At the Circus (Part 2): The Dachshund Perspective

(The sponge contest. Pandora and Jane put on a hard fight.)

After having visited the SM Circus Sands for the first time for their anniversary show in 2010, I was back together with Ludwig in August last year. Pandora Blake had come to Germany for a shoot with the Circus and an interview at the BDSM Tag (BDSM Day) hosted by the German non-profit organisation Bundesvereinigung Sadomasochismus e.V. BVSM (Federal Association Sadomasochism). Ludwig was Pandora's interviewer (you can watch the interview here), and we both accompanied her to the shoot as well.

Pandora was not the only petgirl for the show, though. Her partner in crime was Petgirl Jane, the creative, tough and naughty spirit whom I already introduced in my post about the anniversary show. I expected to be sitting somewhere in the background and watching the shoot in silence for most of the time, except for maybe a little cameo.

(Petgirl Jane doing the limbo.)

I was wrong. Before we started, Direktor Sands suddenly asked me whether I would like to operate one of the cameras. And I'm not talking about one of these small camcorders which Ludwig and I use for our private shoots. This was a big professional camera! I told him that I would love to do it but that I wasn't sure whether I was good enough because I'm not a trained camerawoman. Direktor Sands told me not to worry, my camera was just an extra one in addition to the two static cameras which had already been put up and the camera that was operated by their professional cameraman.

I got a short introduction to the handling of the camera and was told in which area I could move freely without getting into the shots of the other cameras. And so "Camera Kid Kaelah" was born! We have a childrens' quiz show in Germany called "1, 2 oder 3" (1, 2 or 3). In every show a kid is allowed to run one of the cameras. If pictures from that camera are shown they are highlighted with a coloured frame and the name of the indeed so called "camera kid" shows up. That's exactly how I felt, even though I doubted that the footage from my camera would be highlighted, should some of it become part of the final clips.

(Pandora reading aloud - in German!)

And so I watched the whole action through the camera. I tried to find interesting angles, to work with the zoom and with smooth movements and to avoid any shaking of the camera. The latter proved to be quite difficult after a while. The first game Jane and Pandora engaged in was the sponge contest. It was a hard fight and the scene lasted for about twenty minutes. Towards the end I suddenly realised that my arms started shaking. The camera was quite heavy and I surely was a bit too tense for the fear of shaking it or moving it too abruptly.

I had to find a solution for my problem and so I did. I went on my knees, stabilized the camera with them and started filming the scene at eye level with the pets. During the pause between the scenes I managed to recover a bit, but a few minutes into the next scene my arms started shaking again. And so I decided that the best thing to do was to go into the dachshund perspective like I did before. It proved to be an interesting perspective, at least from my point of view. The other two cameras were set up about hip high and the professional cameraman often shot close-ups from above. So my perspective definitely added a different angle. I followed Jane and Pandora at eye level as they did the limbo, read texts in foreign languages, were fed (which they used to make a big mess and lick each other clean afterwards) and of course spanked for their misdeeds.

(Pandora being spanked on the hands by Direktor Sands.)

One scene which was psychologically very intense stuck in my mind. During the limbo session the number of boxes which hold the stick are constantly reduced, until there is only very little space left under the stick. Except for someone who is extremely slim and has a rather small bosom, it is physically not possible to crawl from one side to the other without throwing the stick from the boxes. Both petgirls tried it once and of course failed. I'm not sure whether they had already tried it a second time when I felt that Pandora was getting reluctant when Herr Direktor Sands told them to do it again and try harder this time. She informed him: "This is not about how hard we try."

I could relate to Pandora's frustration and was curious how Direktor Sands was going to solve that situation. It was clear that Pandora's complaint was serious and not just in character. Herr Direktor convinced her to try it one more time. Reluctantly, Pandora did as she was told. It made me smile when I realised what Direktor Sands was doing. He put one foot on the stick, so that it simply couldn't fall down. That way both, Pandora and Jane, passed the test and were rewarded afterwards.

(Jane and Pandora being fed.)

My reward for being at the shoot wasn't a pet biscuit, it was the joy of being allowed to run such a fantastic camera. On that day I really wished I could change my profession and do that more often. I don't know whether any of the footage I shot was good enough to make it into the final clips. But operating that camera definitely made my day. And being behind the camera wasn't even all I did! I also participated in one scene together with Ludwig in front of the camera. That will be the story of the third and final part of my report, though.