted to treat them as real actors, not sex workers. The idea was to form a “Team” we would work with. A group of friends who we would watch and see who was mixing and mingling and had that certain “spark” that we would capture. When we would film them, there would be none of that awkwardness of two people just meeting and being told to have sex. We would capture the true magic of respectful, loving, HOT sex.

I wanted to show all the sex in context. I wanted to do short little features from 5 to perhaps 30 minutes in length. The films would all have stories with a beginning, middle and end, with the sex naturally coming into the story line. I wanted to shoot with the same style, class, and high quality that our photography company had been known for. I wanted to marry Hollywood with MTV with real sex. I had a vision, but we were missing an important piece. I had a certain look in my head of how I wanted these films to appear, even feel like, but I knew that Kama and I somehow just couldn’t catch it by ourselves. There was a particular energy that I just felt we were not tapping into.

Enter Cortez. . .

Cortez and I discovered each other on a photoshoot back in 2014. An ambitious young man who had just dropped out of college in Florida to pursue his passion of firefighting in his home state of Colorado. He casually mentioned a video he was working on during a break and I made him show it to me. Being completely self-taught using substandard software and equipment, he did so bashfully, thinking his efforts would be received politely and then forgotten. What I saw blew me away. His editing and filming approach was exactly what I had envisioned for Spark Erotic. It was as if what I saw inside, he was producing. I began to shiver thinking of what his potential truly was if this is what I was seeing when he was just “fooling around”. I knew I had found the missing piece, here was the energy I’d been seeking. I poured out my vision to him and he felt it too. Kama and Cortez also had a great connection instantly. They both have the same love for the art of filmmaking and for mastering their different aspects of editing.

We poured ourselves into the homework of filmmaking. Out of the three of us, I had the most background in the field. My Mother was an artist who worked in many different mediums, one being photography. By the time I was 5, I was falling asleep to the sound of her working away in her darkroom in the basement below me. I loved joining her there. Bit by bit she explained each process and let me begin to work and learn the art of black and white film processing. I always possessed a camera and was encouraged to take photos and to work in the darkroom. In college I majored in theatre and often worked as an actor in small budget and student films.

Cortez had done a little modeling and had worked as an extra on a Hollywood feature. Kama has an amazing ability to research and learn so his understanding came from this and the decade of experience with our photography. This is the extent of our qualifications. We had to learn by doing and stumbling around and figuring things out on the fly. And, I should honestly reveal, we still are!

Kama lead us into watching all sorts of film tutorials. We drank those in…..we still do. Our friends complain that they can no longer enjoy watching movies or TV shows with us. We are always pausing, rewinding, discussing every nuance. Every image is school to us. We find inspiration everywhere and strive to surpass expectations.

It took almost a year for us to set the foundation of Spark Erotic. We had the vision and philosophy behind what we do, but now we had to build the infrastructure. Kama and Cortez went to work on creating our wonderful website and establishing distribution channels, while I began to develop our social media strategies and reach out to our communities, bringing awareness to who and what we were about.

We worked together to “dreamstorm” great stories that we began to turn into screenplays, storyboards and shot lists. We set up lights and did mock shoots to discover how best to capture the style we were going for. We discussed soundtracks, props, locations, makeup……..we’ve had to learn every aspect of our art and wear every single hat between the three of us. We’ve had to carefully judge each of our skill sets and match them to the responsibilities of each element of managing the building of the reality of Spark Erotic.

Within that year of preparation, growth and learning, one of the most important intentions was to build meaningful relationships with people so we could invite just the right personalities onto the Team. The building of our Team is at the core of who and what we are and want to represent. Our vision is to have our Team of singles and couples develop authentic relationships we can then capture with true passion and desire flying between them. Each Team Member is carefully chosen on the basis of their personalities to fit into the company for this very reason. Together we find time to come together to enjoy each other’s personalties and to work as a group to discuss ideas for new storylines to develop. We listen closely to their fantasies and work to make them a reality. By using their very real sexual daydreams, together we bring magic to the screen. We are co-workers, but also close friends.

