posted
One Sunday evening, I met this 41 year-old puertorriqueña (Spanish for Puerto Rican woman) woman while I was walking through Central Park. She kind of appeared from out of nowhere, catching me off guard a little bit, now faced with a snap decision as to whether I was going to say hi to her. If I let another one or two seconds go by, we would've walked past each other. All of this was happening quicker than it has taken you to read this story up to this point. That last sentence was meant to illustrate what it can be if you ever decide to take the risk and go out there in public, going up to complete strangers and convince them to take their shoes off for you for foot fetish photos for free in a very rapid fashion. Sometimes the approach moves through with a normal pace; you see her from a distance, and you have the time to figure out what you're going to say to her when the two of you meet. Other times, everything is happening fast; she appears from out of nowhere and you have to be a light switch and make the decision right then and there if you're going approach the lady, say a few things to her, and give her a nice, light compliment about something.
In baseball, when a pitcher throws a fastball, the batter has less than a second to decide if he's going to swing at that pitch. When I'm out there in the park, when someone magically appears from nowhere, and the only thing that stands between you is five feet of space, I have about a second to decide if I'm going to do something about it. I decided to go for it just as we were about to pass each other, even though I had no time to come up with something to say to her.
I could tell she wanted to visit Central Park to take up her hobby of water painting the grass and trees of the scenery. She was just done with her art work and had started to make her way towards the exit from the park. I thought I was going to get a no from her because she had just packed up her art supplies and was heading out. Instead she said yes to the idea of me taking an interest in her feet and wanting to take photos of them. She liked the idea that of me taking a special kind of interest in her feet, and a special kind of interest in who she is as a person, even though I had met her just seconds before. All of a sudden she found me more interesting, and all of a sudden she had more time to spare in the park.
Raised in Spanish Harlem, she now lives in the Manhattan Valley section of Manhattan with her 18 year-old son. To me she looks too young for someone who has a son at that age. She does her very best to provide for his well being, and it looks as if her love and affection for him is paying off because he is looking forward to a bright future ahead of him in the field of law enforcement. She is someone who has a great relationship with him and grateful for everything she has in her life.
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I've said once before that when you're out there doing this, people might point and/or laugh about the fact that you're taking photos of someone's feet out in the open like that in public, but it is rare that someone is going to interrupt the shoot by talking to you and the woman. That's what happened here. An old man walking his dog just happen to come across the shoot (come to think of it, I think the dog lead him to the shoot, snooping around as dogs always do). He stopped by and talked with us for about five minutes before we went on his way. I don't remember what we were talking about, but I do remember it had nothing to do with him questioning the nature of the shoot out of curiosity.
I kept snapping photos of her feet as all three of us were having a conversation. He was a good guy and he seemed like the type of person that no one would say a word about. The dog was nice, too.
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Overall, it was a great way to spend a Sunday evening. As the shoot went on, she became more understanding to why guys like feet. She kept asking me questions pertaining to the this fetish, and the entire tone of the conversation was very polite, and it seemed as if she knew what to do before I told her what to do. In a way I felt stupid for directing her because she came up with some of these poses on her own, considering that I tell these women what to do all the time. But at the same time, she takes orders very well. Almost too well, in fact.
It's a very powerful feeling you have when you talk to someone who knows how to read your mind, and vice versa, and have the conversation be very civil, respectful, and quiet. The conversation felt very, very good inside.
posted
I will be here all week long with many photos to show everyone. This will be my last week in here before I go on my annual summer break. I hope there will be a woman who I will post this week that you will enjoy.
Thanks for your support, and I will be back here soon with more women to present.
The next shoot shows photos I have taken of an Italian woman. We were walking towards each other, but she was paying more attention to the scenery of Central Park than she was to me. That's what tourists do when they visit New York, they look up as they walk straight forward instead of looking straight ahead. But since I'm not a tourist, I know where I'm going at all times, and it was a good thing I was looking ahead because I saw someone who I felt would make for a good shoot.
I don't remember too much about this woman's personality, but I do remember feeling that she's the type of person who prefers to take it easy, someone who stays out of trouble, and a woman who makes an effort to be especially polite in a particular situation. I could tell that from the very beginning from the way she seemed delighted to have been asked to model her feet for me.
