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Suze Randall: Eyes Wide Shutterbug
Interview by Ed Rampell
Suze Randall gives great mike: A Suze schmooze is good fun. The English nurse-turned-model-turned-photographer has a rollicking good time telling her offbeat life story. But not nearly as much fun as she's had living a colorful life, shooting layouts for the erotica industry's Big Three - Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt, and Bob Guccione - and then prospering as a freelancer off- and online. Suze owns and operates the successful Web sites www.suze.net and www.suzevideo.com, which feature erotica legends before they hit it big; such as Danni Ashe, contemporary stars like Tera Patrick, and up and coming stunners like Hawaiian model Patricia Ford.
Suze was interviewed before and during a shoot where (much of) the magic happens, her 3,000 square foot Los Angeles studio. Her photo galleries and videos are a cut above most adult fare partially because of their settings, although most of Suze's interiors are shot at her studio, not on location. Her set designer, Ishmael, is part of team Randall, which includes makeup artist Lee Garland, and video cameraman Onky. He shoots behind-the-scenes footage of the photo sessions with Canon mini DV cameras, which is edited and available via streaming or downloading at suzevideo.com. According to Onky, this new site garnered 700 members in its first three weeks online.
On the day Klixxx caught up with Suze, her studio featured two sets: one with a girl-next-door, hearth and home theme, the other had a bondage and fetish feel. Two female models were on hand: Jana Cova, a 22-year-old green-eyed Czech beauty with a belly piercing, and Cassidy, a brunette. Before she starts clicking, Suze provides a relaxed ambiance; Cassidy's allowed to have a couple visit the set. The visitors approach the un-dressing room, where the models are in various degrees of undress, and the female friend observes both Cassidy and Jana's breasts. "Mine are real, too!" exclaims the young lady, lifting her blouse and bra to prove her points.
As Suze and her assistants prepare for the shoot, Jana stands in front of the faux fireplace in S&M garb. Polaroids are snapped and studied, spotlights adjusted, until Suze is satisfied and ready to fire away with her autofocus F100 Nikon and E100S Ektachrome film (she eschews digital cameras). Now she's firmly in command, like David Hemmings in Michelangelo Antonioni's classic 1966 film Blowup, about a British photographer in the mod London Randall once inhabited. Suze slides around on a low dolly and directs Jana as the Czech sheds her leather garments during some fireside chat: "Glorious! So arrogant! Yeah, pull the titties out! Shoulders back! Awesome! Fuckin' brilliant!"
Although she's now an American citizen, the busty Ms. Randall still speaks with an English accent. She has an infectious pearly white smile, closely cropped white hair, and most strikingly, piercing light blue eyes - the eyes of a shutterbug extraordinaire.
ED RAMPELL: Where were you born and raised?
SUZE RANDALL: England, in the Midlands, Worcestshire. I went to an all girls private school, always in trouble. Then I became a nurse, which is when I met my husband… during the '60s.
ER: How'd you get into photography?
SR: I got into photography to support my husband, who was writing a book at the time. I started modeling - nude and fashion - to support him, and this led to photography. I was quite successful traveling all over Europe, although I eventually went pretty broke. The experience of modeling made me realize lots of the photographers I worked with were jerks. I thought, 'If those jerks could be a photographer, even a woman could be a photographer.' They didn't know how to handle you as a model, because actually the model is the most important person. Lots of photographers don't know socially - they may know technically, but they don't know how to make you feel comfortable. There's a huge difference: If you've a photographer who just stands you on a backdrop and says 'do something,' [compared to] a photographer who helps you emote- feel comfortable. That's the difference. That's my strength: I was a good model, and good with people.
ER: Do you bring a female sensibility to photography?
SR: Yeah, 'cause I know how the female feels… I know what it feels like if you're put down and criticized - then you lose your confidence and freeze. Then I know what it's like to be made to feel beautiful and glorious, and it's two different people there in one body, it's depending on how you were treated. That's really why I got into photography: the guys who shot me didn't impress me.
ER: Tell us about breaking into photography.
