quote:Originally posted by Jota Milagros: Looking at photo 27 in Brynn Larsen's gallery makes me wish to sooth her rough heel skin by licking it for a long time.
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We have Kit Kelly here to close out our Autumn Edition 2022 edition of this thread. As an administrative assistant for an accounting firm, she handles everything from answering questions via the phone to participating in some very important meetings. She has to be a very organized person because she is basically what is going to keep the office functioning at its best. Not only does Kelly answer the calls for her director, she also plans and attended every meeting to record the minutes, planned any out of town traveling, office training events, reports on their budget, reports on programs that could streamline their process and how they could implement them, lots of filing, supervised employees when the director was out, etc.
I loved her glasses and the condition of her shoes, as if they haven't been washed in a while. It made my mind run wild as to how her feet may have looked like and what type of condition they may be in. She was heading to see some of her friends for lunch, but she had some time to spend with me being that she was running a bit early anyway.
I really appreciate an intelligent woman. One who can converse on a wide variety of subjects. One who gets puns and other word play. One who isn't just smart, but possesses wisdom and common sense. She is curious about many things in life and desires answers. She's smart enough to know that you can have the look as well as the brains, or the sexual appeal as well as the brains. This is a woman you can have an amazing discussion with where the two of you can learn from each other. That was exactly the type of conversation I had with her throughout the shoot.
I love smart girl feet.
KIT KELLY -- Click Here SHOE SIZE -- 8.5 (U.S.), 39.5 (EUR), 6.5 (U.K.)
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THE INTRODUCTION Central Park is one of the best places to meet women in New York City. That's because it has all the usual daytime advantages while being large, attractive to a lot of people (which means it'll be easier for you to do multiple approaches), and most of the women you see won't be in a rush (they go there to relax, after all). Meeting women in Central Park is a unique experience because girls are often in a far more social mood than they would be in other venues, certainly on the street. This is why I love going there, and Central Park attracts women from all over the world. Starting a conversation with them is also very easy.
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This thread specializes in featuring your normal everyday girls. In here, you'll hear stories from the women I've approached that makes these photographs come more to life.
These women live lives that can be described as mundane, routine, natural, habitual, or normal, which makes them relatable. They eat two or three meals in a day. Their working time mostly involves a daily schedule, beginning in the morning. They are a part of the daily morning and evening rush hour experience, and the drive time being focused on by radio broadcasters and podcasts. Evening is often leisure time for these women. Beyond these broad similarities, lifestyles vary and the women I photographed spend their days differently.
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It's been real quiet around here for the last couple of months and I've been chomping at the bit to come back in here and show people what I have in store for the upcoming week. This thread is going to be the place to be for all of next week because the lineup I have is one the best we've seen in quite some time.
"Central Park is the grandiose symbol of the front yard each child in New York hasn't got." -Robert Benchley
... And it's time to revisit this place and find out what it is that makes it that great of a place to be. Starting tomorrow, you'll need to pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of booze, prepare a cocktail of sorts, or grab yourself whatever it is you'll need to get yourself through all of this because you're going to need it. And you'll be glad you did.
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VISOINAIR Visionair is many things, but at its core it's a vehicle for creativity. It's actually been funny to phase away from the Natural Evolution era of this thread and transition into a new era and not knowing how to describe it because there's not an easy way to describe it. It's an entity that celebrates creative freedom.
Since my childhood, I had a profound interest in female beauty. Not only was I interested in it, but I was also very nervous around women in my teenage years and early-20s, and so I couldn't get into contact with them. I could not find the courage to start a conversation with them.
To me, men and women are profoundly different. I think we are each other's opposites, and that makes working with women very interesting to me.
I love observing their motions, their habits, their way of moving and talking, observing their nuances. But I also love delving into a communication level to find out about their emotions, and I think that gives a deeper layer to my images, not purely based on their physical beauty.
I prefer taking photos in Central Park because this yields automatically in many images that turn out to be simply amazing. That place gives these images character, structure, emotions. Central Park expands my creativity. I want every shoot to be unique, and I strive for each shoot to be different from the previous one.
For me the atmosphere during the shoot is important. Only when the woman feels 100 percent at ease, she will be able to build up the trust she needs for posing her lovely nakedly essential feet for me. It's only then when you are able to make good images. I think the images in this new era has some kind of imperfection that is very pleasant to look at.
I have the impression that the photos in what will be called the Visionair Era will be appreciated by both men and women equally, and that pleases me a lot. I also don't feel as if the images will be seen as abusive or obscene, but it will appreciated in a way I meant it. And what I mean by that is this is all about the search for beauty and for a better understanding for what makes a foot fetish a fantastic thing to have.
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NATURAL CLASSIC The Season Finale showcases the greatest collection of photographs being shown all year. With all the ladies I plan on showing this week, one of my favorite things to do in preparation for this event is figuring out the order in which I'm going to show these women. This is a practice I've implemented over the last few years. It's fun and challenging at the same time.
Think of this like a book. Writers order their chapters in a very specific way to illuminate narrative and thematic content, and in any good piece of literature, each section builds off the others so that there's a satisfying conclusion. A similar principle applies here. I have a certain idea I want to express to my audience with each update for the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and listing the shoots out of order corrupts my purpose and the intent. All of these shoots are great pieces of work, and I have decided to start things off with a very special lady.
If I could give a highlight of this woman in one sentence, it would be that she is the one your mother would like. You don't usually introduce every girl you date to your parents -- just the one you think has marriage potential.
She has social decorum. When out with her friends, she asks about their lives. She would go out of her way to accommodate other people in the life of herself and her man, making them feel at ease, listening to them and adding in basic pleasantries. Perhaps the most nerve-wrecking part of a relationship she finds herself in is the moment she meets the guy's mother for the first time. She doesn't know if she'll be quick enough on her feet to handle the occasional barbs from her, but judging this woman's demeanor, the way she handled herself in the good amount of time we spent talking to each other, she'll do just fine because there's no way they'd ever find anything bad to say about her.
This was a very beautiful day. In Central Park there are some slopes that are steeper than a wheelchair ramp, and so I had to walk up one of those to catch up to her. She was open to listening what I had to say the second I extended my hand to make a handshake after introducing myself. She was taken aback (in that her breath was taken away) and flattered for being made to feel so nice and so she she shook my hand. I gave her my first and last name.
I'm going to jump a bit ahead in the story for just a second to say that later, at some point during the shoot, she told me that when I shook her hand, it was "just so different." It certainly left an impression on her when she said that and I was able to see it all over her face, in how her eyes changed, even how her tone of voice changed. Her body language shifted and she liked how that made her feel inside.
So going back to what I was about to say before I interrupted myself, at the beginning I walked up to her and introduced myself. But before I did, I extended my arm out to her. I wanted to shake her hand. I didn't want to shake it too firm, but I wasn't going to her a soft hand shake either. I also wasn't going to hold it for too long.
My first name, slight pause, then my last name. So I walked up to her,
ME: How are you? (Then I give her my full name) And you are? HER: Britta. ME: Britta? HER: Yes, Britta Döhna. It's my name.
By the way, in case anyone is wondering, her last name is pronounced as Dew-na.
After she gave me her name, I let go of her hand. From there, I went into the conversation. Doing this showed her that I was proud of my name when I said it with the right tone. I took a slight step back afterwards to give her a little bit of space. I didn't want to be too close to her because I had just introduced myself to her seconds before and the space allowed her to make a decision about me. As time went on in the conversation, though, I causally shifted my movements a bit where I was able to get in a little closer to her so that she can smell me and feel my energy. Flirtation most certainly, suggesting a playful sexual attraction to her. She blushed.
She didn't know I was going to ask to take photos of her feet, but when I finally got around to that, she was intrigued and also surprised to the point where she didn't know what to make of what I just requested from her.
BRITTA: I don't even know what to say to that. ME: How about, "You're right! You can take pictures of my feet."? BRITTA:: A few seconds of silence, not knowing how to make sense of what she just heard before she said, "Wow. Just wow! You're amazing. I don't even know what to say."
I told her to follow me. And she did. By doing so, that was her way of saying yes without saying the word.
When we got to our spot, she asked, "So, what do you want me to do?" She was eager to return the favor and put to put on a good impression for me. I told her how the shoot was going happen and she kept nodded her head. Fantastic.
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Britta Döhna is German, from Berlin. This was her final full day in New York before returning home.
She's a dental receptionist. She spends a great deal of time dealing directly with patients. Miss Döhna here is the one who speaks to patients over the phone to schedule appointments, review test results, discuss procedures, and many other things. She is also the first person patients talk to when they enter the office, the one to field any initial questions. It's also great that she has some skills with numbers, saying, "This is important because I'm generally the one that handles billing which means that I have to deal with numbers on a regular basis." At any given time, medical lingo is flying around the office and and she understands what is being said, and so Britta has a cursory knowledge of medical lingo and other technical information.
On a stressful day at the office, Britta does a two-minute breathing exercise that makes her feel much calmer and more focused. She has found that this has been a great solution for her because even on the busiest days, she can be mindful of her breath for a moment without interrupting her work.
She enjoys working as a dental receptionist because the job aligns with her strengths as an organizer and people person. Because she can empathize with how patients count on timely dentist visits to maintain their own schedules, when she book appointments, she makes sure she's organizing the day to be considerate of both the clients and the dentists.
HER FEET When she's home in Berlin, she jogs on the occasional basis and so the sneakers she had on were her jogging shoes. She wasn't jogging on the day of the shoot, but she knew she was going to go for a long walk.
She removed her sneakers and was immediately reminded that she had a hole in her sock, which was a bit of an embarrassing moment for her, fearing I was going to think less of her because of that. A beautiful woman with feeling a bit insecure about something cute like that one is endearing. Also, when she removed her socks, the materials from it left some lint on her soles and in between her toes. Her feet were sweaty and they were soft to the touch at that moment. Sweaty from doing all the walking she did, and you can tell that was the case by looking at her soles with her socks still on.
