Sitting on a bench just inside the park was a woman who caught my attention, my curiosity. I was walking towards the exit of the park because I was going to call it a night. I don't remember if I had a shoot earlier in the evening that was rather uneventful or if I wasn't able to find anyone at all, but I remember thinking, as I was just minutes away from leaving the park, that it was just one of those days that wasn't in the cards for me, hoping that the day after would be much better.
I saw her walk in the park and sat on the bench that was right by the entrance. I could tell from her body language that she was a bit exhausted and perhaps a bit hungry. I'm not quite sure how to explain why I thought she looked hungry other than to say that she sat on the bench not knowing that she needed to sit down or that she was so glad to have found a place to sit that she didn't know was there before.
It was starting to get dark, but she took that moment to take a break from herself to enjoy a snack she got from her backpack.
So I spoke to her for a few minutes. She was on her way to her boyfriend's place before deciding to take a break from walking, but she had the time to kill to take part in the shoot with me.
I suppose her dreadlocks had something to do with why I decided to talk to her. Some women who wear dreadlocks are Hippies, punk or simply regular everyday people who want to express themselves through their hairstyle. I asked why would a woman such as herself - who had long, straight hair - want her hair to get matted into dreadlocks? Some people feel that dreadlocks on white girls constitute cultural appropriation or appreciation. It all depends on your views.
"It's not just a Black thing or a Caribbean thing or a Jamaican thing or even Rastafarian thing," she told me. It goes a lot deeper than most people know. Some people wear their hair locked for religious reason, while others look at dreadlocks as simply a fashion statement like she did, "I always loved the way they looked and wanted them for about five years and hated brushing my hair. Then, when I went traveling, I decided to finally get them made to keep my hair neat and low maintenance."
This was one of those shoots that turned out better than expected. She was willing to stay throughout the course of the entire shoot and she was willing to go along with the ideas I had in place to make the shoot tell as good of a story as it possibly could, and I thought the soles of her feet were simply amazing to look at. If I were looking for a pair of soles that fit my expectations of what a perfect set of soles should look like, then hers are in the conversation, pretty close to the top. For some reason, I was not expecting the soles of her feet to look as well as they did.
Combined with the sky turning dark, the darkness was able to highlight the vibe we had, just how well her feet can look under unique circumstances of having the flash of the camera go off in the pitch blackness. It was able to get her mind away from reality and into a different realm with me, going with whatever the flow was.
NATURAL CLASSIC It had been about twenty minutes since I had arrived at the park. I was looking forward to the moment of taking photos of some woman's feet when all of a sudden I bumped into someone who I recognized. I couldn't believe it (!) - it was Sara the yoga instructor girl who I met some time before. She was excited to me and we started talking about nothing in particular, exchanging pleasantries and such before the conversation turned to feet.
She found it amusing that I was still doing this "sort of thing", me asking women if I could take pictures of their feet in Central Park. She had fun doing the shoot with me before and it made her think more about her feet since. She was on her way to go somewhere but could afford to spend some more time with me to do another shoot with her if I was interested. She enjoyed the vibe we had last time and figured that another shoot will help expand on our ideas and creativity for the vision we wanted to express, getting out to as many people as we could.
She was excited and serious about it, and I thought she was probably one of the coolest, most flexible women I've met in my journeys through the park. A woman like Sara hoping and trying to convince me to take pictures of her? She made my day a lot easier and I told that what she proposed was a great idea! We found an area that had comparative coolness that blocked the direct sunlight as it was a particularly hot that afternoon.
When asked what her general experiences of- or thoughts about foot fetishism in general, she said she was cool with it as long as the man treats her like a person and not as a fetish delivery system, saying in Spanish, "If I get lots of foot rubs out of the deal, then by all means. If my boyfriend has a foot fetish and I love him very much, I don't see what the harm in that is. We can do things for each other!"
----
THE TYPE OF ATTENTION NATURAL EVOLUTION ATTRACTS There came a time during the shoot when a suspicious looking guy kept lurking around the area where these photos were shot. I remember seeing a figure walk across the general area of where Sara and I were, but that was out of the corner of my eye so I wasn't able to see how he looked like. But Sara had a better look at him. At first I thought nothing of whoever that guy was because I thought he kept walking along. But when I sensed that Sara was feeling more and more uneasy or uncomfortable about being there, that's when I suspected it had something to do with that guy. And it was. There was no one else around, so she couldn't have been talking about someone else.
Apparently he saw what type of shoot we were doing and when he saw the poses Sara did, he decided to get a good view of the shoot without wanting to be seen, so he hid somewhere in the bushes to conceal himself from view or discovery. Sara pointed that out to me and she didn't want another photo taken of her until something could be done about the situation. She was visibly upset about this and expressed her frustrations without swearing.
So I walked out towards the center of the open field on the grass where I stood there, waiting for what Sara and I thought would be a physical confrontation between myself and whoever that other guy was. Sara hid somewhere because she was scared.
At first I couldn't spot where the guy hid exactly and wondered if he was actually hiding somewhere. But Sara motioned with her hands that he was, in fact, somewhere in there. There could not have been a more mute place in Central Park than the one I stood in the middle of at that moment. After a minute of waiting for someone to reappear from the bushes, he finally reappeared from the bushes. He walked right past me (though he wasn't close to me) and walked away from the scene. I had to turn around, stand and kind of observe the area for another thirty seconds just to make sure he was indeed gone. He looked totally embarrassed to have been exposed, I guess you can say.
With that, Sara emerged from the bushes or tree with a very nice smile on her face. "Amiiiigo!," she said as She walked right up to me. And kissed me right on the lips. Nothing hot and heavy, but it was one of those types married couples give each other before they go their separate ways on their way to work if that makes sense. But she liked it from the way she smiled after the kiss.
We went back to what we were doing before we were interrupted and she was no longer worried with how she posed for me. She saw me differently than how she did when the shoot started. Some hyper attraction instinct within her switched on and she started to like me a lot more.
Another example of not knowing exactly who you're going to meet in the park and how her story brings her to life in ways that are different than the next girl.