She was very helpful and stayed with me throughout the entire hour in which this shoot lasted.
posted
I spotted Bethany at a place where I normally don't look whenever I'm out in the park. Even if I did, it would've been hard to spot her because she was sitting where no one would've seen her had they walked by. It was as if she didn't want to be found, and she probably didn't. I was lucky to have found her because I almost didn't.
Her feet were dangling off the edge of a cliff. Yes, a cliff. Down below was the evening rush-hour traffic driving through one of the traverse roads at Central Park. Bunch of taxis and some city buses were moving beneath her feet that was dangling from high above (she was wearing her shoes at the time). Right beside her was a can of Fosters beer. She took a sip of it as I got closer to her (by the way, she had the beer with her during the shoot, but you won't see it in any of the photographs). Her back was towards me and I didn't want to startle her to the point where she fell off the cliff and onto the moving traffic, so I had to be careful there.
I could tell she was thinking about nothing in particular. I guess that's how the mind gets when you're drinking beer at a spot where you can just disappear from the world. She was alone and almost looked like a sad flower.
I thought about turning around and start to look for someone else, but she sensed by presence and turned around to face me. The look on her face said she was ready to be helpful in whichever way she knew how to whatever it was I wanted, although it looked like she was going to take her time with it and not rush into anything. I wanted to take pictures of her and her feet, I told her, just as long as it was somewhere where we were not in danger of falling fifty or more feet to the ground below. She just nodded her head, stood up, took her beer, and said ok as she walked towards me, flipping her hair and tucking it behind her ears. I told her to follow me, and she did. This whole thing was happened so quietly and it was way too easy to get her to agree.
I do have to say as a little warning, though. The condition of her toes are the results of what happens when a woman wears footwear that is too short or too tight or that exerts friction at specific points. Her soles are just fine.
When she took off her high-top Converse, I was pleasantly surprised to see how long her toes were. I generally lean towards more women who have long toes, and hers certainly were. Long toes usually means big feet, so really wanted to know what size her feet were. She said they were a size 7. I could not believe it. There was no way on earth her feet were a size seven. No woman with toes as long as hers wears a size 7. She even said it with a straight face, in a very "quiet-in-nature" kind of way.
I didn't want to leave it at that, so I pressed her a little bit on that to see if she realized how unbelievable she sounded. But she stayed with it, saying she's a size 7, and saying it in a way that sounded lethargic or as she was fatigued, just like the first time. By the way, that's how she spoke throughout the shoot. She talks as if she's shy or embarrassed to say something. The kind of day she had on this particular day really did a number on her mentally. Her mind shut down, she mentally clocked out, and went to Central Park with the beer in her purse to numb it her memories away and just forget about everything. We've all had days like that. That day was her turn to go through those emotions.
But going back to her shoe size for just a moment. I saw the bottom of sneakers. Sure enough, the shoes said Size 7. I didn't know what to believe anymore. It was as if everything I knew about feet was wrong. Her shoes were big, her toes were long, she had big soles ... "those can't be 7's," I kept telling myself. I head was spinning because I something seemed off. It was spinning more than her's were, and I was the sober one between the two. But I finally figured out why they said 7, but that wasn't until sometime after the shoot was over, when I was back home.
Before I get to that, I want to describe who she is as a person, because I feel that's important here. I would say that although she's a silent person, she is also a level headed woman. She is deep in thought and strong in his decisions. She is not given to any vacillations. This does not look at the world; but she observes it and draws whatever he needs to strengthen her personality and moves forward to pursue her cherished ambition and goals in life! He won't allow irrelevant factors to ruffle her!
I didn't think of it at the time, but the reason her shoes were a size 7 is because that's the U.K. measurement for women's shoes. I think she didn't give me the U.S./Canadian size because she would be embarrassed at how big her feet were. She's never been to anywhere outside of the United States, so it's not as if she bought them across the Atlantic and brought them with her back to New York.
There were moments here and there where she smiled and laughed a little bit. At the end of the shoot, she thanked me for making her day. She told me it felt so good getting some things off of her chest and talking about it with someone who won't judge her. She told me she didn't know where her mind was right around the moment I came up to her. Talking to me had the weight off her shoulders and I made her realize that everything was going to be okay. You can tell from the photos that she was going to be at peace finally.