Redemption was the first film from our foundational year. We felt we had created an amazing first effort with our intrepid newcomer, Rogue. Her incredible performance had left us stunned. It obviously left a mark on our viewers as well. Our first official “showing” was at AVN to a tight group of highly respected and experienced producers, directors, and cinematographers. Their collective praise for Redemption created quite a buzz, and we were told we were “on to something.” Within months of release, Redemption peaked international interest after receiving an award of merit at the 2016 Brief’s Erotic Short Film Competition. It went on to acquire official selections in Film Festivals in Milwaukee, Toronto, and Barcelona.

Redemption’s success helped launch us to the next level. Important people within the Industry began to take notice of us. Erica Lust, saw Redemption, took notice, and contacted us.

Early into this whole journey, Cortez brought Erica’s TED Talk, Time for Porn to Change, to my attention. The first time I watched, my whole body broke into goosebumps and I began to shake. She was verbalizing on a broad international platform everything I felt and believed and envisioned. When I had tried to tell people what I saw Spark Erotic being and doing, everything she was saying, was what I had said. I felt so encouraged and emboldened from her speech. I saw that there were pioneers out there who were boldly blazing ahead with this movement. Immediately she became my new idol, my mentor, my S’hero! I wanted to grow up and be her – a sexually liberated and powerful woman who was changing the face of the porn industry.

When I envisioned what Spark Erotic would be, I saw it as a part of a new Sexual Revolution – a way to positively and authentically produce sexual images that drew people into it as art. That the sex would flow naturally from a story; it would be in context. The people portrayed would be real couples, or individuals, who had deep attachment and passion for each other, which would translate to sexuality and sex that would feel natural, honest and hot!

We saw the films themselves as being educational as well; in that the sex was so real and sensual, people would see true human interaction, not the awkward performance based on unnatural acts of common pornography. We wanted to give people an honest place to enhance their own sexual response from. Finally, we wanted to make a clear distinction between porn and erotica in our audiences’ minds as well. Which is a whole other post in itself……

Erica’s studio in Barcelona is, in my opinion, currently the finest producer and curator of erotica on the planet. We have had the good fortune and privilege of being asked to sign with them. Our art is being launched internationally by her. We could not be more thrilled or feel more honored. We are looking to hang our hat with several more distinguished companies and will be pursuing those options in the very near future.

Spark Erotic has now produced several stimulating features that we have shared with you, our favorite audience, our Patreon supporters. We are so grateful that you have appreciated our efforts and have come along side us to carry the vision forward. We are excited you have chosen to join the Erotic Revolution!!!

We are still a super small company. Because of that, we so greatly value your backing. By becoming a member here, you become part of our Team, helping us to move forward in all things Spark. We are thankful that so many friends have offered their time, talents and resources to also further our efforts.

We are excited as we look forward to the New Year and the continued growth of Spark. With your support we will carry forward the good work of happy, healthy sexuality and relationships through the medium of film and photography.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming along side, affirming and supporting the dream!

The post Urvashi’s Blog appeared first on Spark Erotic.

BY URVASHI

Women are the most beautiful creatures ever. You can just get lost in them. I can stare at a photo of a woman forever and pour over every nuance. There have been very few times I have felt envy over another’s beauty, more curiosity and awe. To a greater degree, they have been teachers, these women and their photographers. 

I’ve been criticized for falling into the femininity forged by men. That of red pouting lips, of James Bond conquests, of Victoria’s Secret Angels…….The sexy vixen made for a man’s pleasure. I must admit, from a young age I was always drawn to the feminine as an etherial being. I loved fairy tales of fair maidens, whose beauty was stuff of legends, that caused brave handsome men to face death to be worthy of her adoration. The books that transported me into this fantasy came fully equipped with all the imagery to fully complete the luxury and perfection of not only the women involved, but their environment as well. There was the finest art that depicted the most delicate and exquisite females I could ever imagine. It never really mattered that these were fairy tales and the pictures were in truth drawings. The effect was the same as if it had been real. I wanted to be as lovely and graceful and powerful as these women were. 

Powerful? Now that is not a term you think of with those damsels in these old stories. For the most part, these gals are usually either born poor, or have had their wealth taken. They appear endlessly in need of rescue by a rich, handsome, strapping lad. So where is their power? In their very nature. In their ability to BE feminine. By their good virtue they could cause sane men to throw caution to the wind. For their beauty, they took on untold dangers. For their love……they sacrificed all. Now who was the powerful one? 