Her feet are what good feet look like. Perfectly manicured toenails, her feet are well formed, and they had fantastic arches to them.
BRITTA: "In theory? I have no problem with it. As far as fetishes go, it's pretty harmless and I would love to have my feet rubbed." She emphasized that it's important to make sure that the lady in the equation is actually engaged in the activity as well and not just being a living doll for you to play with.
At the end of all of this, she said, "You know how to make a woman feel so special. You made me feel special today. Thank you." I looked into her eyes and told her that I liked what I saw. She looked into mine and said the same thing. Afterwards, I took her to this very nice cafe where we had hot chocolate and some dessert.
ON HER FEET Nike - Pegasus 32 Type - Running Sneakers Weight - 9.90 oz. (281 gr.) Heel Drop - 10mm
That footwear is targeted for those neutral runners looking for a versatile, lightweight daily trainer capable of handling quick, speedy training sessions and higher mileage workouts in comfort. It delivers a low-profile yet highly responsive cushioning to her feet. Click to enlarge the images.
Natural Park, The Women of Central Park, NYC - 2022 Season Finale
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NATURAL CLASSIC This evening I present to you a religious woman. A woman who desires to please God with her life, has a relationship with God, loves God, and who's willing to spread the word about Him. By her own admission she's not perfect, but she is willing for God to help her grow in Him and be who He wants her to be. She said, "When you fall down or mess up, get right back up with God's help and keep going."
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This was on a nice Saturday afternoon, around 1:00. From out of the corner of my right eye, I saw this amazing lady walking west as I was heading north. She wore the type of outfit a woman would wear to the gym or run errands in. In her case, she did both.
She went to the supermarket before hitting the gym. She was heading home from the gym when I saw her. She had the walk of someone who knew she just killed it during her workout session and she was ready to take on the rest of her weekend. It looked good. I changed my direction and walked east to where I was going to meet up with her.
She took my compliment very well and felt completely unprepared for all of this at the same time. She apologized for looking like such a mess being that she just came from a workout session, which included lots of running and power walking on the treadmill. She was calming down from the exercising and was not thinking a man would take the lead and approach her in Central Park. I told her that if I approached her, then there must've been a good reason, a meaning behind all of this. Upon hearing me say that, her eyes lit up because it sounded spiritually uplifting to her. She placed her hand to her heart as a gesture of showing appreciation to what she just heard. Think of it as surprising her with a gift you knew she'd cherish and observed her wordlessly clutching her chest upon its receipt.
ME: "You feel a sense of calm and peacefulness, do you?" HER: "My Goodness, simply unbelievable! Who are you? Tell me. ME: "Who am I? I'm whoever you want me to be." HER: "You know, God has a reason for allowing things to happen, and maybe He has chosen you to make a blessing to me."
And that was how I found out she's a woman of faith. I didn't think she was going to take it there with me. But since she did, I felt that she was going to place everything in my hands. I saw the niceness in her and wanted to make a concerted effort to really make her day. A type of day that could only happen in Central Park.
When I finally got around to telling her that I wanted to "shine a spotlight on her feet" (that's how I remembered wording it to her) by taking photos of them, she was honored at the opportunity I presented her, but was undecided at first because she had just come from the gym and didn't feel her feet were ready enough to be the main focus of the shoot. I assured her that that wasn't going to be a problem, saying, "God is serves to love. He doesn't punish. He doesn't judge." I don't remember where I heard that, but I thought that was the perfect time to actually speak those words. Continuing, I said, "He doesn't have time for that, and to extend on that point, this man accepts you as you are." That convinced her that her feet as in its present state and condition was God's giving the o.k. for her to show them to me.
Her feeling was, "Jesus is nondiscriminatory. If you're going to love my feet, then I welcome it with open arms. With an open mind. Show me the way, sir."
Our lady here started us off with, "Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. Lord, thank you for this time, for helping us to be present at this time, allowing us to be free from distractions, so that we may enter this time of connecting our souls as one, together." She went on to say a few more words in her prayer before ending with Amen.
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OUR LADY OF FAITH AND HEALING She is Catholic Life Coach. People are looking for guides as there is a lot of mistrust among their conventional authority figure, and so they're looking for guides, for something natural as its part of our anthropology. She knows that the concept of better isn't something one can find within ourselves. Instead, it is something we have to seek somebody else to give us that answer. And she thinks she is a big part of that renewal. She calls it the New Discipleship. As a Catholic coach, she is with people, abiding with them for a period of their lives and helping them ultimately to pass from her as the guide to Jesus. Her goal is to point them to the Ultimate Guide who has the answers so that no one is lead down a path that'll lead to a lot of suffering, despair and looking for love in all the wrong places. Her goal is to decrease those things so that He must increase. That's her goal and philosophy.
We talked about so many things -- a real treat of a conversation we had.
As an introvert, it can be hard for her to find a man in the first place and especially if he's a guy hoping to meet her, saying, "A lot of introverted men become a little passive with regards to women that they are interested in. They do not take the lead or initiate conversation. They expect the woman to make the first move. I prefer for the man make the first move - always!"
