1) How did you first get interested in erotica and capturing the beauty of a woman nude?

I’ve been shooting nudes since 1989, though mostly trial & error practice type material on my girlfriend at the time (she made it to Playmate status in 1990). My background in photography was Fashion/Commercial work, through 1990-1996. I was never into the ‘artistic’ side as much as the commercial side of making a woman look good, and shooting in full color, to appreciate what we see in ‘real life’.

2) How did you come up with the idea to start up your own erotic website?

I was a member of several softcore adult sites back in 1998-2001, and as nice as some of them were, they just didn’t have that proper mix of photo & video, with video being the priority, as well as real, quality, natural masturbation scenes (with a classier feel). Too many sites with ’same couch, same room’ kind of shoots, no variety, no member feedback, no exotic locales, no uniqueness in shoots. Since I had website design, graphics, and photo/video experience, I knew I could do it all myself, without the need to hire anyone to do the work for me. Also, back in Dental School, in Philadelphia (yes I am a dentist now) — I met several girls and did ‘private masturbation videos’ of them, which gave me experience. In the end, I had a collection of 30-40 different girls who I had shot (for free!). Too bad I can’t use that old content, but it gave me the idea for a name, ‘First Time Videos’.

3) What is your favorite thing about running your own site?

Running one’s own site, you make your own schedules, and do not have to rely on a webmaster (who is usually lazy) to do your work for you. The person I’d pay to do my shoots or work, would never do it with the same intensity or care as I would. And of course, since there is nobody to pay (but Chris, my partner and promoter/FTVCash of course). You keep a linear focus on what & where you are going with your site.

4) Your work covers a variety of themes what is your favorite?

I personally like the ‘nude tease in public’ & ‘fashion shoot gone bad’ sort of themes, but what is most popular on the site is the masturbation videos, which is the sites’ main focus. Also a ‘breast man’ so big, natural breasts being massaged is always a good thing.

5) Describe your day on the set of a shoot.

Around 11am, pick up the model from the airport (most fly in to Phoenix from LA). Drive her back, strike up a conversation and get to know her better, offer her some food & drink, then give her a tour of the site on the computer. See what she has brought over as wardrobe, and then determine, based on her look, personality, and clothing, of how we will start her shoot. Usually we begin on location, somewhere in a public place… like a mall, a restaurant, a park, an exotic resort, and so on… girl wears something cute, casual or very elegant, depending on the setting. I shoot her voyeur style, watching her walk, checking her out, then have her give us sneek peeks, like adjusting her bra, upskirt etc… Then a photo & video shoot on the spot, (I know all the ’safe areas’ where we won’t be disturbed) and do a full nude series out in the public area. Then back at home, picking a good spot for her to masturbate, and I shoot it in a natural way, undirected while she does it from start to finish. Girls with natural orgasms are always preferred in these shoots. Then the shoot continues through the day, with various locations (keeping variety is a must) and doing soft things like running naked, to harder, more extreme shoots with giant toys & such. The shoot usually ends around 6pm, and the model flies back around 7pm. The day is quite exhaustive, since I have nobody working for me, so its a lot of running and setting up things wherever we go. Nothing is fixed or prepared beforehand. Then after the model is dropped off, I go to my customer service emails, and start editing until I’m done (photo, video, graphics, coverpages, text, storylines), usually around 2am.

6) You have shot hundreds of women. Does it ever get boring?

Never gets boring shooting models, though some models can be boring. Its a simple fact that personality does go a long way in the shoots, and the more energy and interest she has in what she does, the better the shoot will go (especially the video). For FTV, I’ve shot about 220 different models (though many have returned for more shoots). Notice that about 170 girls are on FTV, so the remaining 50 is that I shoot so far in advance, I prepare my content about 8-10 months ahead. As of today, I’m shooting models that will appear on FTV in early August 2006. Why so far ahead? Because I need about 10 models a month, but I shoot about 15 a month, so the extra carries forward and keeps pushing the release date further ahead. It does become a problem when I might shoot a girl ‘first time’ today, but by the time her stuff comes out, she will have been all over the net on other websites. But I’d rather shoot a model now, when she is fresh, than wait 6 months from now, when she might have disappeared, decided not to model, fall into drugs, get found out by her parents, and so on.

7) What sets your site from other similar sites?

My site is a one-man show — so when a member joins, he is not getting leased or purchased content, and when he send me an email, he will get feedback from me in less than 12 hours. There are many sites that have tons of video content — but who has it 1.5 hours long, with variety, personality, class and a total ‘you are there’ intimate feel? So far I haven’t found any. Most follow a generic pattern, and there is that feeling that the models are there to ‘get paid and go’. No… on FTV I want it to feel like they are at home, and are here for the ‘fun of it’. On top of all this, I got lengths to get unique locales in every shoot, and I do ‘claim’ that I do the best masturbation video shoots than anyone else I’ve ever seen. Starting January, updates are going to be 2000kb/sec wmv’s — which brings the quality to the highest level. Yes — there are several other sites now that run videos at such high bitrates — but with 10-20 minute video updates as a max. FTV’s updates average 80 minutes long, and its not one long boring dance scene — its as much variety, activity, and location I can pack into a days’ shoot. I guess the last thing is that I keep the site user-friendly, with an easy navigational setup without all the ‘flash’ filler.

Your site is one of my favorite and I am sure a favorite of many others. Why do you think your site has been successful when so many others have failed?

The site succeeded because it drew in some of the cutest models on the net, some who were ‘brand new’ to the business. I continue to hire the most beautiful and natural models — and avoid the ‘porn look’. Keep them classy & dressy, or ‘girl next door’ types. Answering every email, even if a feedback was 3 paragraphs long, I will reply with 4 paragraphs, I keep discussions with every member who emails me. Over time, this can mean hordes of dedicated members, and rebills that exceed new sales. And again, the fact that the site is more video than photo based. It is that time now, where most members will choose video over photo when given a choice of how to ‘enjoy’ the site — in fact in one of my recent members’ votes, only 18% bothered even looking at the photo sections of the updates. I manually do every update, but I make sure its on time, if anything, early by 12 hours. I refuse to automate FTV. The additional ‘perk’ for some is the models’ narration through the whole experience, giving them a more personalized view of what went down through the shoot.

9) What are your future plans? Where do you see your self and the site in 5 years… 10 years?

Doing everything I do for such a megasite, and add to it all the other single girl sites I run, it is burning me out. So I plan to keep the same pace until I do — but at least with a years’ content ahead of me, I can always slow down. But I cannot be away from the computer for more than a day, just because I need to update and take care of emails & members. I even answer emails during models’ smoke breaks lol. 5 years from now? For me — family, kids and such, with more than enough money to retire. My biggest hobbies are supporting gaming sites like www.toheroes.com (which I run solely by myself — again). So sadly, one day, when I do retire, FTV would have to be shot and updated by someone else. But the videos, sold in DVD form, the high quality photos, both are timeless — and can be sold or leased indefinitely.

– Rob

The FTV Collection of Sites: