Life and Work with Urvashi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Urvashi.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Urvashi. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always had an aesthetic eye. My Mother is an artist and worked in several mediums throughout the years. One form that stuck with me was photography. From the time I was 5 years old, I was in her darkroom, eventually developing my own film and developing images.

I also have had a love of the human form and how it moves for as long as I can remember. I danced until I graduated with a degree in fine arts and took up yoga soon after. I also began modeling for friends in high school and turned the camera on myself in college.

Several years into marriage, a young friend asked if my husband (also a fantastic photographer) and I would take some photos of her new tattoos. I knew that we’d have to take nude photos in order to capture them. It was my first time taking nudes of another other than myself. We planned a whole day and had so much fun creating the perfect ways for her to not only showcase her tattoos but to reveal her personality and the emerging sensuality as she stepped into womanhood and ownership of her own body and soul.

This was such a powerful experience for us all. Using this energy, we launched Urvashi’s Eye, an erotic photography business. We worked with couples and individuals for around 10 years, having the honor of being invited into people’s most intimate vulnerable moments to create sensual fine art nudes.

Around this time, people began to ask if we would ever film them. I had always wanted to like porn, as I have always been a champion on individual sexuality and expression, but found I could not. It was so geared towards the male quick fix desire that I found very little to nothing appealing about it. I felt it should be different. Not this exaggerated misleading caricature of sexuality I saw displayed. None of which made me feel, as a woman, that I was being represented accurately at all.

I also began to see the damage of warped sexual views all around me. How much shame and pain and guilt there was surround sexuality and desire. I had a huge desire to normalize sexuality and help people integrate themselves fully with it and thereby help them authentically connect to themselves and others.

Desiring to create something that not only I’d want to watch, but that would offer an alternative view to sexuality that standard porn does to its consumers, I went into my community and asked my friends if they would be willing to share their sexuality with us on film, and Spark Erotic was born. Using people who are real lovers or spouses in our films, along with the aesthetics of true cinema, as well as deliberate storylines so that the audience is not only engaged by the time the sex occurs, but that the sex is in context and seen as a normal and healthy part of life, has been a heady combination. Our films have been received in ways we couldn’t have imagined. We have won awards all over the world in established film festivals. But more personally we have received so much correspondence from viewers thanking us for creating a way to bring sexuality into their lives in a way that deeply resonates with them, creating opportunities for dialog and engaging with their significant others, as well as a deeper understanding of themselves.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Biggest challenges are pushing up against the huge machine of porn itself. How does our audience find us in this cacophony? There is just so much free content. Which has completely cheapened what anyone does. How do you get an audience to support what you do when they can’t find you and they expect it to be free? If you put your art out for free, you cannot continue to make your art without support. Here is the dilemma. I don’t want to make a fortune, I just want to make enough to sustain what we do and carve out a little corner of this world where people can find a more authentic expression of human sexuality. I’d say marketing is the biggest issue. WE have ourselves on several platforms, as well as our own website, but drawing the eye to it still has proven elusive and getting people willing to support us has been a slow build-up.

Another is censorship. On any of the platforms that are available to actually get in front of an audience, most will not allow any nudity or promotion of anything involving sexuality. Twitter will allow nudity, but it’s next to impossible to have meaningful dialogs and make true connections with end users/fans.

Another challenge we have faced is the occasional moral push back. We have lost a few dear friends over this. Mostly, the response has been powerfully positive, however. My advice to anyone going into the business of sexual expression is to utterly open and honest with those around you that matter. We are exceedingly careful and protect our friends’ identities as best we can, but the reality is that eventually, everyone in your life will find out. Once one person knows, it spread like wildfire. Know who you are and own who you are. Realize that anyone who has a negative reaction is actually really showing you where their wounding is, and do not take it personally.

Build yourself up in stages. Take some erotic photos. See how that feels and what you learn about yourself and your body. Perhaps start up as a cam girl/guy. There are some fantastic sites that can help you develop and hone your skills, as well as a fan base. If you can find a local erotic company, work with them. You’ll have the most honest and respectful experience than trying to run away to Florida, or LA or New York and working in that environment.