She is beautiful, and not in the sense that has to do with the photoshopped models on the covers of magazines or portrayed in the media. Besides, she acknowledged that she knows she's never going to measure up to that. When I say she's beautiful, I mean that she's beautiful internally. A graceful woman, which makes her beautiful and attractive.
HER FEET As far as her feet goes, I love them. Yes, and that's even though parts of the soles to her feet her were dry. The skin on her heels have peeled off a bit as they were a bit dehydrated, but so what. She spent her last few hours running errands and staying in the gym. Depending on the woman, that look can be quite hot. Besides, in her case, it's something that can be fixed in no time, which is why it never bothered me.
Having fun with her, though, I did tease her about that for a minute, asking her what she was going to do about it. Without missing a beat, she said, "Oh, simple: I'm gonna hop in the shower as soon as I get home, just use some liquid soap, that daily moisturizing lotion from Aveeno ... I don't know if you ever used that, but it's so amazing -- I love it! Oh, and perhaps I'll use a balm like the one I have from Honest."
In any case, I loved her feet. The imperfections on her soles made them beautiful in some unique way. Some beautiful things are impressive when left imperfect than when too highly finished. I told her that, to which she said, "Mmmmm," as a way to show thought or reflection. To express agreement or pleasure. That got to her deep.
There was a time growing up when she was insecure about the size of her feet, but she has learned to embrace it and now sees nothing wrong with it, saying ...
HER: "I think the shape is more important than size." ME: There was a pause there for a few seconds before I said, "There's a joke I want to put in there, but I'll decide against it.
She lets out a nice and loud laughter.
When she was lying on her back, she allowed me to massage her feet for about fifteen minutes straight. What was also very cool about that part was her showing no hesitancy, apprehension or uneasiness about me placing my nose in between her toes from time to time as I was doing the massage. She didn't have to say a word and I could tell she was all for it and didn't mind it at all. She would look from time to time to see what I was doing, but she went right back to lying her head back down and closing her eyes. She would take some deep breaths, calming her mind and to think more clearly while focusing just how wonderful all of this was to her because she was truly enjoying it.
She could feel that I was really into it. At one point during the massage she said, "You know how some people are so mechanical and they just go through the motions? It feels like you understand me, that you're exploring me. Like you are really listening. I feel like you are here with me. It's the way a girl should be treated."
I knew. I just knew the massage sent tingling sensations throughout her body.
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Towards the end of the shoot, she received a call from the supermarket delivery guy telling her that he's there, right outside her apartment. She told him to leave the food there and that she was going to arrive in ten minutes or so. So we ended the shoot because she needed to get to her food.
This whole experience was like a new spiritual awakening for her. She seemed very intuitive and expressive when it came to her feelings and she was convinced that I was an angel. I know this because she inquired about it a few times, "the emotional fluency makes me want to know so much about you, like how do you do all of this and what makes you such a beautiful being?"
OUR LADY OF ORIGINS -- Click Here SHOE SIZE: 10.5 (US), 42.5 (EUR), 8 (UK), 27.5cm, 10.82677in
ON HER FEET Nike - Air Zoom Pegasus 34 Type - Running Shoes Weight - 9 oz. (255 gr.) Heel Drop - 10mm
The nice and light contrast between the fresh air of the park and to her fresh feminine feet fragrance during the massage was ideal, and it seemed surreal and beyond belief. She had her eyes closed while soaking in the sun that wasn't too hot. It was total bliss for her and for me.
This has been her go-to running shoes for a couple of years. She loves the cushioning it provides her feet, and they've helped her improve her stride since she switched to these after her previous pair of running shoes made her feet uncomfortable. And she loves how there's enough toe room for her.
Natural Park, The Women of Central Park, NYC - 2022 Season Finale
America is place of great museums and every museum has spellbinding stories to tell. The National Hall of Fame Gallery of Women is no exception. Welcome to the 2022 Induction Ceremonies.
It's a whole experience when people come to visit this museum. You can say that it's a form of a pilgrimage. If you go through the list of names of women who've been inducted, you have gone back in time. The whole thing creates a state of mind that makes you appreciate that you're in a place where my photography journey began, where history resides. The National Hall of Fame Gallery of Women is an educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of my work and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for the general audience as well as honoring those women who have given us the most lasting impressions in our minds.
The Hall of Fame's mission is to preserve the history of the women I've met and have gotten to know, honor excellence within their grace, and make a connection between the generations of people who enjoy my style of photography and overall presentation.
This really is the spiritual home of foot fetish photography that features the normal everyday women and I am the steward of this thread's history. This thread and this foot fetish forum have grown up together and people come to this museum to find their past.
DISTINCTIVE VELVET -- THE LEAD INDUCTEE
This induction marks the first time that someone from my Bryant Park days is going in as the headliner of a Hall of Fame class. Usually, that spot would go to someone who I took photos of in Central Park and a separate category would be dedicated to women who I met during my Bryant Park years. This year, an exception will be made because this lady is exceptional -- truly unlike just about anyone else I had a pleasure of meeting.
