The renaissance of Suze Randall began on July 29, 1998. As an artist and businesswoman, the day provided her a means to compete in what was and what remains a marketplace of great change. It wasn't as if she had faded away or lost creative inspiration. But the game was shifting, perhaps most dramatically in her almost 30 years as a photographer. She was becoming a painter without a museum. Yet on that day five years ago, an illustrious career was granted new life, for a new generation, with the launch of Suze.net. Suze Randall had finally reached the World Wide Web.
"The Internet saved me," Randall tells me as we sit at a desk inside her office. "Without the Net, I'd be out of business now. I'd be... mucking stalls... back to nursing, who knows." It's a hot day in Los Angeles as Randall prepares to photograph adult stars Stormy and Julian. Randall's associate Thomas Rifter (a photographer himself) and Ishmael, the set-designer, ready the studio, dressed today as a weight room. The photo shoot has been planned for a simple reason: members of Suze.net love Stormy and there's demand for more content.
"Before, with the magazines, you'd shoot a couple of times and they wouldn't buy it because they'd say 'I have enough of her,'" says Randall. "But now I shoot for myself. I might sell it, but that's not what I'm thinking."
Randall is dressed in a white button-down, blue jeans and tennis shoes. Her customary glasses and white, short-cropped hair completes the look.
Even with five things happening at once, Randall's attention is fixed on me. She is a woman of great presence, her charm intoxicating. But she's also tough. One doesn't survive thirty years in this business without knowing how to tussle. A take-no-shit kinda gal with a heart of pure gold, you might say.
As a fashion model living in swinging London in the early '70s, Randall segued into photography by shooting racy photos of her girlfriends. By 1975, she was brought to Los Angeles by Playboy's Hugh Hefner on assignment; she wound up photographing 1975's Playmate-of-the-Year Lillian Muller and became a Playboy staff photographer. That was until 1977, when she was persuaded by Larry Flynt to join Hustler. Two years later, she opted to freelance for magazines like Bob Guccione's Penthouse, where she remains a contributor.
Randall is a true raconteur, always quick with a devilish anecdote about this model, that party, or what publisher she fought tooth and nail. The world holds its collective breath for her memoirs. Short of that, Suze.net is like a visual coffee table book chronicling her career with more than 75,000 images, an editorial retrospective, and a model database of 550 centerfolds and counting.
In Studio
Dressed in black latex, Stormy poses under hot lights. She runs through an inner catalog of exaggerated body turns and erotic facial expressions. "Gorgeous," yells Randall in her cool Britannia accent. "Beautiful. Love it." Randall zips across the floor seated on what looks like a manhole cover with skateboard wheels attached to the bottom. "I love it. So sexy," she shouts, clicking away on her Nikon.
It sounds like typical photographer-speak. "How rude," "Swing your tits to me," and "Fucking beautiful," not so much. But that's Randall's method, virtually unchanged during her career; an exercise in verbal love taps and excitable nudging dipped in coarse language that's quite amusing to witness. It's all part of the performance, a "sexual dance" as Randall describes it.
Because she was a model, and perhaps because she's a female photographer, the girls develop a special confidence with Randall and thereby can loosen up and respond to her colorful lingo. "She wants you to feel beautiful, and she lets you know how sexy and good you look," said Aimee Sweet, a popular model and Penthouse Pet. "Because you're vulnerable and you're naked, but she takes care of you. She's been naked in front of the camera, too."
Sweet said she feels comfortable with Randall precisely because of her humorous style. "She can say anything, even the dirtiest words, and they sound acceptable." She added: "Suze is smart and knows how to get it done. She really knows how to make you feel good, and what girl doesn't want to be glamorous and beautiful?"
Nobody understands glamour quite like Suze Randall. It's the common thread that runs through her entire artistic career. "I'm a glamorous pornographer," she declares. "I like glamorous... I don't like ugly."
Suze and Co.
Randall's photographed hundreds and hundreds of women; Playmates, Penthouse Pets, porn stars, models, and so on. Working with her is like a models rite of passage.
Randall calls herself a "pin-up photographer," which is appropriate. Though she thrives creatively in today's milieu of sexual liberalism, her style of photographing beauty is a throwback to the days when having a picture of pretty girl hanging on your wall was the simplest delight.
"I just try to make the girls look beautiful," says Randall. "I want the girls to feel proud of whatever they do."
With a laugh she adds, "I mean, even with cum all over your face you still have got to look beautiful... baby."