Their stories can move us and affect us in unique ways. Through the pages of The Women of Central Park, my job is to look for ways to get their messages across to leave an impression on you. With the woman you're about to meet, her story is unique and eye-opening. It may seep deep within us and toy with your feelings. Whether it's empathy, sadness, joy or motivation, her story can light up any of your emotions. It can make you see things from a new perspective and gives you the reason you need to believe in yourself. Other women I've shown have done it, and the woman in this story does it.
This is why I love meeting new women in Central Park. Every one of them holds a story that is interesting and often untold. As much as one woman has in common with another, they are still different in many respects.
--
She was already sitting on the rock as I approached her. It seemed as if she was thinking about something complex, going off into a different dimension. She had a neutral expression on her face and it made me believe that time stood still. Whatever was going on in her life, she needed the space and quietness of Central Park to get her mind away from it all. I thought she needed somebody to talk to, someone who was emotionally unattached to her situation and just hear her out. A great escape. Luckily, I came in at just about the right time to be her company. Taking pictures of her feet was going to be a great escape for me, so each one of us was there to serve the other one's need.
Interesting was the fact that her ankle boots were already unzipped by the time I got to her. She apologized for that (I don't know why she did as I felt she had no need to make an excuse for why she unzipped them) and said that she only did it because she had "one of the longest days of her life" and that her feet were killing her.
In a more touching and serious note, she is an unassuming hero. When someone who doesn't know her looks at her, and they were given a list of words they would use to describe her, the word 'hero' may not come up. But listening to her story, a term you can place towards the top of the list that puts into perspective as to the type of person she is 'life saver.'
She is a lifeline telephone crisis supporter at a suicide prevention hotline where she listens to lonely individuals who are scared, unsupported, and dealing with life stresses or mental health challenges. Often, these callers are considering ending their lives. It's up to this woman to connect with them and offer support.
Her voice could be the one a desperate caller hears when he or she picks up the phone to call in. And in the two years she has been at that job, she has helped scores of callers to rethink their decisions and to consider getting help.
Doing this kind of work is extremely rewarding for her. "I like to think that I make some kind of impact on folks, even if it is just putting the thought out there that life doesn't have to end," she says. "But there are times when things can get extremely frustrating and that's why I'm here (in Central Park). Some callers tell me, they tried in the past to kill themselves and that very little was done afterward in terms of follow-up therapy or a caller will say they've tried therapy and it didn't work. When I explain that sometimes it can take a while to find the right therapist, they say they just don't have the money."
People who call into the crisis center are asked if they'd like to receive a follow-up call a few days out to check in and see how they are doing but the person making the follow-up call would likely be different from the original volunteer.
As she has gained confidence and experience on the job, she has learned to assess whether callers are in imminent danger of hurting themselves. Sometimes she would ask a caller, "Are you safe right this minute? I can send help to you right now."
Having empathy is crucial and it's imperative that she quickly establishes a relationship with the caller. "You need to really hear what the person is saying so you can identify the feelings behind the words," she said. "People want their feelings to be taken seriously."
--
There are times the conversations I have with these women revolve around sex and relationships and we found ourselves talking about those. About ten minutes into that topic, she was curious to know if going to Central Park and doing what I do was my way of meeting women? I get this question from time to time. Before I could answer that question, she said, "I'm glad you're making friends in Central Park, talking to new girls every time ... you know, find a new girl to look at, like her feet. It's pretty fun for you, I would think. I mean, like for me, I'm literally always horny as fuck. I don't know - maybe I have some kind of porn addiction because every time I hear the word "porn" or "masturbate," or anything like that, I get horny and then I want to, you know, get off."
She said that in a way that sounded like she was a play-by-play announcer for a golf tournament. She probably figured that since I have a foot fetish and since I was honest enough to bring that to her attention in the way that I did it, that it would be okay for her to talk about her sexual tastes candidly with me. She continued, "Someone who isn't vanilla with their appearance isn't going to be vanilla in bed." In reference to a tattoo that I'll talk about in just a minute, she said, "A beautiful piece of art should be seen, not hidden away, and having sex is the perfect opportunity to get naked and show it all off."
A good tattoo design takes a lot of time and effort to come up with, and if she thought it up herself, she's likely to think of a lot of cool things to try out in the bedroom, too. She has a tattoo design that's only visible if she removes her shirt. She came up with the artwork herself and her cousin was the one who inked it on her body. Yes, her cousin!
The tattoo(s) show that this woman a greater risk-taker, a calculated one. The woman you're about to meet doesn't regret her choices and is never going to get any ink work on her body removed. So if you were tp sleep with her, you can be sure she's making a decision she believes won't haunt her for the rest of her life, and she probably feels the same way about her former sexual encounters, too. She loves to take risks and change her appearance, but her love is just as constant as any non-tatted woman's.
The tattoo in question gives her reason to be optimistic that great fortunes are around the corner for her and it gives her the illusion of having magical properties. It also means she's into taking the type of drugs that alters her awareness of her surroundings as well as her own thoughts and feelings, causing sensations and images that seem real even though they are not. Drugs extracted from mushrooms. She uses them for social or recreational purposes, including to have fun, deal with stress, have spiritual experiences, or just to feel different.
She really enjoyed herself throughout the time we had together because found pleasure in helping me express myself through the photographs, which allowed her to express herself to me in a way that made her feel so free, to be herself finally, devoid of moral judgement.
Her thoughts on men who like feet, "It doesn't gross me out or anything and I think it's a pretty tame fetish. I don't think my feet are particularly or spectacularly ... sexy, I guess you would say, but I don't think they're ugly either. They're good enough to make a guy think I'm a cool chick or something."
She does what she does in her line of work because she had serious bouts of depression before and was victimized in school from other students taunting and harassing her. The way she sees it, it was a blessing in disguise for her because now she sees herself as serving a greater good (while also being very humble about it), trying to save lives by talking them out of doing something drastic or to make them see the positive side of things if the situation is not life threatening.