This may have been my first favorite shoot. I had enjoyed many other shoots before I met Distinctive Velvet, but this one stood out to be more than the others. In fact, if I had a favorite before her, I would not know or remember who that was: that was how much in first place she was over whoever was my second-favorite at the time.
The way she talked, how she used her words during a conversation would make anyone have to think very quick to out-clever her or to one-up her with some dry humor. If she senses she's being lied to, she will find a way to get you to confess without realizing that you came clean. An expert at delivering quick little funny remarks that often demonstrated a sharp, biting humor delivered in a playful manner. You can think of that conversation as me being the captain of a debate team verbal jousting against the captain of the other debate team, trying to see who can get the other to confess to something. It was all playful and flirty and in the end she admitted to me that she had met her match.
I made a promise to myself that if I were to remove her from my Number 1 spot, then what I would do is never remover her from my Top Ten list. I have taken photos of more women than what a calculator can keep up with, but Distinctive Velvet is one of the four women who will never leave my Top Ten list.
One of the best looking feet I've seen.
SHY COLOR
This happened while I was on the clock at work. I was set to meet someone on the other side of the park going from west to east (half a mile). The way traffic looked, taking the public bus would take me forever to get to my destination. I decided to walk though the park, thinking that by doing so would get me there in a shorter amount of time.
I was about two minutes away from making it to the exit of the park when someone caught my attention. Nothing like a cute girl reading or studying in Central Park. She looked too nice to pass up on and decided that talking to her would make this walk more pleasant. If a man ever wanted to approach a woman in a public park, that situation would've been ideal for you.
Loved her facial expressions throughout the shoot, as if she was amused as to what was happening to her, as if she couldn't believe it. I bet she couldn't wait to tell her girlfriends about this as it would make for a good story.
I always appreciate a nicely pedicured foot. Her soles were well cared-for. The type of feet that tells you that the upkeep and maintaining her feet are very important to her. Her feet look well enough to be ready to go for any situation. A pleasure to look at.
HEIDI ICE-SKIN
Ice skin is because of her pasty white skin. She's an incredibly cool girl who listens to a wide range of unknown music. Her toes were long like fingers and her soles were source of power that made female feet what they're supposed to be. Heidi must've challenged all of that geothermal energy into a personal hotness. And that sculpted face and glowing hair ... one is serene, the other is on fire.
SYLVIA
Beautiful work of art are the feet of Sylvia, who was 18 years old at the time the photos were taken. If you look at her feet, not one person would say that they are below average. Not one. Her feet are softly shod, a bit dirty but not smelly, small but natural, artistically ideal.
Sylvia was with someone who wore a dress that made her look as if she came from a 1950s sitcom. That girl (meaning the one with Sylvia) had an albino rat with her, crawling up her arm and walking across her shoulders. The rat looked like it stolen from a lab somewhere, but no. It was her pet. You were not going to be able to go anywhere with that and not get the attention of anyone with functioning eyes because everyone saw it. These women had to have come a good story about themselves and so I approached them.
Sylvia felt alienated from middle-class society, which she saw as dominated by materialism and repression. An advocate for non-violence and love. Public gatherings -- part music festivals, sometimes protests, often simply excuses for celebrations of life -- are an important parts of her life. She's involved in the the environmental movement. On each Earth Day, she feels it's her duty to educate listeners in the importance of environmental conservation.
Sylvia, and the other lady whose name I forget, are no longer friends. Their relationship had had come to an end over some disagreement or heated argument. Nevertheless, Sylvia continues to live, and live freely and happily.
LESICA
Quite simply the woman with the dirtiest feet I've ever taken photos of, and it's not even close. There was another woman I met who walked around the park barefoot and her feet looked clean. Lesica wore velcro flat sandals that day. A combination of not washing them and probably having done some barefoot walking herself in the park before we met each other were what made her feet as dirty as they were.
Personally speaking, feet that have been coated black from walking around all day doesn't do anything for me. A little dirt doesn't bother me, though, and dirt from wearing sandals and shoes with no socks on is an absolute turn-on for me. Perhaps to those who are turned on with dirty feet, it's a different kind art. The dirt is the paint and the soles are the canvases.
Why did I take photos of her if I'm not into feet that dirty? It was something different. Her feet being as dirty as they were did make me look at them more.
She had very bad cold that day, so that was her sick look on her face. So imagine how much more jovial she would've been if I had caught her on a day where she was feeling just fine.
She was warrior for bracing through the shoot because I can see anyone else turning me down because she wasn't feeling well. Lesica was a class act about the whole thing and she enjoyed the shoot every second of the way.
Even though that was a great way for me to enjoy my lunch break from work, the downside to that was that I became sick myself from having her cold pass on to me. Having a sore throat for a few days was no fun. The upside was being glad to have gotten to know that woman, which made for an incredible shoot I enjoyed. Lesica was a classic shoot for me.
LIVE WIRE!
I like to think of this her as a metahuman who's gentle and electrokinetic at the same time. State of mind, with no regret of being her own person. One who doesn't strive to be a clone of everyone else. A woman with her own mind set, not willing to change a belief because of anyone but herself.