The economic triumph of Suze.net has allowed Randall to continue funding the lavish sets, hair and make-up stylists, wardrobe consultants, on-location shoots and whatever else deemed necessary to produce superior content.
"I think the reason I'm successful on the Internet is because I never did change my style," she theorizes. "I lost a few clients for a short time but I still couldn't change. I was stuck in my ways.
When magazines like Maxim and FHM became popular - with their naughty not naked pictorials and frat house humor - they shoved aside the big three of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler in what has become a fierce battle for readership. This tectonic publishing shift led to a new content approach, opting for less opulent set pieces and natural models; essentially making it tougher for a glam photographer like Randall to stay afloat.
Enter Suze.net. While the "laddie mags" caused a stir, Randall knew her art still had mass appeal, primarily as an alternative to the beer and babes glossies. The Website's instant popularity proved that her audience, many who'd followed her career for years, were only to happy to view her work on the Internet.
"Everyone else was rushing around with no makeup and making everybody look underage, and I just kept doing the same thing and it really worked well on the Internet," says Randall.
No longer beholden to the magazines, or anyone at all for that matter, Suze.net is the source for Randall's photography, both past and present. "It gave me my freedom," she says, speaking of the Internet, "it's given me so much more power."
Amber Guerra joined Randall's staff one month prior to Suze.net's launch. "I had a background in graphic arts but knew almost nothing about computers and almost nothing at all about the Internet," said Guerra, brought aboard by Humphry Knipe, Randall's husband and company administrator, to lead the site design. "Together with Humphry, I came up with the gallery idea and the overall presentation of the site. I came up with the layout, color schemes and graphics on my own."
To simply call Guerra Suze.net's Webmaster doesn't do justice to her immense contribution; she's the graphic designer, handles daily updates, and works up monthly themes and specials for members. "Plus," Guerra adds, "I answer all the e-mails to make sure we try to fulfill members' requests and fantasies."
She is also the talent coordinator, who decides with Randall what new faces should be photographed. "Once that takes place, I edit the shoots and send them off to the magazines, but keeping our own exclusive edit for Suze.net," says Guerra. "Warren and Susan Gold, who operate offsite in San Diego, add key ingredients to make the site successful, like our Pics for Clicks program and extensive model index library."
Guerra continues, "Susan is also our search engine expert making sure we are highly ranked in the engines and Warren color corrects every single image."
In the five years she has been with Suze.net, Guerra has developed a better understanding of Randall's legacy. "She has the eye to make erotic photography an art form that men and women both respond to, appreciate and enjoy," says Guerra. "So much preparation goes into her shoots...the money, time and style we put in to them...it's a very high class operation."
Randall's daughter Holly, a burgeoning photographer/director whose work is featured on Suze.net and HollyRandall.com, also spoke of the high standards. "We only shoot the most beautiful girls," she said. "We most likely reject 90 percent and probably get five models coming in every day."
According to Knipe, Suze.net membership is currently in the low five figures and rising steadily with a strong retention base. It was Knipe, married to Randall for 26 years now, who first broached the Website topic.
"We were going absolutely broke," he says. "We were walking up the road one day and I said we were going to have to sell the ranch. It was then that we started developing the Website."
Knipe was amazed at the instant recognition once the site debuted. "I couldn't believe it, people just started joining," he says. "I remember I kept the log of sign-ups on little post-it notes. In three weeks it just started pilling up, they were everywhere."
Guerra attributes the success, aside from Randall's recognizable name, to hard work and attention to detail. "Once we commit to a shoot, we give it our all," she says. "I also believe in catering to our members, to keep them on board you must cater to their needs as well as listen to their comments, criticisms, and ideas."
Knipe says the marketing strategy is largely search engine driven, his secret being that of high rankings on keywords. Media interest, too, is key in Randall's public relations and has been high of late.
The look and feel of Suze.net is evocative of a fashion magazine; vivid color, distinctive areas of interest, and snappy written content form a robust foundation for the thousands of photographs. Clicking from one page to the next is like flipping through the pages of Vogue, but with more nudity.
While design elements are key, Guerra keeps the flash minimal, focusing on Randall's work rather than showy visuals. "Obviously we don't want the site to look outdated, but it's designed as a beautiful library of Suze's work; we don't need flashy Web design to entice our viewers," she says. "It's Suze's pictures they want to see and that's exactly what we give them. Just like the movie industry, we find that the best advertising is word of mouth."
