The date that went wrong?
It's as if the captive's right hand seeking to reach the knot in the centre of his back has been frozen there, secured tight in a supreme demonstration of his helplessness. Placing the crucial knot in this unreachable position just between and below the shoulder blades is no accident of course.
This area of the back is celebrated as a point of ultimate (male) vulnerability in European culture too. Siegfried, the lusty hero of Germanic myths bathes in dragon's blood to make his skin invulnerable, but a leaf settles on this one place he cannot reach leaving a fatal chink in his 'armour'.
In this picture notice how tight the bindings are around his arms and body. The complex roping of Shibari is about power over the captive and this is totally nullified unless the ropes are tight. If they are not, the victim will almost certainly escape, but if he feels an unyielding grip around his body he will know he is truly trapped at his captor's pleasure.
Date mistake part two.
Not only are his legs immobilised now, but they are also drawn up towards the centre of his back (that place again), preventing any possibility of using them to leverage movement (if he had anywhere to go). The forced arching of his body is applying a compression to his lower back, which will become most unpleasant in due course.
This man has beautiful legs, chunky and just slightly hairy. The mounding produced by tight roping round thigh and calf produces an unexpectedly erotic shaping of his flesh, like the cut of jockstrap into buttock. Delicious.
Garish duvet covers can ruin a good bondage image but he's got it right here. The muted colours and vague impression of luxurious style throw the captive's body and his plight into striking relief in a way that is quite sinister. I think this one will become a classic.
One removed from the naughty step.
Where do you park a prisoner in a small flat when you want to get some sleep? We've all been there! This absurd setting complete with cat food and pasta sauce bottle relegates our hapless hero from being the centre of attention (unsought though that might have been) to the level of those awkwardly shaped, domestic appliances, so useful when needed but so difficult to store when they're not required.
His one-legged position, arms tight back position guarantees he won't get much sleep himself tonight. Tying the elbows and arms tightly together like this will prevent him from escaping too.
This is what helplessness looks like, as the captive cranes his neck to see what is happening to him. He's wondering what comes next, perhaps not anticipating that his restrictive bindings may have completely different properties if his captor chooses to raise him by the rope attached to his left leg.
The act of tying the captive in Shibari is a demonstration of power. He may accede to the first binding but as the process continues he becomes progressively less able to resist (or even to move). The increasing complexity of the rope work and the contortions into which his body is forced at his captor's whim are only made possible by his helplessness, but they reinforce and increase it. Ultimately (as in the second picture above) even the victim's personality becomes secondary to his state of bondage.
This is also a most erotic process, particularly where the artificial posture imposed on him opens up a sexual vulnerability such as opening the legs or pinning the arms back to open up the torso. The extra twist shown here, tying the arms to the ankle at one side, has produced a nice arching of the body.
(N.B.I have cropped this image)
The captive's backless briefs here showcase his beautiful fleshy buttocks far more effectively than total nudity would. His straightened leg exhibits fine erotic curves but so too in a different way does the tightly folded one. The socks and suspenders are a nice detail, a fetish in their own right for some I guess, but for me here they suggest a hasty, unplanned undressing - involuntary perhaps. A businessman snatched off the street.
Notice how the incomplete raising of his body is temporarily applying extra stress to the victim's back. The awkward, twisting tension between his left leg and right arm creates a powerful sense of frontal vulnerability for him. It's amplified by the facial roping whose purpose is not functional but to demonstrate that even his senses and his identity are no longer his to control.
In free suspension this unnatural position will soon become very unpleasant.
Suspension is the ultimate demonstration of power over the captive.
He is presented in all his helplessness at a convenient height to view and touch.
Meanwhile he suffers the discomfort of his bondage amplified by his own weight levering against the restraints, the suspension points and the contortions of his bondage.
(N.B.I have cropped this image too)
Suspension allows the captive's body or the master's rope work
(according to preference) to be displayed and inspected at leisure.
Beyond that it creates a dismaying, insurmountable barrier to escape
If space permits, his distance from the ground can be increased to play on his fears.
See more at Heathawk13 (aka Digital Silver) but beware of female dragons!