She did not understand why anyone would have a foot fetish. It seemed a bit odd to her. But as the shoot went on, and she saw how I conducted myself throughout the shoot, combined with how considerate I was of her when I approached her, was when she started to realized that the reputation foot fetishists have is largely undeserved. It was unbelievable to her how she was able to be talked into doing the shoot, and how she was able to have her views and perceptions about the whole fetish aspect changed.
I showed her the photos after the shoot was over and she was amazed as to how incredible I made her look in a foot fetish shoot. She had an entirely new perspective on things and moment in her life had put a smile on her face.
MINÉ FASHION-SHADES
She looked fashionable and cool. The sunglasses, her hairstyle, her clothes, her footwear ... it was all working for her and I thought she would look great for a shoot.
What I remembered most about this shoot was the fact that our conversation turned into a therapy session of sorts for her. This has happened to me quite a few times when I shoot these women, and it was especially the case here with Miné. At first the conversation seemed pretty normal. In the middle of the shoot, I guess she felt comfortable enough to start telling me about a problem she was facing in her life. The reason she went to the park that afternoon was to clear her mind and think about what her next moves were going to be and she couldn't come up with an answer on her own. She needed my help.
What started out as a light conversation turned into a problem-solving session. She described her situation, and her feelings about it, and then I used what I knew to assist her in trying to resolve that problem so she could move closer to having the life she wished to have, all the while I kept shooting more photos of her, which in turn made her feel more free to discuss her issues with me, that this was going to be conversation about something serious without feeling trapped.
Something about me shooting the photos as we talked invited her to share what had been going on in her life during the few days that lead up to this impromtu shoot, what was on her mind, what was bothering her. Miné spoke openly with me. I listened and took mental notes. She was never criticized, interrupted or judged as she spoke. This was a special, unique conversation in which she could say exactly what she felt -- total honesty -- without worrying that she was going to hurt anyone's feelings or be penalized in any way. Anything she wanted -- or needed -- to say was OK.
This was a one-time conversation, a temporary source of support during what was a pivotal time in her life.
After the shoot was over, we continued talking for a bit. When she felt that she was in a much better state of mind and that her solutions had clarity to them, we went back to talking about fun things. She thanked me immensely for the help I had given her. She was never going to forget this moment.
Whenever I go to the park, I hope to find someone who has feet just like hers. Those shoots make my entire day and I have no reason to shoot anyone else for the rest of the day because I was given the time I needed to admire and truly appreciate what a marvel Nathalie's feet were. If her feet are not in my personal Top Ten list for the best looking feet I've ever photographed, then they're not far from it. Her toes, I couldn't ask more much better because they're not that many more sets of toes I feel look better than hers. As a matter of fact, something was wrong with my eyes during the shoot because I could not take them off her feet.
Nathalie is one of the most beautiful ladies I've met and the weather was perfect that day.
PEPPERMINT WHITE
In school she was just average; not too popular, not completely unpopular. She had a pretty close group of friends that more than made up for it.
Peppermint White is a nerdy girl enjoys spending time alone. Amazingly, she rarely ever feels lonely. As someone with a quiet personality, she finds comfort in minimal activities, including doing absolutely nothing. People feel that her introversion makes her an unexciting personality. However, Peppermint's idea of fun differs from the average woman I shot. She finds excitement in little things, and sometimes, this could happen in her mind. She tends to observe more than she acts, which might pass the impression that she rarely has fun, which isn't the case.
I made her feel very good about herself during the shoot. She enjoyed it, getting the attention from me, having conversations about meaningful and impactful things. It was all rewarding to her. She learned something about herself as a result of the photoshoot. She never told me what that was except to say that it was something "very positive."
THE ITALIAN WINE
An older Italian woman with amazing feet. I was very impressed.
KATHERINE KATE She is one of the four tallest women I've photographed. If I remember correctly, she was sitting on the grass when I first saw her and it wasn't until the shoot was over when I got to see how tall she truly was. She stood 6'3'' and had size twelve feet. Words describing her feet.
Mesmerizing. Powerful. Larger than life. Juicy. Riveting. Ample. Succulent. Full of content. Fucking Hot. Simply captivating.
As for the lady herself, Katherine is all of the above. Something I have wanted very much for a long time finally came to be with my time with Katherine Kate.
SUNKISS
This was a shoot that almost never happened. I was about to approach another woman who had some pretty nice feet. Right before I did, I caught Sunkiss out of the corner of my eye and I stopped what I was doing to assess the situation. I made up my mind and approached Sunkiss, and I'm glad I did because this was one of my favorite shoots I've ever done.
This is the type of shoot amateur foot photgraphers dream of: with a woman who's self assured, has sex appeal, sunbathing, the sun felt just right, on an early Saturday evening. The only thing I regretted about this shoot was not having sunscreen on me because with that woman ... plus the sun, I was under two hot things at the same time.
There was quite a bit of flirting between us during the shoot and fun. She told me towards the end of the shoot that she was going to tell her girlfriends that she "met a guy in Central Park" or something along those lines. That was her way of telling me that she was into me. Something about that felt so good for the two of us.