Appealing to worldwide audience, Suze.net offers various language options, each with its own sign-up page and tour. "Mom's big everywhere," says Holly. "Someone once said German people may not be able to speak English, but they can all say 'Suze Randall.'"
Guerra compares working with Randall to having a second mom as well as a boss. "She has a very strong personality, which can be quite intimidating to some, but I find it very refreshing and it keeps me working to the best of my ability."
Guerra adds, "She's unbelievably generous and takes care of us like her own family. She's a lot of fun and has a great sense of humor. She's like a prude who loves porn."
I asked Guerra of Randall's input into the daily operation. "I inform her of whom the members want to see more of and she tries to shoot special requests with certain concepts," says Guerra, adding that Randall also oversees the front page.
"Once she's approved the image she pretty much gives me total freedom with design."
The next frontier for the creative team is video; downloadable video to be precise, courtesy of SuzeVideo.com, a behind-the-scenes Website launched in March 2001 that Knipe says already has some 2,000 members. Onky, Randall's video editor and cameraman, films her photo shoots and produces mini documentaries to give members a feel for being inside Randall's studio.
Alison Hassel, who joined the team two years ago, is the site's Webmistress. A former fashion model, Hassel deals with editing, daily video requests, e-mails, etc; like a cruise director, she makes sure all the members are happy. She even has her own page on the site, featuring six dazzling photos. "I'm basically the face of the video site," says Hassel. "I hear from every member, and I know what they want and who they like."
The latest SuzeVideo project is Suze Randall's Bad Girls Club, available for download as well as on DVD. "We have everything from centerfolds to hardcore clips," says Guerra. "Everybody is very excited by these shows, because they deliver a high style and intimate erotic experience."
Meanwhile, Back at the Studio
Julian has arrived and so has lunch. Shortly, the he'll slip into a pair of latex shorts for his shoot with Stormy. Randall signs papers that cross her desk and takes a call regarding one of her cherished horses.
A nice by-product of shooting for Suze.net is that it speeds up the creative procedure for Randall, allowing her to concentrate on other interests, breeding horses in particular. "I get more done in a day... I don't dilly-dally around," she says. "For Penthouse, way back when we'd do the centerfold, it was four days of shooting."
Randall describes herself as being "quicker and better" in the studio, more "right on," as she put it.
With a hint of self-mockery she adds, "and it only took me 30 years."
Normally, the video crew would be here. A typical routine is to shoot stills the first part of the day, break for lunch, then spend the rest of the afternoon filming. "It's the kids that pushed us into doing it," Randall says of the video venture.
Although digital filmmaking is new to Randall, shooting pornography is not; there was the video line Suze Centerfolds and theatrical releases like Stud Hunters. "I used to shoot movies on 16-millimeter when it was illegal," she says. "It was just fun running from the vice more than anything."
Still, the fluidity of directing a steamy sex scene rather than working from one photographic still to the next has always been alluring. "It's great. I have a martini, I'm watching this screen, and I have my cigarette," Randall says. "The passion. You don't interrupt the passion."
Eventually Rifter and Holly will handle the directing, which is fine by Randall. "I can do the stills and go home and ride my horses."
With its immense catalog of gorgeous women, Suze.net is likely the holy grail of softcore entertainment, but there's plenty of hardcore content offered.
"I enjoy single girl but I love the hardcore," says Randall. "A hard dick you can focus on so much easier. Since they made it legal, it made the boy/girl more interesting."
Chances are, if you send Randall an e-mail she won't be getting back to you. Though she is an Internet star, she doesn't surf the Web a lot these days. Which is why she values the team around her so much. "I'm working for the Internet," she says, "but I'm just in the fields. I'm the hired help."
I ask what she thinks about the success of Suze.net. "I'm so lucky and the other photographers don't have what I have on the Internet," she says. "And you know why? Those guys never used their names. They use it when it was in Penthouse, but if it were in a little shitty magazine, they'd change their name."
She leans forward, tapping the desk to reinforce her point. "I've used my name for every single thing I've done, whether it was crap or terrific. That has made the difference. Over the years, my name has been my name."
Randall may not be Web savvy, but she understands what the Internet represents beyond the jazzy software, high-speed connections and passwords: In a word, liberation.
The Internet is a better place with Suze Randall around. Suze.net provided the opportunity that's rejuvenated her career and solidified her status as a legend.
"I love the Internet," Randall says, smiling. "I don't have to kiss anybody's ass anymore."
Both of us now laughing, she goes on, "I can tell Larry Flynt to go fuck himself... at least I can afford to now."