Not all of these stories that I poured over had depictions of the feminine as the weaker sex. I learned, along with the beauty, virtue, and honor these women possessed in abundance, they were also not in short supply of intelligence, courage and strength. At times these heroines faced great odds and were the ones to save the day, at considerable cost to themselves. There was a princess who had to endure each step she took being as if stepping on burning coals and sharp blades in order to cross a gulf to rescue her lover. Or one where the lady had to cut off her own pinky finger to save her family. There were stories of women who outwitted their enemies and turned the table on their foes. I was getting a great education on the fullness of the feminine spirit. She could be pouty and sexy, and independent and capable to boot. Every story I read had one other thing in common. All fairy tales, for the most part in Western culture, revolve around the female. Again, I ask….who has power in these stories???

There was a book in my orthodontist’s office when I was 13 that I always looked at. Every appointment for the next two years I would look forward to sitting in the waiting room just to gaze at that hardcover portfolio. I wish I had it today. It was a large hard bound tome filled front to back with photos of women taken by celebrated photographers. Some of the women were famous, some were not. All were stunning. Breathtaking. Again, though this expression, as in the fairy tales, I felt the feminine power ooze from the pages. I was young, but I got it. That book oozed SEX. Don’t get me wrong, it was a Time/Life book. It was very proper. Most of the photos were of the women’s faces, or of them artfully draped in 1940’s – 70’s glamour shots. Very few were racy, even by 1980’s standards. There was the classic photo of Marilyn Monroe, for example, with her white dress blowing around her legs, but that was about as juicy as it got. But I felt it….

The absolute power of feminine sensuality.

And I wanted it.

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BY URVASHI

I’ve been fascinated with women and sexuality for as long as I can remember. My strongest memory I have of that as I look back on it now, was very defining. It really pin pointed who I was to become as a feminine and sexual being. 

Before I go into the memory, there should be some history. I was adopted at two months of age into a very conservative family. From the moment I began to have a sense of self I sorta knew I was very different than my family. I was one of, eventually, five siblings, all adopted from different families, from different places, from different racial backgrounds, at different times. While I felt that the rest of the family had a cohesiveness, I was always on the outside desperately trying to fit in. Everything about me seemed wrong to my family.

I was, at the start, a very sensual person, which freaked the crap out of my Mother. I do not mean I was a sexual child, I was sensual. I had to experience everything with my whole being. For example, I would look at a leaf wondering at every nuance, rub it against my skin, taking in textures, taste it gently on my tongue, pull in the fragrance with my breath, listen to the tree wiggling in the breeze as I would lean against the bark, then I would talk about everything I had taken in to whoever or whatever was there. I had no problem discussing my revelations with a person, the clouds, or a shiny passing bug. 

Now the weird thing about this was, that to me, this was just a normal thing, the state of wonderment of life. Being part of a beautiful huge energy that I felt flowed around me and through me. To my Mother, for some reason, it translated as sexual. She felt that at age two, I was trying to seduce people. She threw this into my face in a shaming and condemning way constantly and I had no idea what she meant. I simply felt there was something wrong or bad about this side of me. But I could not help it. I simply had to fully appreciate things. If I felt something, I expressed it. 

I developed a high artistic aesthetic sense, specially concerning feminine figures. I was drawn to pictures and photos of beautiful women. I watched them move gracefully through life. I studied their clothing, jewelry, makeup. I wanted to be beautiful, glamorous, and though I couldn’t have articulated it exactly then, …….desired. 

That is why this memory has always been on the forefront of my consciousness when I think of my personal journey to becoming a woman. 

