Austrian-born photographer Reiner Riedler has traveled the world documenting what he calls “the fragile beauty of human existence with its desires and abysses.” In his series Pleasure Garden, Riedler ventured into the swinger and fetish clubs of Austria, Germany, and Japan, an artificial world that he found fascinating due to its “glaring hyper-reality.” The vivid photos that he captured range from rather tame shots of empty rooms to more provocative images of men and women in a variety of costumes, seemingly caught mid-act.
“Taking photographs in locations where sexual practices take place is not always a simple matter,” he writes. “I had to unequivocally distance myself from the role of the voyeur—being in places where photography is equated with pornography.” Click through for your own fascinating, NSFW glimpse of the underground world that Riedler discovered.
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler
Photo credit: Reiner Riedler