She told me I was everything the doctor had ordered for her and that she had no idea that showing her feet to me would turn out to be some sort of therapy session for her. I see this as a form of therapy as well, and it was nice that someone else felt the same way about it.
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Great shoot! She really doesn’t look that old...
I know, she really doesn't. When she told me about her 18 year-old son, I had a delayed reaction to that because that wasn't something I was expecting her to say. And something similar happened to me just the other day with another girl at the park. If she told you that she has a child as old as she said it was, you would never believe her. But it was true, just as it was in the case of Janice.
If she said she had a four year-old, that'll be one thing. But eighteen?! I don't know what to say to that, except to say that she doesn't look that old.
posted
NATIONAL CLASSIC There are times where curiosity gets the best of me, and I walk up to a woman who is quiet and looks very unassuming. She has the look of someone you won't find in a nightclub. She's a typical story of someone who's introverted. She prefers to spend time alone in order to recharge her inner being. She tends to keep to themself due to having a different mindset than other people. She does have a strong sense of self, though, caused by her solitary nature. The friends she have are very precious to her. After trying to get to know her, one can surmise that she enjoys her time to herself very much and considers that time most precious. When I asked if I could take pictures of her feet, she said yes. She didn't quite understand why guys would like feet, but she was willing to have an open mind and go along with it. Her attitude throughout the introduction was that of someone who was very willing to explore and understand the mindset of a foot fetishist like myself, and she was all ears, with no qualms about considering new ideas for why things are the way they are.
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WHAT SHE DOES FOR A LIVING She works in some plant research laboratory. She and about two dozen people try to answer questions such as, "How many different ways are there to build a fruit?" and, "What differences in DNA make avocados different from strawberries?" Her goal is to study plant biodiversity to understand what the plants are, how they are related to each other, in order to preserve that biodiversity. In the lab, she takes the most modern tools to understand how plants are related to each other, and how plant diversity is built at the genetic level.
She doesn't have to travel far for test subjects; with over 100 fine species to choose from, she simply helps herself. A lot of the plants she uses in the lab comes from the team's living collection. Two plants she is particularly interested in are ginkgo and [I forgot what the other one was], which are fruit-like plants. This is all part of the study looking at DNA to better understand how fruits adapt to changes in nature.
With that knowledge, she and her team are better prepared for all of the problems that are going to arise in the 21st century, which includes problems arising from changes in climate, agricultural shortages, and other problems they haven't even anticipated yet. This project is one of sixteen taking place in the lab, with some studying plants found in South America and the Caribbean.
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MANY DAYS LATER, I WALK IN THE PARK. GUESS WHY I RUN INTO AGAIN? Eleven days later, I spot this woman again. The difference that stood out to me this time was the fact that she didn't look like the person who would spend eight hours a day at a library, like she did the first time I met her. She was still the shy, quiet girl on the inside. Outward appearance suggested she was ready to go out. Like on a date.
She was sitting on a bench, and it looked to me as if she was waiting for someone. She remembered who I was and I sat down next to her and we started to have a polite conversation about unimportant things, nothing in particular. It was a form of bonding between the two of us, and I used that time to gauge how I was going to steer the conversation away from the small talk.
It turned out that she was waiting for someone. Some guy who wanted to spend an afternoon with her, probably some scientist in her lab at work. She was waiting for him for twenty-five minutes after he was supposed to show up, only to send her a text after all that time had passed, saying he was going to cancel on the date. About ten minutes later, that was when I ran into her.
At first she was no too happy about it, and I felt so terrible for her when she told me the news. My heart went out to her, and it really sucked seeing her like that. She felt as if the other guy knew going into this that he wasn't going to show up. None of this sat right with me because she's not the type who would do anything to warrant that kind of outcome.
But when she saw me, it felt as if something had changed; she was happy to see me. After talking for a few minutes on the bench, she brought up the memories of the shoot we had, and talked about how she couldn't stop thinking about the amazing foot rub I gave her during and after the shoot. She never knew something like that could feel as amazing as that massage did for her, how it made her feel she was walking on clouds, and she would daydream about it a few times after the shoot, when we went our separate ways. She's not the type of person who would talk your ear off, so when she was in confession mode, she sounded a little embarrassed to admit to that and was afraid that I would find her weird or some kind of akward. She was trying to find the words to express her thoughts, but I helped her get through them by filling in the blanks for her in some of her sentences. She was nervous saying it, but I thought it was very cute to see her like that, and the park felt more silent because we were in our own little world together.
