At the time, I was mightily impressed not just by the style of his latex model photography, but also by his substantial portfolio of people from related subcultures — many of whom seemed to share what might be called a gothic disposition.

I felt then that the Amsterdam-based photographer’s work was worthy of a future cover feature in its own right. So the two of us kept in touch and, at the beginning of this year, finally began actively laying the groundwork for the article you now see before you.

In the last decade, Peter Diablow has photographed just about every fetish, burlesque and alternative model with any kind of standing or potential standing on the Dutch scene.

And believe me, that adds up to a surprisingly large pool of talent for a relatively small country.

He also shoots subjects from further afield whenever he gets the opportunity. And in fact his photographic career began in earnest not in the Netherlands but in America, where he went as a student 14 years ago to study filmmaking.

Fascinated by the artistic potential he saw in a certain exotic type of female, in 2003 he launched a website, DarkmindedAngels.com, dedicated to the photographic portrayal of the type that interested him so much.

‘When I started to encounter more people who see the beauty in darkness I was immediately intrigued and decided to make them the main focus of my photography’ – Peter Diablow

And the female goth population of Boston, where he had begun his film studies, quickly became an important resource for that project.

“I’ve always been fascinated with the dark and the occult,” he tells me. “Being a Scorpio it’s a bit of a natural thing.

“‘Darkminded’ is a definition of people who are into the dark, occult, horror, etc. So when I started to encounter more people who see the beauty in darkness I was immediately intrigued and decided to make them the main focus of my photography projects.

“When I started in 2003 there was no ModelMayhem or alternative models websites; even MySpace wasn’t around, let alone Facebook.”

So, he explains, the best way to meet models for his project was through a gothic dating site, and in real life, at Manray, the famous Boston goth/industrial club.

“When writing to girls on the gothic dating site, I always had to specify my interest was only for shooting photos of them, which was always a hassle.

“But meeting people at a club made things easier because your intentions can be specified easier, plus you see if you connect with someone, which makes setting up a shoot and the actual shoot so much easier.”

In his bio, Peter Diablow mentions that in his first year, he was fortunate enough to secure a shoot with Dita von Teese. How did such a stroke of luck come about, and what did he take away from the experience?

“Dita was due to perform at Manray sometime in 2003. When I found out she was coming to Boston I was excited — she was the queen of burlesque and the fetish scene at the time.

“I thought it would be a major boost for me and my project to work with her, so I got bold and contacted her management.”

(Thinking back, he adds, it was “extremely bold” because he didn’t even have a great camera at that time — just a simple digital model. But he had already made a name for himself in the local scene and especially at Manray, for which he had photographed the winner of the Miss Gothic 2003 contest.)

OPENING TIME: Peter Diablow with Rubberdoll

“The shoot with Dita was set up fairly easily,” he recalls, “and working with her was a dream. She was very professional, very kind, and whatever she does, she can’t look bad in pictures!

“It was an eye-opener to me working with a great performer as well. I had shot with beginning models before, and a true performer can make such a difference.

“Today, I prefer models that have some stage experience because they give that extra bit of spark when shooting, since the shoot to them is also a performance.

“That said, I can also honestly say that having Dita in my portfolio helped me enormously with getting new models. People seemed way more eager to shoot with me after the Dita shoot than before it, which helped me a lot getting models in America during my time there between 2003 and 2007.”

In a 2008 interview with the short-lived magazine Fetish, Peter Diablow declared that his favourite types of subject were “psychotic looking women, crazy women, psycho bitches…women with an aura of insanity around them… women who look like they would really murder… in other words the real meaning of a femme fatale”.

Would he still say this about his choice of subjects now, almost a decade further along in his photography?