MY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING WITH DEPRESSION Life doesn't stay the same forever. Sometimes things change. Cures for diseases are found. New doctors figure out the problems that the old doctors didn't understand. Life gets better. Who knows, maybe you win the lottery or you inherit money. Suddenly things get better in the world: the status of your job is no longer in jeopardy, for example, and your job is saved after all when you consider the type of year 2020 has been.
Things we get all stressed out about: let me say that things don't always stay bad. Many times things get bad sometimes, then good, then bad again, then good again. So what I tell people is I couldn't kill myself because I'm *that* stubborn! I want to know when it's going to get good and how good it's going to get, and I would hate to think I missed it.
For those who are sick mentally or physically, you might be one doctor away from being cured. Maybe you're just with the wrong doctor. Even if you think you're with a good doctor, you can always get a second opinion. You can always see another specialist. There might be people out there who know more than the people who are treating you today.
You come first, and that has to be the building block to everything else. It has to be the building block to your life and you have to say no to anything that hurts you.
----
That piece of advice was practically the same speech I gave to our friend here, as something she can use to help others in dire need. What I said must've had an effect on her because she started to cry. That was the first time a woman cried during my shoot and I had to take a few moments to stop what I was doing to comfort her. That was deep and the sounds of birds chirping helped soothe the moment. I had a sense that I may have saved her life with what I said. She had flashbacks of when she was bullied as a teenager and is thankful that she was able to make it through all of that to where she now advises others on how to find that light at the end of the tunnel.
IN CLOSING ... People often don't get the mental health services they need because they don't know where to start. Talk to your primary care doctor or another health professional about mental health problems. Ask them to connect you with the right mental health services.
If you do not have a health professional who is able to assist you, use these resources to find help for yourself, your friends, your family, or your students:
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES - 911 If the situation is potentially life-threatening, get immediate emergency assistance by calling 911, available 24 hours a day.
NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE, 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or LIVE ONLINE CHAT If you or someone you know is suicidal or in emotional distress, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained crisis workers are available to talk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your confidential and toll-free call goes to the nearest crisis center in the Lifeline national network. These centers provide crisis counseling and mental health referrals.
SAMHSA Treatment Referral Helpline, 1-877-SAMHSA7 (1-877-726-4727) Get general information on mental health and locate treatment services in your area. Speak to a live person, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.
posted
A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO ALL OF YOU Mery Christmas to all of you who celebrate this holiday. Even if you don't celebrate Kwanza, or Hanukkah, or Festivus, or whatever it is you celebrate, my best to you and Happy Holidays. And thank you to everyone who has taken part and made yourselves at home with The Women of Central Park thread for the Season Finale, Winter 2021 issue. It has been a lot of fun to do with the organization of the galleries, the stories, the Hall of Fame presentation, and presenting all of that to you. And as always, if you haven't enjoyed it, then HUMBUG on you!!! Because I have enjoyed it and I think plenty of people have enjoyed it as well.
I'm going to use this as a moment to thank all of you because 2020 for a lot of people (mostly everyone) has been a year full of challenges, pitfalls and struggles, and it has certainly not been any different with the women you see through the pages of this thread. I feel fortunate to have my job still and have that going well and still be able to come in here and bring joy to as many people as I can by showing original content.
There are people whose lives have been dramatically changed for the negative. My heart really goes out to them. Even though times are tough, they can absolutely get better. Sometimes it sucks and sometimes you will get tested and admittedly life is not fair. Life always finds a way to test the best people the most, and perhaps that's why they get tested the most because they are the best, being able to be the best equipped to deal with it and handle it. If that person takes the right approach and the right mindset, you can become that much better on the other side for having gone through that experience.
Throughout the course of 2020, I have taken my time to put together a great showing of women who were the most generous people a man can get to know, and you guys have been able to get a sense of who these women were and what made them the people they were, a great experience that feels as if you're connecting with them somewhat. In doing all of that, I appreciate the fact that there's even one person out there, let a lone a few thousand, who care or give a damn about the contributions I make in this forum. It's an awesome and also a humbling experience at the same time to know that people really like what I do here.
It's amazing that life has put me in a position where I can interact with all these different women and how they're quite willing to show me their feet, get to know them a bit, and become good friends or lovers with a number of them. Also amazing that I'm put in a position to share the photos and their mini biographies with you guys. Amazing that I'm able to interact with people from different parts of the world. With all of the negative that comes with the internet, this thread is a testament to what the positives are of going on the internet. I sincerely hope for you guys, especially in the year of 2020, that I have been able to be some sort of positive distraction. I hope this thread has brought you some entertainment or at least some meaningful killing of time at a time when you probably really needed it. I hope so. Because I can certainly say for me, it has brought me a sense of fulfillment. Even if things in your personal life aren't the best, or are not where you want them to be, that doesn't have to be the be all end all. It doesn't have to define you as a person. There are things you can do to pursue your happiness. And I can say that for myself, I feel more fulfilled as a person, more satisfied, happier with who I am and where I am with my life, and that is in no small part to being able to come out here and do this, and you guys are certainly a big contributing factor in that. So again, sincerely, deeply, from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every single one of you, whether you enjoyed every single shoot I post, some of them, or none of them.
As we go into the next year and as I turn forty in March, I realized that I've been doing this for almost a decade now between the Bryant Park days and the Central Park moments. It's nice to be have been able to do some reminiscing and reliving (something I almost never do) some of the great times I've had throughout those years, all the women I've been able to convince to show me their feet in sixty seconds or less. My life has been tied to this for such a long time in one way or another and a lot of good things have happened in my life because of this.
You can certainly feel free to share your stories in the comments below about how long you've been a fan of my work, where you're from, what you enjoy about my work. I don't want to necessarily hear about stories of, "Hey, National, I used to follow your work when I was in high school and now I'm married with a kid." Yeah, thanks for reminding me how much time as gone since I started doing this. Yes, I'm only half joking when I say that so don't take too seriously. "Hey, I used to watch you when I started college. I'm 30 now. Is that old guy still doing it?" Yeah, I'm still doing it! If I hear that from you, it's going to make me chuckle a bit because it would feel like I've been a part of your childhood and that I was someone who was important enough to you that you took time out of your day when you were that young and invested it in me.