SR: It was really lucky because it was the time of Women's Lib. As a model, I'd take my camera down the catwalk and photograph the photographers photographing me in the fashion shows. I'd take pictures behind-the-scenes, at the Mary Quant shows, and then the press took pictures of me saying 'Model's lib.' I got lots of promotion. It was really useful being a woman; it still is. There're lots of advantages the guys don't have when you're young and cute. It opens lots of doors, if you're a female.
ER: What were your big early photo gigs?
SR: I started off in London and worked for The Sun, and then I discovered a Playmate in London, Lillian Muller, and sent her pictures over to Playboy, and that was my biggest break. Playboy flew both of us over - they wouldn't have if I were some hairy guy. They flew me over because I was a female… and hoped to get rid of me; get her and tell me nudes and food were the hardest things to shoot… But I was so broke - I already had pictures of Lillian I owned, and I said I'd sell to Penthouse if they didn't let me shoot, so they let me shoot. Marilyn Grabowski, Playboy's female head, took me under her wing. It was an all-male club, and she said, 'Let's show those guys,' and really helped me. I was really lucky, because I had an assistant who'd sit on the floor and say, 'load your own fucking film.'
ER: Did you become a staff photographer?
SR: Yeah, for a couple of years, based in L.A… I got thrown out [laughs], I fell out with Hef. I wrote a silly little book and he got pissed off. It was about all the people I fucked at the mansion [laughs]!
ER: Was Hefner one of them?
SR: He was peripheral. I think I bedded him once, but he wasn't worth mentioning really [laughs].
ER: What do you think of Hefner overall?
SR: He was very kind to me, but he lives in a glass house. Most people that wealthy are very protected. I told all his staff about my book, but nobody told him, 'cause nobody ever tells him anything unless they think he's going to like it. He's very isolated.
ER: Much is being made now about the 50th anniversary of Playboy, and Phil Donohue was ballyhooing what a business genius Hef is. But in fact, Playboy's had lots of trouble with the online aspect of his business.
SR: I don't understand why both he and Penthouse can't make anything out of the Internet… They haven't put their centerfolds online, have they? They're scared of being ripped off? The quality on Penthouse's site is shit - it's cheap scans. We go to lots of trouble to color-correct. It's got to be the best quality - you've got people who really care, they're collectors. They're my fans. Penthouse and Playboy just don't care… They just don't get it… Lots of people on the Internet are just scamsters… The Internet saved my bloody ass.
ER: How?
SR: Because the magazine business has been going down, there's so much competition. It's still really expensive - but they pay less than they did 20 years ago for a layout. For me to spend the kind of money I do on a layout, I couldn't do that without the Internet.
ER: Are you making more money now from the Internet or offline?
SR: Totally the Internet. I'm totally my own boss. If I sell to the magazines I'm doing them a favor now. I don't have to kiss ass. It's so wonderful! [Sighs]
ER: What'd you do after leaving Playboy?
SR: I met Larry Flynt at one of Hefner's garden parties… and ended up working for Hustler. It was one of the reasons I got thrown out of Playboy - Hefner got real pissed off. They're very possessive, and I'm probably the only photographer among my peers who's managed to work for Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler.
ER: What was the difference between working for Hustler and Playboy?
SR: They're both big corporations actually, and you have to watch your back… Working for Larry was like being in the army, it was a bit tougher. But Playboy was really tough, too. You're only as good as your last shoot. It's kind of nerve-wracking. I had a three-year contract with Flynt, and got out of it as soon as I could, and became freelance. Then you can play all of the magazines off against each other. If you totally depend on one person for your work, it's really hard - they can reject you, and you have no recourse…
I like the free marketplace… After Hustler, I started working for Penthouse, and all the smaller men's magazines - Club, High Society. That was the secret to my success - I owned the pictures, I got paid less… but that gave me my huge library for the Internet. Whereas other photographers, all those years they've spent, they don't own those pictures, and can't have a site. They don't have a name. The fact that I fell out with Flynt and Playboy was great for me, because I ended up owning all my pictures.
PART TWO: Big Names, Big Fame
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