[ December 20, 2022, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: National ]
THE LEGACY GIRLS This category for the Hall of Fame is called the "Legacy" wing. Inductees in this category are the from earliest era of my Bryant Park days.
THE FINNISHING CROSS
Very soft feet. A good listener. Her mind and thoughts differ from people around her. She doesn't like to argue or shout rather value her relation over those silly arguments. Loves to live in solitude and enjoys silence. She has the type of soles that are the shape of what I like to see from a woman's soles. One of those women who I think has toenails that look better naturally than with nail polish.
THE BOOKWORM
This lady loves to read. She'd rather spend Friday nights on the couch with a book than out at a party. She became a bookworm from the moment she first learn to read. She grew into her love of books and reading after encountering a particularly wonderful book (I forget which one it was).
Different types of books take different amounts of time for her to read. For example, she might burn through the latest novel to hit the shelves but spend much longer on a 19th-century tome. Likewise, she might read at a different pace if she's working her way through a non-fiction book on a topic she doesn't know much about compared to the amount of time she would spend on a graphic novel.
She allows herself time to enjoy the process of reading, and sometimes that means giving herself time to think and wonder about what she just read. To allow her mind to open, to reflect, to marvel.
I would say that her feet were quite smelly and she warned me about that just as she was about to remove her boots that came up almost to her knees. That foot scent coming from someone as intelligent as that woman is, it was quite invigorating.
ANASTASIA
The Russian Beauty. A very kind lady who is a huge hockey fan. Cute small feet. Loves to go out to exclusive night clubs and upscale lounges.
SPRING FOX
She was a reminder that seeing beautiful feet right in front of you feels fulfilling. When an wonderful woman possesses feet that holds that kind of shape, is healthy, and is what you've set out to find, this becomes a hobby unlike anything else. It seemed as if doing this shoot for me was completely fine for her being that she and a group of others conducted a survey that centered around different types of sexual activities. Her attitude was that it was completely normal for someone to have a foot fetish and that being a part of the shoot would be a fun thing to talk about with her friends when she returns to her home in Tennessee.
That photo in the middle I feel is one of the better ones I've taken in my entire time doing this.
NEIGHBORLY FAVOR
She's half-Chinese/half-White. She recognized me from somewhere but couldn't remember where she'd seem me before. That question kept eating at her during the shoot. I didn't recall ever seeing her from anywhere and so I thought nothing of it. Then it suddenly popped in her mind.
After asking me some questions, it was determined that we live in the same neighborhood. Just mere blocks from each other as a matter of fact. We talked about all of the good restaurants and other parts of the neighborhood that made the conversation easier to have.
At first she was leaning towards not wanting to do the shoot. She really stood there and thought for a few minutes about whether she should go through with it. I had to ease talk her into it as it was one of those moments for me where sales pitch skills were put to the test.
I was so glad she decided to go through with it because she had a nice conversation out of it and because I got to see a pair of feet that turned out to be a lot better than I had imagined it to be. I mean I knew they would look good, but her feet turned out to be better than that.
Feet that look like hers deserves to have a place in the National Gallery Hall of Fame of Women.
PediaNurse
A pediatrician from Sweden with feet so hot that my heart almost pumped its way through my chest, literally. I remembered walking when I saw her sitting down with her feet propped up on a neighboring chair, soles in plain view of the world, and I was the only one who saw them. It happened all of a sudden, seeing her soles beautifully on display the way they were. I stopped dead on my tracks and had to take a deep breath to calm my heart rate. There were a couple of times that stood out to me in which I was walking by, I come across a woman sitting down, soles prominently visible, and me having to take a minute to myself to get my heart to stop beating so fast because of the incredible view of her soles, and she was one of those two ladies.
I had to think very carefully to how I was going to present my words to her because I really did not want to screw this up. When she said yes, it was the relief I needed. A great shoot that focused on what great feet are supposed to look like.
WebMD
Extremely well read and passionate about the career she was pursuing in the medical field. Very introverted.
Do you remember that girl in elementary school who sat on the first row of seats in your class? The one who wore glasses? She was the one who was on the edge of her seat when a teacher asks the class a question. Remember? Yeah, that's her.
She is the quintessential geeky girl who's into geeky things. WebMD wear the title with pride, simply because she knows there's so few of them and she want to show other ladies like her that it's OK to be a pro with a brain.
Speaking of brains, she wanted to use hers to pick mine to because she wanted to know how it was I became attracted to feet in the first place. It was a pretty fun conversation as we talked about different things. Her feet showed that brainy women are a hidden gem.
-- And that concludes this year's class. Congratulations to these ladies! They are the Class of 2022, and they will through the minds of all in immortality. These women of yesterday are now the Women of Forever.
[ December 26, 2022, 02:08 AM: Message edited by: National ]
For people who want to know how it is I've become successful in getting so many women to remove their shoes and socks for me, I'm going to give you the playbook in what plays a part to my success. How you dress goes a long way. I need you to dress well when you go out and do this. You better look good when you approach these ladies because ...
