Bolt, West Hampstead

Rubber, constriction and sensory deprivation.

"I like full body bondage, constricted and covered from head to toe. Constricted.

Hoods allow me to be someone, or something, different. I don't think we're ever just one single defined person forever, but a number of alternate identities."

Bolt was very keen to protect his identity.

Prior to the shoot he wore sunglasses and a hat, even while he assembled and fitted into his gear. I suspect the name he wrote on the model release isn't his real name so the reality is I don't actually have any idea who this man is.

All I have are these photos, the words I jotted down while we spoke and a generic email address.

Bolt

"Sometimes my job makes me incredibly stressed and if I've had a long day at work - or had to deal with difficult situations - I find the best way to relax is for my partner to tie me up in my sensory-deprived sleep sack and chain me to the wall for a few hours. I can just be still and let all the tension drain away. It transports me to another place."

Sheldon, Primrose Hill

Leather

"Wearing my leather makes me feel powerful and in control. It makes me feel very confident, like I need to mind my manners. I love how it looks and the sound it makes and the smell of it.

Sometimes I am a sir, sometimes I am a boy."

Fawkink, Lewisham

Sports kit and leather

Fawkink was the most thoughtful about his fetishes and kinks and we spent more time talking than we did taking photographs.

Most of the time with the other guys there was a fair amount of talking about usually the photography dominated our time together.

Coming from an ethnic minority background, and being gay and also in the fetish community has caused Fawkink to think a lot. Many of the things he was able to articulate so well were shared by many of the other  participants.

For many their attraction to the kinks or fetishes they are interested in, comes from some sort of profound event in their childhood, whether good or bad.

Being able to lean into what happened helps many of them deal with what they experienced, especially if it was traumatic.

One of the men spoke about how they were mercilessly teased as school for being effeminate and his latex fetish was a means for him to harness those deep feelings of shame and turn them into something positive.

Rogan, Vauxhall

Muscle worship, lycra and macrophilia.

"When I was young I realised, for better or for worse, that in order for me to be confident and happy with myself I had to be a muscle beast.

The gym became my church. Bulking every day because I always wanted to be bigger.

My father, who was straight and also a bodybuilder (he dropped dead at 61 after winning Mr Universe) worshipped other men's physiques not in a sexual way but rather because he was competitive.

I want to be worshipped by other men, that's why I became a muscle beast. And because I am gay it's very sexually driven.

I have been on a long journey, from an insecure, shy and self-shaming boy into a muscular and sexually confident male.

I am king, an alpha muscle daddy."

Tom, Shepherd's Bush

Latex, rubber and sports kit

'One of my alter egos is Candy. She's super sexy and that means when I put on the outfit for me, I transform into Candy. I have gear for different roles. When I get into my rubber gear I am the alpha. When I gear up I can be whatever I want and it's a huge turn on. Candy on the other hand is voracious and wants to serve whatever  and whoever she can. 

Tom - if that is indeed his name - is another participant whose identity is unknown to me.

He sent me his address as a disappearing image on social media and in his flat had moved out of sight, any item that could have identified him.

He suggested we shoot in his bedroom where he'd set out his various pieces of clothing on his bed. Anything else in the room had been cleared away.

He changed in his ensuite bathroom and emerged as his character Candy. He insisted on playing the song 'Sweet But Psycho' by Ava Max while we shot and didn't say a word.

After the shoot I tried to find out at least what his name was or what work he did. Nothing.

Nick, Hoxton

Leather

"Putting on gear is like stepping into another version of yourself. I feel the power of it. It emboldens me. The jacket holds my shoulders differently. The cap changes how I look onto the world. I bring that power into myself."

The look of the leatherman is part of what makes leather so powerful. It exudes sex, masculinity, an acceptance of filth, and the darker sides of sexuality.

But gear is more than just the sex there is a true community within leather. When you adorn this gear, it is a great equaliser, your jobs, your position in the world outside mean nothing, you're part of something more equal."

Philippe and Cal, Clerkenwell

Rope play.

Although this photo appears the odd one out because it shows two guys in the middle of their fetish play, it's not.

All of the men who dressed in their gear said the act of just wearing the clothing was pleasure in of itself. The wearing is as important or exciting as anything they would do while in their kit.

Little was said during this shoot between me,  Philippe and Cal and suspension itself was over fairly quickly. Philippe (in the leather trousers who's doing the tying up) explained that it was incredibly painful and the pleasure was in the vast amounts of adrenaline and endorphins that are released when one is suspended.

He also told me he had builders reinforce the ceiling, especially so that he could do this in his sitting room.

Tish, Limehouse

Latex, femme domination.

One of the reasons Mapplethorpe's photo shocked people when it was published was because it gave a clue about how consenting adults might dress (and behave) in private.

It's one of the reasons this project has been so fascinating, to pull back the curtain just slightly on the people who could be living next door.