Sometimes it feels like I haven't paid the respect I feel that you've guys earned and sometimes I feel like I haven't given you the full value that I should have for the dedication you've shown to me. And I will try to make some things better before I call it a career. In the meantime, thanks for your time, thanks for your support.
This is the trip down memory lane for the year 2020. It has been quite a year for this thread, with the Spring Issue probably being the most influential edition I've ever done, representing the time in which all of this madness started to happen around the world. The Summer Issue was all kinds of fun, which showcased what was arguably the best back-to-back-to-back photoshoots (which just so happen to be the ones that wrapped up that edition). This thread kept the year afloat and provided hope that everyone was going to be okay.
Representing far-flung locales from Arizona to Australia, this year's Women of Central Park are as diverse as they are radiant. In this post, you'll be introduced to someone who ventures into the wildlife and another one who plays hockey on a European women's hockey team. The quotes correspond to the photos of the women in the order in which they appeared throughout the year and in the order in which they appear in the pictures from left to right, top row to bottom row.
ARIDINA "I'm all natural - my eyelashes, hair, boobs. I love my lips as well. I love to laugh, and if I develop smile lines because of that, I'll be okay with them. They will have great memories in them - I won't do anything to change them."
THE COURAGEOUS SPARROW "I've had to deal with a lot of shit in my life. I know a lot of people idolize other individuals, but you have to be able to be alone with yourself."
LINDSAY GIRLFRIEND "I never really felt connected to the word sexy. I think it's a bit vulgar. I get that Lindsay is supposed to be some 'sexy girl,' but it's not about me feeling sexy; it's just me feeling comfortable."
SUNFLOWER "I'm pretty open. I like to try new things. I'm not one of those people who are like, 'I'm just going to sit in my square life."
MARGOT BRULAND "I want to make sure I don't look back with major regrets. Sometimes you get so caught up in the mundane everyday things, you forget to slow down. Life is short. You have to relax and enjoy it."
THE 90s KELLY "Take it off! I've always felt comfortable with no clothes on. It's freeing. It's liberating and, most of all, it's who you are in your natural state, so why not?"
LIVELY "People sense when you're open and truthful. Stay true to yourself, treat people the way you want to be treated and wake up grateful everyday."
I met up with my Chilean friend Sara again. Unlike the last two times, this one was planned out a few days in advance because she wanted me to take pictures of her mastering yoga so she could then use the photos to help promote her class on the internet and on brochures and booklets. We've gotten to know each other very well in the time she spent in New York and I thought it was pretty cool of her to want me to see her do an actual yoga session, in an outdoor environment somewhere in Central Park.
This session lasted an hour and I had a good time taking the photos and seeing how she moves around without taking directions from me. There wasn't a whole lot of talking going on during this shoot/yoga session, and any talking she did do are things that I'm going to quote from her in this post. Other than that, she didn't want to be interrupted and she wasn't going to take many pauses to tell me how to shoot the photos. Each of us was focuses on doing what was supposed to be done and she liked very much how the photos came out.
SOME QUOTES FROM SARA DURING THE YOGA SESSION "My body begins and ends at my feet. My feet carry me. They are my connection to the Earth and they take me where I need to go. My feet deserve a lot of credit ... My feet play a major role in my health and deserve daily praise and attention, especially considering the load they have to carry ... Energetically speaking, there is a lot going on in the feet. There are countless meridians, nerve endings and energy points that begin and end in the feet and are connected to the entire body."
Sara went on to talk about how the energetic points in the feet are considered to mirror the body and mind and how stimulating those points stimulates the energy flow in the corresponding body/mind areas, "It's also my connection to the Earth and they are very sensitive and open to energetic vibrations. If I walk barefoot and touch the bare earth, my feet actually absorb the Earths electrons; that's how sensitive they are."
"Once I've become well acquainted with how I use my feet," Sara said, "I become more friendly with them. I massage them sometimes, especially between the toes. I would train them, outside of the constraints of my shoes. And I do foot exercises in which I stimulate and stretch the joints and muscles ... As someone who lives, breathes, and teaches yoga, I can tell you that I walk with consciousness and intention. I feel what my feet are telling me."
posted
NATIONAL Q and A I always wanted to do something like this, and I'd figure that the Season Finale would be the most fitting occasion to do this segment.
I'm going to give an interview to myself to give you guys a better idea of how I go about doing what it is I do. These are questions I always thought were going to come my way but for some reason it never has. I had to know that when I started showing my work that people were going to ask me some very good questions. Some questions I was expected to be asked never came forward and I thought they would after all this time I've been contributing to this forum.
These questions were either never thrown my way ... or if those questions were asked before, then you'll probably say to yourself, "National, I'm pretty sure you touched on this topic before." You know what? Yes I did, and there is nothing wrong with touching on a topic again because it is important to give everyone a reminder as to where I stand a certain issue or to rekindle a fond memory of something that happened long ago.
HOW DID THIS ALL BEGIN FOR YOU, MEANING YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF HAVING A FOOT FETISH AND THE CONCEPT OF GOING UP TO COMPLETE STRANGERS AND TAKING PHOTOS OF THEIR FEET?
The foot fetish began as far back as I can remember, all the way back to the days where I was probably an infant crawling on the floor. I remember crawling on the floor and being aroused by the sight of some woman's feet, usually while they had their legs crossed. They would have casual conversations and I remember associating their casualness with how relaxed they were, looking at their feet during those moments and probably thinking that women always feel so nice about themselves when they have their legs crossed (with one leg neatly over the other). Being on the floor and crawling, their feet were the first things I saw before I was able to look up and see their faces.
Between the ages of six through thirteen, I had completely forgotten that I had a thing for women's feet. It had nothing to do with me trying my best to undo the memories of liking feet. For some inexplicable reason, it wasn't a part of who I was anymore.