I was around four when the family took a trip to New York City. One of the things we did was go to Broadway and watch a musical. As we poured out of the theatre into the tantalizing night of sparkling city streets, I saw the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen. She had a very tight, sexy, yet tasteful dress on. There was a fur shrug casually thrown across delicate shoulders. Incredible baubles decorated her ears, neck, arms, and fingers. Her hair looked like she’d stepped off of a movie set, and her makeup was flawless. I stopped in front of her and just stared. My Mother, herding her group of duckings, quickly noticed one was missing. Panicked she turned to see me in conversation with this etherial stranger. I remember the tight look she gave the woman before she coldly and politely extracted me. I could not understand why my Mother so obviously did not like this very nice pretty lady. I started talking about how wonderful she was and my Mother stopped dead and with intensity told me she was a bad woman. I asked why and she told me she was a Prostitute. Of course that went right over my head. So she carefully said, “She is a woman who men spend money to be with.” Oooooooops! If giving me the label Prostitute had meant nothing to a four year old, this explanation didn’t clear it up but only hit all my buttons. I remember breathing in with a gasp and blurting out, “Ohhhhhhhh, I want to grow up to be her!!! Men would want me all the time!” 

Can you just imagine my Mother taking that in?!? Trust me, that simple exchange colored my life with her from that moment on. She became my sexual watchdog. Guarding and shaming everything she deemed had any stain of sexuality at all. Despite her best efforts, my spirit secretly rebelled. I had two lives, the one I lived for my parents, and the one I ran for myself. I locked myself into my bedroom constantly, hardly spending any time with my family at all. I began to watch myself carefully in the mirror. I worked to emulate the grace of women I admired. I studied movie starlets, models, and beautiful women all around me. I practiced walking, sitting, standing, gesturing. Though my Mother forbid makeup, I began buying it secretly and practicing tirelessly the techniques I would glean from the makeup counter girls. I also started amassing a lingerie collection I hid away that I would dress up in and pose for myself in front of a mirror. A lot of my practice to becoming a woman I did privately. All signs had to be erased before I stepped outside my bedroom sanctuary. 

As I write this, it seems that I was really stuck on myself. I really wasn’t. I had actually no self esteem or ownership of this mysterious person I was feeling inside me. I was also conflicted because it was so ingrained in me to be ashamed and guilty about this part of me. “She” was dangerous and had to be controlled and hidden. The only place it was safe to be “Her” was in my bedroom, by myself. In everyday life I was a tom boy. I was always in sweats and huge t-shirts. My hair in a pony tail, tucked into a cap. I hung with boys, but they thought of me as one as well. 

I wasn’t until I ran away to college that I began to let Her out. I felt safer to explore this inner personality. Sadly, because of the years of stamping it down and the tapes of my Mother and society condemning me, I let Her out, I wore Her, but I couldn’t own Her, live in Her. I still thought of Her as trouble. I really didn’t believe I was beautiful at all. She did get me noticed in ways I had never imagined. I was approached three times by Playboy to model, and on the third time, I accepted the offer to go for Centerfold. I did the shoot. It was incredible. A dream. For a moment in time I believed. I felt the power. It felt like I had been chosen to be the most sexy woman in the world. But something about that scared me to my core. I could not really feel it was me, that it was real, that it was deserved. Deep down, I really felt like an impostor. I felt ugly and dirty. 

I began to panic. I called my Father and told him I was going to be a Centerfold. He had such a positive reaction it pulled me into a different reality. I had been repeatedly sexually abused as a young child into my budding adulthood. My Father’s reaction to his daughter being sexually open scared me. It felt so inappropriate. Then I thought of my siblings and their reactions. How their lives would be changed by my decision. Their friend’s reactions. My friend’s reactions. I thought of my parents and their standing in their community and what that would mean to them. I thought of my own future. How I would be forever perceived. All of a sudden, more than anything, I didn’t want to be a Centerfold. And then the impossible happened……….. Playboy lost all my paperwork, most importantly…….my model release and contract. They called me down to headquarters to redo it all and I never went……..

I struggled with my sexuality, sensuality, and femininity for years. The more I distanced myself from my family, the easier it became to wear the persona on the outside. But it was not until I met my husband and he not only gave me permission, but called Her out of me, could I fully integrate. One of the greatest gifts he has given me is the power of fully being my true feminine self. He called Her who She is…..Urvashi, and that is who I am. 

What does this have to do with Stripping? More to come…..

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Why I Strip…

BY URVASHI

The post Urvashi’s Blog appeared first on Spark Erotic.