Abby Winters – Creator of the site
Some people would say that Abby Winters, creator of award-winning erotic website abbywinters.com, is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma – shrouded in a mystery! Certainly, she keeps a low profile and prefers to let the models do the talking.
Starting the successful website in 2000, Abby was disappointed with the quality of amateur content available on the net. She saw sites dressing awesome amateur models up in silly heels and lots of make-up and was disappointed that these sites had missed the appeal of amateur models in the first place – that they are amateur! abbywinters.com was born.
With the plan to shoot models in their own homes, in their own clothes, and subvert the dominant paradigm, Abby handed the reins over to now-CEO Garion Hall after shooting in the earlier days. Abby and Garion met in 1998 while both working in theatre lighting, and bonded over a mutual interest in adult material and nerdy stuff.
While Hall has been shooting throughout the site’s history, Abby stepped away from the lens in May 2002. Around this time, a deal between the two saw Hall become the owner and operator of the website, with Abby still retaining some creative control.
After this, Abby stepped away from the site almost completely to pursue other interests – not even stopping into HQ to visit since the team moved into their coveted building in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia. Mr Hall certainly has things under control, now with 45 staff spread all over the globe and an ever-growing and stable business from the members-based site; Abby really has nothing to worry about! Not bad for a woman who really only started the site as a hobby!
Other than the models, there is no public face of abbywinters.com, as Abby herself continues to keep a low profile. Staff and models represent the company always, as they do on the site itself. In fact, Hall has made a habit of employing models to work at HQ – from Production and Office staff, to Model Interviewers and Customer Service.
Abby feels the site continues to get better and better, with the early members helping her define the paradigm.
Along with the website, abbywinters.com DVD’s are produced with some solo masturbation and Girl-Girl shoots, and these are continually rated highly among reviewers and peers. The models do what comes naturally, and the shooters capture it.
“I started this site as a hobby, as a laugh. Now we’re quite serious about it and about all the repercussions great and small that it’s had on the industry, and – dare I say it – on the world. Though I’ve stepped into the background, I’m extremely proud that my name is equated with ethics, beauty, naturalness and genuine sexuality. It’s truly an honour.”
Garion Hall – CEO
Fastidiously meticulous and brilliantly informal, Garion is the charismatic leader of the abbywinters.com complex. He’s led the company from contented anonymity to a world-wide phenomenon, one that is growing rapidly in popularity and fame, subverting the dominant paradigm and challenging the very definition of ‘mainstream porn’.
Garion Hall, CEO of abbywinters.com, had been friends with Abby Winters since long before they started of the website together in 2000 – they met doing lighting for shows, travelling Australia. Now CEO, he’s been the effective head of the company and main driver for the website since 2002 when Abby stepped down.
It’s the studied lighting technique and imaginative artistic eye that Abby developed during their travels that’s led to the characteristic “abby look”: images flooded with sunlight and saturated with textures, buoyed by accentuated curves and brimming with smiles. You can spot an abbywinters image a mile away! Garion has rigorously continued Abby’s tradition of precise, considered technique and a vision that is both sexy and natural.
These days, however, Garion spends little time finessing lighting. Instead, he’s actively managing the company. With herculean endurance, Garion keeps tabs on and generates ideas in all areas of the company, from themes in videos to website design, HR initiatives to affiliate programs, stills selection to marketing.
There is now an ever-growing demand for amateurs being amateurs (instead of looking and acting like porn stars). Pubic hair, genuine sexuality, real orgasms and unscripted passionate girl-girl encounters – all shot in the models own homes – are replacing the previous generation’s worn-out, unrealistic, over-directed material.
And we have Garion’s leadership in pursuing and disseminating the abbywinters.com site and paradigm to thank!
“This company is my heart and soul. There from the beginning, I have watched it grow with the fondness and excitement of a parent. Abby and I had an idea of changing the industry from an artificial parody of love to a true representation of intimacy, from a dark cave with seedy desires and malevolent connotations to a sun-filled playground with integrity and morals.
“So far, so good.”
