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Kurt Deitrick got his
start with the great good fortune of knowing the legendary
Bruce (Bellas) of Los Angeles. Kurt used to go over to his home to visit
& got to meet some of
the models. When Bruce tragically died in 1974 Kurt purchased not only Bruce's priceless
work
but also his home. Kurt continued offering Bruce's work to his legion of fans. Since
he couldn't offer
new work he decided to create his own studio & named it Kensington Road
(the name of the street Bruce's
home was on). While to this day he refuses to admit it he was an excellent photographer.
He wasn't the
great artist Bruce & others of the period were. He didn't get into costumes &
backgrounds like
A.M.G. & Champion. But he knew lighting, had great
taste in models & was a task master at excellence.
He wouldn't put up with slop jobs. He had a vision of his work & Kensington
Road remains a studio of
note with models that still put a sparkle in our eyes.
Kurt isn't one for sentiment. When he
decided that he had done all he could with Bruce's work he sold
it to someone he felt could take care of it. The same for Kensington Road.
When he felt he had reached
the end he sold it off & retired. He retired however in the Sinatra tradition. He
couldn't just stop
working & when he again had his vision of what it should be he created KURT
DEITRICK,
the studio. He would continue to just use the rooms & wondrous backyard of Bruce's
home for his
sets but this time he would mainly concentrate on the "names" working in male
erotica at the
time. He photographed Tim Kramer, Lance, Rick
Donovan, Gavin Burks, Michael Anthony,
David Ashfield & Vinnie Marino. He found Y.M.A.C.'s
wildly popular Dirk & renamed him
Shawn Mayotte & did a number of sessions over the years. Shawn is
still wildly popular.
He photographed some names who would become major stars in straight erotica like
Peter North (Matt Ramsey back then), Greg Rome, Tom
Byron, Ken Hoffman/Foxx &
Steve Douglas. He also discovered some new names that garnered their own
following
like Bruce Bjorn, Rob Bjorn, Craig Morier,
Jimmy Ducet, David Byron. He also did
a very unique photo session with bondage superstar Jimmy Dean. Dean has
been
a reclusive star who only does bondage videos. He didn't want the work
appearing in newsstand mags.
In the late 80s, after a run of only a few
years, he decided to retire for good.
He sold the studio Claus Kretzschmar of Blue Diamond Studios & hung up
his camera never to return
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