One day when I was fourteen, I found myself looking at the Playboy channel and they had a show on every Friday nights where women would do artistic poses in the nude (sometimes by themselves, other time with other women) in a studio that was completely white. So white, you couldn't tell where the floor ended and the wall began. I couldn't help but look down at their feet the entire time. I didn't know why my focus kept zooming in on their feet and I couldn't understand why that was. Then it all came to me one day when I remembered liking feet way back when. The childhood memories came back to me all at one time and that made me feel better about myself that I had felt that way before about how women's feet can be a fantastic way of looking at women, finding something new and great to like about them.
As far as taking photos go, it started in 2011, although I don't remember if it was in the spring or summer of that year in which this all began. I was taking photos of women's feet without their knowledge, believe it or not. I would use my phone to take the photos. I would sit at a chair next to the woman who had her feet already out of her shoes and rested on a chair right in front of her. This was in Bryant Park. I would secretly take shot after shot after shot of their feet. This went on for quite a while, several months, I believe.
One day in the spring of 2012, a security guard who I was friendly with at Bryant Park came up to me and told me that there had been complaints about me taking photos of women's feet in the way that I did. He gave me the heads up that if another complaint came in about me that they would have to ban me from the park. He said that I either had to become more discreet if I wanted to take candid photos of women's feet or I would just have to go up to the women and ask for their permissions to take their photos because then I would not get into any trouble if I had the women's full consent and complete cooperation in the whole matter.
I did not go to the park for another month because I couldn't see myself asking women for their permissions to take pictures of their feet out in the open like that where everyone sitting nearby or people walking by can see the whole thing.
When I finally decided to go back to the park, I began doing both taking secret shots of the feet of some women and asking for the permission of others to see which one worked out better for me. After seeing that the first four women I asked said yes, that's when I began to seriously consider abandoning the sneaky stuff and going for feet in the direct way, with their full participation and having their feet in exactly the way I wanted them with their poses.
I have that security guard to thank because had he not had that conversation with me, this thread would've never existed in the first place and I would not have gone on to have the amount of fun I had taking photos of all these women, having fun with them during the shoot, and in several cases after the shoot.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE WOMAN YOU'VE TAKEN PHOTOS OF? Dalhous. She is the only woman I can write a novel about because someone as who is of the heavens or sky, she is the only woman who I would think and speak about in poetic romanticisms, stimulating the emotions rather than communicating experience truthfully. Scandinavian, creamy skin tone, perfect feet, nubile, sweet, a breath of purified golden air. The weather and temperature that day were perfect and that shoot marked the only time when I was convinced that I was not on Earth. And this is coming from a person who's not religious. That was the first time in which I began to wonder if angels had names or if they just had pretty faces.
THE WEIRDEST OR MOST UNUSUAL REACTION I'VE GOTTEN FROM A WOMAN IN ALL OF MY TIME OF DOING THIS KIND OF STUFF?? I guess it was that one time while I was in Bryant Park. A woman was sitting on her chair. Her feet were up on the chair so that anyone walking by can see her delicious soles just relaxing there. After I made my pitch to her, she started yelling at me about I-don't-know-what because it didn't sound as if English was her first language. She was loud enough so that some of the people around us started to turn their heads in our direction to see what was going on. I just walked away with a smile on my face because I found the whole thing amusing.
There was another incident in which a woman who was on the phone with someone laughed to my face. Another one where someone called me a pig. But the episode of the woman yelling at me is probably at the top of the list.
IF THERE'S ONE WOMAN WHOSE FEET YOU WOULD LOVE TO TAKE PHOTOS OF, WHO WOULD THAT BE? Alexandra Daddario. I love how her face looks, those big eyes, long hair. She's a bit quirky, but I have a soft spot for women whose personality can be described as attractively unusual. To an extremely conventional person, anything even slightly unconventional might be perceived as quirky, and thus negative. For others, a quirk is interesting or even endearing. It is certainly something that attracts attention, especially mine.
She has one of the more amazing bodies I've ever seen. She's got the freshest breast-es and her feet are too good to be true.
IN ALL OF YOUR TIME DOING THIS, HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN INTO TROUBLE WITH THE PARK SECURITY OR LAW ENFORCEMENT? Other than that one time the security guard approached me at Bryant Park (during the period in which I took sneaky photos without the women's knowledge or permission), there hasn't been any such incident that involved them ever since I started asking for their permission to do this.
Come to think of it, there was that one time I came close to being confronted by the cops, and I've talked about this too at the time, during the shoot I had with 'Bloody Mary' (whose photos I posted last December). Both Mary and I thought that was cool. Anyone who enjoyed that shoot and had a great time reading that story would remember what happened there.
Another time I would've or could've gotten into trouble was with the shoot I had with Selena (whose photos I also posted last December). But I've never gotten into trouble trouble where I was issued a ticket, banned or anything else like that. Not from SVU, the FBI, CSI, E-I-E-I-O or any one of those law enforcement agencies.
HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT THE SMELL OF THESE WOMEN'S FEET FROM A FEW FEET AWAY? Absolutely! Each time it has happened, it's a scent that is slightly different than another woman. Each scent is just as different as anyone's fingerprint is. That's the unique aspect of going out there and meeting real women and getting them to remove their shoes and socks in the exact time that you wonder how they might smell at that given moment. Percentage-wise, though, the number of incidences in which that happened is lower than you think.
And while we're on the topic, the reason I don't like talking about that topic in general is because there are people reading these stories about the ladies and looking at their photos who are not into that kind of thing and it's disheartening to those people to come across a detail like that. The other reason is because by talking about it too much or mentioning it too often will make it more about that and less about the women. I don't want the aspect of the smell to be the bit of the story they're going to remember.
I may allude to it from time to time just to get a kick out of some people but it's not a regular occurrence at all. Now if others want to talk about it amongst themselves, I'll be fine with that. But it's not something I, myself, would like to talk about in the forums.
I used to mention it more often in my stories back in the day, but since my move to Central Park, I made the decision to not talk about it. And if I never mention it in any of my stories going forward, I would be fine with that, and this is coming from someone who likes the smell from women's feet.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH GIRLS TO PICK How I select these women is not easy thing for me to explain. Sometimes the women would ask me why I picked them. They ask out of curiosity. The simple answer is they seemed like good subjects who needed to be captured on camera. When I come across someone I want to photograph, that's when I get that feeling in my gut that she would make for a pretty nice story to tell people. People are fascinating and I like to find out what makes one woman who I've shot different from the one before her. The best way to know what I'm talking about and the best way to get that rush is to go out there and experience it yourself when you go out foot hunting.