I made a comment about her shoes and how they looked better than the ones she had on last time, and I complimented her in another way by noticing that she looked great overall as well. She blushed but did a very good job of hiding that. Without asking for anything, I suggested she should go up on the rocks there with me. I don't know if she suspected that I wanted to take more pictures of her, but she went right along with it, no questions asked.
Booth shoots combined took about three hours to do. Afterwards, I suggested we should go somewhere together and grab a drink. She's not much of a drinker at all (she barely drinks), but considering everything that has happened to her up to that point, she agreed and felt that she could use one.
I like how you ran into her again moments after she had a date cancel on her. Little things such as that can make one at that moment feel unwanted and rejected, especially if they feel like they were led on, as this girl apparently did based on what you described. It's nice to hear that you were there to let her know that there are indeed people who do want to hang out with her and hear what she has to say and offer.
Though if I had to choose, I think I like her look better from your first encounter with her. It sort of fits her personality a bit better and she seems more herself when in that attire.
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posted
I love the ones with Bethany and Helaine. Fantastic job of getting a great read from these women, about what they're like as people, and being able to put that into a story that is well thought out and put together.
I love Bethany's big, big soles. I wish she would've said ten as her size, but she kept opting to say seven. It was like she was denying the reality that her feet were big, but at the same time I did think it was kind of funny that she kept going back to the smaller size the way she did.
Helaine's story was quite touching. It seemed like those two shoots showed two different people just based on the way she was dressed, even though it was the same girl.
I like how you played around with the poses of her putting her feet up in the air like that. Pretty nice, and a nice new aspect to your style.
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posted
BareSoles84 ... When I saw her the second time, I wasn't sure if she was the same Helaine I saw from a week and a half earlier because the style in clothes threw me off for a second. Also, walking up to her, I didn't think going into it that I was going to wind up having another shoot with her and then taking her out somewhere in town away from the park.
When she told me about the cancellation, I couldn't believe it. I went from being happy just to run into her again to being upset that someone would do that to her without offering an explanation or willing to take a rain check.
She's very quiet, she doesn't say much. The mood got quiet as I was trying to figure out how to absorb the news. The news was hard for me to take and hard for me to see her the way she was after being rejected in that way. But at the same time I was so glad I was there. I mean, I can understand someone having second thoughts, but this woman did not deserve to be stood up.
She's not too much of a socially active person, and it seemed as if she wanted to take steps in changing the mood and seeing what it's like to have more fun outside, doing things that have nothing to do with work.
There was no way I was going to leave her sitting there after hearing something like that. I wanted to do the right thing by letting her know that she's a great person and that someone (being me) took a liking to her quiet nature and fascination with science.
quote:Originally posted by BareSoles84: Though if I had to choose, I think I like her look better from your first encounter with her. It sort of fits her personality a bit better and she seems more herself when in that attire.
She is more comfortable being in the attire just like the one in the first shoot - you're absolutely right. Seeing how she looked in the second shoot. Comparing that one with how she looked in the first shoot really makes the attire in the first shoot stand out because it makes the story of her personality stand out even clearer. Something about that can cause someone to feel very fond of her, I guess.
I don't want to dismiss how she looked in her second shoot because that helped make the second shoot what it was. I don't know if it would've came out looking as great as it did had she wore something similar to the first shoot. The second shoot helped give notice to another side of her personality. Each shoot served its purpose in its own unique way. Each shoot told a different story about the same person. The shoots evoked different feelings about the same woman. It was beautiful how that was able to work out the way it naturally did.
It was nice seeing her smile a little more than usual after I left the park with her.
posted
I like the Italian girl, very creative with her poses. And I like Helaine as well. That was a pretty good story, and one I don't think I'll forget for quite some time. Pretty awesome to see that you got some girl to pose for you a second time. This is epic stuff, and thank you.
posted
@National, great story, Helaine Solphen (I’m assuming that’s not her real name). You sure have a knack for this! (Nay, a gift!)
What I am left wondering... were does she work? Certainly, there is no plant research lab on Manhattan, is there?
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