If you’re looking to enter from behind the camera, there are so many opportunities to come onto sets and volunteer time to learn and develop skill sets. If you are a scriptwriter, write all the time and send your ideas out to smaller companies to consider. I know I am always scrambling for just the right storyline. If you are a photographer, take a ton of photos of all your friends or anyone willing to get in front of your camera for trade. Same as a cinematographer. Whatever your art is, discipline yourself to growing and honing your skills.

Then, get creative. I often say we were too ignorant to know we couldn’t do it, so we just do it. I decided to form an erotic film company and just did it. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, lol. I asked all my skilled friends to come together and I told them my vision and we all pooled together to make it work. I think the best art is made this way… together.

My biggest advice to anyone getting into this business is to do your research. Know who you will be working with, and what you will be asked to do. Protect yourself. Do not work with anyone who cannot prove they are established and have a good working record with performers. Hold firm to your boundaries sexually. Know what you are willing to do and stick to that, no matter what. And if someone bullies you or tries to push you beyond that, walk offset. Leave. This business makes a habit out of pushing people far beyond their comfort zones, ultimately taking a hell of a toll on your soul. Find people to work with that uplift you and make the experience a joy. Only YOU get to decide who and what you are as a sexual being. Do all that you do with love respect and honor and demand that in return, and you won’t go wrong.

Please tell us about Spark Erotic.
We are known for having an amazing cinematic quality as well as portraying authentic sexual expression between partners. The fact that all of our “Actors” already are in a sexual relationship only enhances the experience of the audience, inviting them to explore their own sexuality.

We are extremely sex-positive. Meaning we desire to only uplift the experience. We will never show anything we believe to be sexually damaging, as in adultery, incest, rape… etc. We show sex in context in order to show sex as a normal part of a healthy relationship. We also give glimpses into elements around sexual exploration; we have shown individuals, couples – both heterosexual and bisexual, as well as other combinations, such as two women, one man, or 5 women exploring, as examples of arenas that can also be explored in a healthy, loving manner.

The company is primarily owned and operated with films written and directed by a female while having male camera operators. This allows us to not only have the female perspective but also the male. I am always watching all monitors while we shoot, moving the cameramen from focus point to focus point. We get the aesthetics a woman desires – we see the men, their facial expressions, their whole bodies, their full reactions, and we see the women fully as participants, not just sexual puppets. But we also capture the visceral nature of male desire. We encompass the best of both to create an overall erotic experience. We say we are indie filmmakers with explicit sexuality.

We are very proud that we have won awards in the mainstream as well and industry film festivals.

We stand apart in that we truly only use established couples and lovers. And that we offer a full cinema experience. Think of Hollywood married to MTV music videos married to the Adult Industry.

While porn is primarily a solitary experience, this is erotic you can watch with others, and desire to. Porn is like a quick fast food meal, satisfying a need, while we provide a much more gourmet experience that leads you to want to experience more…

Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
Books:
A Billion Wicked Thoughts
Sex at Dawn
Mating In Captivity
The Feminist Porn Book
Coming Out Like a Porn Star
Thriving In Sex Work
Untrue
Wired For Love
Come As You Are

Podcasts/Blogs:
Fight Boring Marriages
Sex Uninterrupted
Devon Evans – YoungHonestMother.com
Future Of Sex
WithPolyAnna.com
Life On The Swingset
Deniandsamarel.com

Music Video:
Put It To Bed – JHart

Other filmmakers:
Erika Lust – Lust Cinema
Light Southern – Michelle Flynn
Pink Label TV/Pink and White Productions – Shine Louise & Jiz Lee
Crashpad Series – Shine Louise & Jiz Lee
Jennifer Lyon Bell
The Lessons (series) – Alberto Ferreras

The best resources I have in my are my husband and my amazing friends who are always so uplifting and keep me pushing forward!

Pricing:

• Spark Patron $10-$29
• Spark Premium Patron $30+

Contact Info:

• Website: SparkErotic.com
• Email: urvashi@sparkerotic.com
• Instagram: @urvashis.heart
• Facebook: Urvashi’s Eye
• Twitter: @sparkerotic

Image Credit:
copywright: Spark Erotic

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