If they think that this is unusual (getting asked if I could take pictures of their feet), they still go along with it because I don't give off that perception that I think it's strange; they'd figure it's just feet we're talking about. If they sense that you also think it's strange, then they will find it even stranger and they will want nothing to do with you.
DO YOU EVER RECYLE PHOTOS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN RELEASED? There have been times when I would do a shoot and wind up not liking the whole shoot, but I would like four or five of the shots from said shoot. So I might recycle them and use them in something later. I found myself doing that sometimes.
DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHIS STYLE. HOW DID THAT DEVELOP AND HOW DID IT ARRIVE TO THE STYLE YOU USE NOW? It's basically having the women pretend that there's no camera there. When people act on screen or on stage, they cannot acknowledge the cameras around them or the audience in front of them. It's a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates the women from the people viewing the photos. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes, the women in my shoot acts as if they cannot. Once in a while someone would break the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera, but for the most part the women are told to pretend to be unaware of the fact that they're subjects of observation in a work.
When I started doing this, I didn't go into my first-ever shoot with that idea in mind; it was just an idea I came up with - literally - seconds before I snapped the first shot in my first shoot. The reason I wanted the shoot to go in that direction stemmed from the fact that I used to take sneak shots of women during my days before I started to ask for their permission to be on camera. I thought it would be a cool idea to mix the concepts of having their permission to take their photos while making it look like the photos were taken informally, without the subject's knowledge.
A Hall of Famer who I named Cherry Coke (inducted in the Class of 2019 last December) gave my work an extra life without knowing it, as she gets the credit for why I have women pose their toes the way I do, a pose I call the Cherry Coke pose.
Some aspects to my style has changed over time. However, this happens with almost every music artist who is popular. With my favorite music artist or band, every one of their albums had a different sound or feel. It seems that artists do this on purpose. They are always trying to better their music than how it was before. Artists sounds change over time, and whenever a new album from that artist or band is released, I let the sound and feel of the album inspire me to change my photographic style. The thing is, I won't know how to change it; I just go with the flow with some woman and she will do or say something that'll let me naturally evolve into the new style.
WHICH TYPE OF FEET DO YOU PREFER TO SEE FROM WOMEN? Women who are a size 9 or bigger, with long toes. The toenails should look like small TV screens instead of claws. She can't be flat footed and her soles must be shapely. Someone like Hall of Famer Special Kaye may have the best looking feet I've ever seen. If you want to know what I'm talking about, look no further than her.
posted
National, thanks for this expose’ , and for all of the content you have provided us over the many years I have been following you, and especially after this past year. I greatly appreciate you. I hope you have very happy and prosperous 2021!
IP: Logged |
It's important at a time like this to come together to mark the heroism and imagination of a woman who seeks to help others and change the world. Because of her hard work and dedication to her craft, she was one of many people in her field who have made a difference this year.
This has been a challenging year around the world – the scourge of COVID-19 and the massive economic disruption it has caused. More than ever, we have all been awestruck by the many faces of courage in the toughest of times. With this tribute, we look to recognize the extraordinary efforts of one of those heroes. She was introduced to everyone earlier this year in the Spring 2020 Issue and was, without any doubt, the woman who stood out most with her story, her backround, her intellectual textbook savviness. She was someone who made gave us some hope during a course of time in our lives that we'll never forget.
The National Woman of 2020 goes to ... Dr. Bridgette Holland.
Natural Park, The Women of Central Park - Winter 2021
posted
NATURAL CLASSIC Straight from Moscow, Russia, I present to you someone who is one of the hottest women I've taken photos of in all of my time in Central Park. Her name is Christina Denisovna (pronounced Deniseofna). I mean, seriously, just look at the pictures of her and tell me she's not one of the most, if not, arguably, the most beautiful women in this thread in all of 2020. And if you seriously told me that she wasn't, then I would have to challenge and question your sanity!
I saw this woman walk by me and deciding that I wanted to take photos of her was so obvious to be the appropriate thing to do, that it required no contemplation to decide on. None! If I had not said anything to her by making an introduction, and just let her walk out of my sight, then I was prepared to go home right then and there and be hard on myself for letting such a good thing pass me by.
All it took was seeing her once and my breath was taken away. This woman stands 6'1 and she's only eighteen years old! I was glad she gave me all the time I needed to shoot as many photos as I wanted with her because I didn't think she was going to give me that kind of time, and she was one of the most fun shoots I had.
Very early in the shoot I asked her what places she loves to visit in New York City. The answer she gave me was an all-time classic, something I will never forget. And here I thought she was going to mention places like Central Park, this place or that place. You know, something generic. Instead, she said, without giving it a second thought, "The Financial District." I don't know if it was the fact that she was bold enough to give that as an answer or the way she said it that made it so classic. She delivered that line in a way that made it known that she was so proud of herself for listing that as her favorite place in New York. At the same time, she gave that answer in a way that she wanted me to be proud of her for wanting to be seen in that section of Manhattan.
The Financial District is the most historically rich neighborhood in New York City. You'll find traces of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, the country's first fine dining restaurant, and a 300-year-old tavern. But I don't think that's what she's talking about when she talks about the Financial District. Anyone who knows about the Financial District can take one look at her and know why she loves that area. It's because while you're in the Financial District, you're sure to see white-collar workers in this office-dense area, which is also filled with fantastic bars and restaurants for power brokers, pleasure-seekers, and everyone in between. I think the key words here are power brokers (over six feet tall). That, and because it features the largest shopping complex in the city. That's why she loves it.
Now a lot of us would probably say, "Oh my GOD! She wants a guy who's over six feet that makes six figures. That's outrageous!" Guess what, fellas - when you look like THAT, AND you're eighteen, you get to make those demands, gentlemen. A woman like her can get away with making those demands. On the other side of the coin, if you are a guy and you're fit, your financial house is in order, and you know how to handle women, then guess what ... one of your requirements for women is going to be this: "you will have to look at least like this woman."
