Each day, thousands of suburban sybarites videotape themselves doing the nasty, then post their efforts on the Web. As mainstream porn feels the pinch, Radar zooms in for a close-up

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION The Internet is fueling an explosion in DIY pornography.
But how long can it last?

On the evening of March 13, 2005, Augustus Lewellen, a mild-mannered 30-year-old technology entrepreneur, came home seven hours early from a business trip to find his 24-year-old fiancée getting ready for a date with a man she had met on a personals website. They had a fight, Lewellen stormed out, and like that, their five-year engagement was over. After moving back in with his mom on Chicago's north side, he spent several months nursing his wounds, distracting himself by toiling 15 hours a day at his consulting business. But lovelorn workaholics need to take the edge off somehow, so when Lewellen wasn't picking up women—like Zoe, the blonde, 19-year-old veterinary student who became one of his first post-engagement flings—he turned to porn.