Christina is not concerned about asking for the right to equal educational and work opportunities as well as progressive reform. She doesn't want to change or disrupt the old patterns of social order. No! While she may take on many characteristics of today's modern woman, Christina Denisovna does so without involving herself in politics and thus does not appear to contemporaries to be usurping traditionally masculine roles as the "American woman" deems to do, paraphrasing what she said. She therefore manages to stay within the boundaries of feminine roles without too much transgression.
A man who is the type of guy she wants (should) know that she doesn't love him love him. Even if he marries her and gives her the moon and the stars, deep down he knows that the reason she's married to him is because he has money. But guess what? He is good with that.
What is very difficult for people to understand - these days anyway - is that men who are financially well-off, as well as attractive women, know that persons of the opposite sex pursue them because of these things. Wealthy men know that hot girls sleep with them because they are rich. Young hot girls know that wealthy men pursue them because they are young and sexually attractive. Because they know and reconcile their minds to accept this reality, a 45 year-old rich guy never sits in his study and thinks to himself, Gee, I wonder she'll leave me if I were to lose my fortune? Not only does he know that the answer will be yes, he will not blame her. On the other side of that coin, she will never sit alone and ask, If I were overweight and unattractive, would he have still pursued me? If I were to gain weight, would he still be with me? Would he still let me ride with him on his yacht and travel with him? Would he replace me with a younger, thinner version of myself? She knows also that the answer is yes. But this doesn't bother either one of them because they both know and understand each other's motivations.
The guy probably knows that she's not going to love him like that. But he will be okay with that because she will give him access to her body, which has 18-35 years less mileage on it (depending on the age difference between the two). Rich men will trade their wealth and resources for young hot women all the time, and it never bothers them to do it. Even if a part of him knows that she doesn't really love him, he will be willing to make the trade off.
Listen, we can all sit here and moan and groan until the end of time, but she's entitled to make those demands. Water seeks it's own level. I have no problem whatsoever that she's a gold digger, I mean, someone with high financial standards. I'm proud of her, actually, and I hope she's in a private jet somewhere being flown to someplace in Italy on a first date.
She values her own feet very highly. She believes that women's feet should be kept as clean as possible for as long as possible throughout the day. She even quoted something she remembered reading as a little girl. Something about the nicer a woman's feet look, the closer they are going to be to a man's face. The moral of the story? "I make sure to keep my feet looking and smelling nice," she said with a smile.
I've got to give it to her. Although they didn't smell like flowers, they smelled like absolutely nothing. And I mean absolutely nothing! I know his because I took her up on it. She wasn't going to say something like that and then have me not see if they're as good as advertised.
--
CHRISTINA DENISOVNA is absolutely fantastic! - Click Here SHOE SIZE 10 (US - Canada), 40 (EU), 7 (UK)
Natural Park, The Women of Central Park, NYC - Winter 2021
posted
It was four years ago this month that Yvette Svensson adopted Thor. She wasn't ready to adopt a dog. She went to an adoption event at a PetSmart or Petco. She went with her friend Tiffany. She didn't know why she was there other than to help out. She certainly had no intention of adopting a dog.
There was this little white dog. She couldn't tell what it was exactly. It certainly wasn't a purebred and he certainly wasn't a puppy. It looked a little scroungy. Tiffany got on the floor and played with him and the dog was very friendly. Yvette got on the floor and played with him. "Tiffany wanted to adopt him, but she already had twenty eight dogs. I'm just kidding - she already had three dogs. I grew up with Tiffany since we were little kids. Tiffany is like a sister to my family and me."
Yvette held the dog and she said to the lady who was one of the people in charge of the event that she wanted to know a little bit about the dog. "She said, 'We had him over a month and no one is really looking at him that much." When Yvette asked where did the dog come from, the lady said they didn't much about the dog's owner except that the owner dropped him off at one of the kill shelters (which disgusted[!] Yvette). They sent a rescue van over to rescue seven dogs and he was one of them. "Can you imagine, he's about two years old, the owner drops him off, he (meaning the dog) doesn't know what's going on. For four and a half weeks he's being driven in a truck. He's in a cage going to this place and that place, and this poor thing has no idea what in the world is going on."
Yvette leaves the adoption event. Before she does, she gave the lady enough money so the dog could have a new hairdo in hopes that someone can adopt the dog eventually. And they did indeed wash the dog. And she kept thinking about that dog. She couldn't understand why nobody would want the dog with all the stuff he had to put up with. So she kept thinking about him. One day. The next day.
On the third day, Yvette makes a call and spoke to the same lady who she met at the adoption convention. She asked if that dog was adopted. It wasn't. "I'll take that dog," Yvette told her. "She said, 'Wow, what a lucky dog.' I said, 'No no no, what a lucky me.'"
Svensson went back to the vet where he had been, they gave him his shots and everything before he needed to go, got him, and brought him to her home. "At first, the dog wasn't sure what to make of things. But when I put him down, he was running around the house like he owned the place. That night, I bought a bed for him and put it next to my bed. I put him in the little dog bed and he jumped on my bed. And he snuggled up right next to me."
She spent the next day or so trying to come up with a name for the dog. The place where she got the dog from just gave him the name Rosco and she didn't much like that name. "He was seventeen pounds, too thin. And no dog of mine is getting too thin." She tried a bunch of names before she went with Thor.
This was one of those moment in which I was the recipient of good fortune, either accidentally or unintentionally, simply due to my location and/or timing. Some women stand more than others and she presented the golden opportunity to have an amazing shoot while getting to know someone who has the personality and heart made of gold.
She was lying on her back on a bench, completely exhausted from the day. When I got close to her, I saw that she had her eyes closed. She couldn't have been sleeping because seconds before I saw her walk to that bench just seconds before. I got her attention and she opened her eyes. She didn't seemed bothered that I didn't give her a chance to have a few moments to herself. I already had my mind made up that I was going to make her the subject of my next shoot and I wasn't going to waste my time looking for someone else because no other woman in Central Park was going to matter.
She spoke to me. She had one of the most gentle voices I've ever heard.
"Being in the modeling industry has been hard, but it has turned out to be one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. I was 15 when I was scouted by a local agency at the summer fair in Stockholm. Modeling had never, not for a moment, crossed my mind. Honestly, I thought they were making a mistake. At first I resisted, but after they scouted me two more times, I decided to give it a try."
Then there came a time when she decided that perhaps modeling in front of the camera was not going to be her thing. When asked what lead to that decision, she said that being naturally skinny, she didn't feel the pressures many felt to keep their body within the thin acceptable spectrum, so that wasn't her problem. When she turned eighteen, she got burned out from trying to keep up with the commitments that models have to keep in order to remain in the business, like traveling, especially considering that she didn't actually get paid very much. "($250) a day sounds better than your average person who stack shelves at the supermarket. But the truth is that these bookings aren't all that regular at all. In fact they're sometimes only once, maybe twice a week and over the hours spent organizing, emailing, referencing, location scouting, all of that. It often works out below minimum wage."
Yvette also talked about how bending her bones into bizarre contortions and holding them for more than a few minutes took its toll on her muscles the following day, no matter how much she warmed up before. Cold locations where shoots were often very long hours long crippled her bones! Once the heat left her body - there was no getting it back and no amount of hot drinks and blankets loosened up her shoulders, neck and back just in time for the next day.
But now she's back at it, involved in another aspect of the modeling and fashion industry. Yvette attended classes in the university studying the business of fashion and has earned herself a degree in Fashion Business Management. She now works as a merchandising manager at a high-end retail store. Every season, designers show their latest creations, looks that eventually make it from runways to websites and stores all over the world. It's her job to choose the best of these looks and trends, mixing and matching colors, sizes, and silhouettes to give customers what they want at a price they're willing to pay. It's a challenging career that combines creative skills and analytical thinking. She visits showrooms and attend galas and she really enjoy what she does.
After the shoot was over, she felt comfortable where was and was in no mood to go anywhere. So we stayed there for another half hour and talked. It felt real nice getting to know each other a bit. The essence of being in the presence of pure female fragrance is intoxicating.
ON BOUNDARIES "I simultaneously try to keep my personal life private while sharing as much as I can with people on Instagram. Having followers is something that I am adjusting to. I want to include more than beautiful pictures while maintaining at least some of my privacy."
ON SIMPLE PLEASURES "I'm about to sound like such a grandma, but I really just love a good book. And I love to draw. Or I'll sit on the couch, hang out with my dog and watch some HGTV and be completely happy. Problem is, when people ask you what your idea of fun is and you say, 'Watching HGTV,' they're like, 'All right ... I'm good.'"
ON COMFORT FOOD "My favorite food is a classic pepperoni pizza, my all-time favorite. I'll order a whole pizza and I can finish the whole thing if I'm feeling it."
ON GAMING "I'm really into video games, which people find hard to believe. I had a little brother growing up, and we'd always play Xbox together and I just destroy him. It's funny: When I play online, everybody thinks I'm a guy because I have a generic username. Nobody ever finds out. That's the cool part of it - in the online gaming community nobody assumes you're a girl."
ON ANIMALS "I love orcas, and I am really passionate about getting them out of SeaWorld. I watch the documentary Blackfish I don't even know how many times - I think more than 16. I feel strongly about these animals."
ON THE GREAT OUTDOORS "I don't know about what it is being outside and sweating, but I feel sexiest when I've just finished a really tough hike. There's no more empowering feeling than when I have accomplished something that's really hard on my body. Makes me feel really good about myself."
ON FOOT FETISHISM "Not grossed out by it at all. It's not something I'm personally into. But I mean, hey, if rubbing my feet is what helps set the mood right, then who am I to say no?"
posted
Love your work, so great to see the girls of NYC. I live in Denmark but will return on holiday,when Covid 19 is over. I have attended many foot worship parties in New York. Ever been to one ? Happy new year and keep up the great work. Best from Copenhagen,Denmark.
-------------------- Had a foot fetish all my life ... Posts: 1311 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
I've been to those parties before. It's possible we passed by each other at an event and not even know it.
quote:Originally posted by Icarus 2.0: National, thanks for this expose’ , and for all of the content you have provided us over the many years I have been following you, and especially after this past year. I greatly appreciate you. I hope you have very happy and prosperous 2021!
Thanks for being a huge fan of my work and keeping up with everything that happens here. You've been nothing but a great guy in here and your support always helps me. So thanks once again.
quote:Originally posted by sftfan: Outstanding work. Thanks for another season and looking forward to more
Great to see you again. It was an amazing season, one of my favorites, actually.
--
With that, I'm going to call it a season. Yvette Svensson was the last woman I had in store for the Winter 2021 issue and a wonderful closing to what has otherwise been a year for the ages out there in the world and not in a good way.
At the start of this issue I said that you better enjoy what you see here throughout the course of the week because it's going to be "quite some time" before I come back in here with new updates. I have decided that the Winter 2021 Issue will be the final publication for time being because I'm going to take a break from posting new stories and photos for the entire year of 2021.
I need to take a break from this forum because the amount of time it take for me to put these issues together - from putting together the stories, figuring out which photos I'm going to use from each shoot, how to organize each gallery, how to present the thumbnails when I incorporate them into the stories - takes up so much time that it has burned me out, especially this issue when I had to work so much harder to put that one together than any other issue I've ever put out. It is not as easy as I make it look, and I'm going to take a break from this forum for all of next year.
The next time I'm going to update this thread with new photos will come out in Spring 2022.
posted
National, you will be greatly missed. You have been so generous to this community, giving so much content for free. Not looking for renumeration or praise, just giving selflessly.
I thank you.
I see why you ended this run with Yvette. Not only is she very pretty, but I know you are a fan of larger feet, and she has some of prettiest 12.5 feet that I have seen!
Best of luck in the New Year!
Until we meet again...
Posts: 5497 | Registered: Aug 2013
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Cheers]](graemlins/cheers.gif)