IT MATTERS That's because so much of what you wear will change how these women hear what you have say. The Halo Effect is powerful. If you look sloppy, everything you say will be perceived through a negative light. An example would be a sharp dressed guy, nicely tailored suit, who gets out of his luxury car and the two of you go to get coffee somewhere. He tells you about the next greatest market shift that's happening in our economy. You'll be listening and paying attention.
Now let's suppose that it's some guy who hasn't had a job in many years, who has lived in his 1994 Civic in all that time. He gets out of his car and you guys are in a coffee shop. If he tells you about a great market opportunity, now it's a pyramid scheme. With the first guy, you're thinking he's about to give you some knowledge that could change the course of your life for the better. With the second guy, you think he's about to scam you.
The Halo Effect happens in every aspect of your life, and it definitely plays a part when you're out there meeting these women. The clothing you wear will affect how people perceive what you're saying and it'll determine whether they'll listen to you or mock you.
SHE WOULDN'T MIND BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE When you wear good clothing, you set the tone when you walk up to these women. It's pleasant to be around attractive people and you know that. When you like something, you want to be around that something. What I love about that is that you can affect that through every sense, especially through how you smell, which is why I love fragrances because it's the easiest way to change their perception of you. If you have a powerful fragrance, and you combine that with how you present yourself, women will want to put their hands on you.
IT'S A SIGN OF RESPECT It's a sign of respect for you (self-respect) because it shows that you care about yourself, and it's a sign of respect to her because it shows that you want to be there. Think of it this way: if a woman shows up to your date looking as if she hadn't showered in days, no makeup, her hair is not done, it's a sign of disrespect and you're not going to want to pay for a dinner and drink for someone who didn't put in the effort to show up. The same thing applies here when you walk up to these ladies because the amount of effort you put on to your appearance is a sign to her that you want to put respect on her name.
IT'S THE FASTEST WAY TO BEECOME ATTRACTIVE You can't change your genetics. I mean, sure, you can get plastic surgery, but that's expensive, it's painful and it'll take a long time for the healing process to complete. So the best thing to do to morph your appearance is your clothing. You can mold the perception of how you look depending on the fit of your clothing and it's the fastest way to become more attractive, which leads me to the next thing which is ...
IT AFFECTS HOW YOU THINK The exterior affects your interior. When the self-perception goes up, it ends up performing in the real world, which is insane, which is why you need to dress well when you do this. The way you dress is a direct correlation to your maturity level. For example ...
THROW OUT THE GRAPHIC TEE'S I'm not talking about the band tees and other nice ones. Instead, I'm talking about the goofy ones. I'm talking about the ones with the slogans you think are hilarious. I'm talking about the superhero tees you wore since you were in high school and you're still wearing to this day. Cut, them, out.
You just need basics. As a man, it's really not that difficult or expensive. You don't need to get designer clothes, expensive clothes, you don't need to be flamboyant. You don't even need to learn what colors are in season. Stick to solid basics such as whites, blacks, greys, blues that fit right and you're already winning.
LEARN TO MATCH COLORS PROPERLY Look, you can't walk around looking like a walking street light, and I know what you're going to say: "But, National, Adam Sandler does it." Yeah, he's also worth $400 million and he's funny, so that means you need every help you can get.
Listen, I'm not saying you need to be a fashionista and study the models who walk the runways at fashion shows because that's going to be a waste of time. You don't need to do all of that work. Just keep it neutral, which is what I alluded to in my last tip: you don't need to learn what colors are in season.
Your neutral color palette: your browns, your blues, your grays, your blacks, your whites. These are easy to mix and match. Even your olives.
Listen, I can go into my wardrobe, eyes closed, in a neutral color palette, grab four pieces, throw them on, and I know I'm going to look good. That's where you need to be. You need to understand that you cannot walk around mismatched. You look like your mommy dressed you. You look like you can't take care of yourself properly. Now you just read the last two sentences and are probably thinking to yourself that I'm being blatantly cruel to you, but that's not the case. I'm just playing the role of your big brother here and letting you guys know what it is. All I'm saying is learning how to appropriately place your clothing so it's seamless so that it works together really goes a long way.
STYLE IT RIGHT Styling clothes takes time. You need to understand your body proportions, your frame, what works, what doesn't work. Whatever gives you the most confidence, that's what you go with.
PEOPLE WILL JUDGE YOU BASED ON HOW YOU DRESS Too many of you guys live in la-la land, believing we live in an amazing unicorn world where everyone is nice and doesn't judge books by their covers. Well guess what? They judge books by their covers and that's just Human Nature. Human Nature has engineered us to make micro split-second decisions on people to determine whether they are a threat, if they're smart enough, etc. That's just for human survival and that's the reality of it. I think it's ridiculous people even try to remove that. It's ingrained in every single human. And so instead of trying to remove it from eight billion people, why not learn the game and play it right? Know that they're going to judge you in a split second, okay? So wear the right clothing.
Your clothing will determine your capacity level, your maturity level, your intellectual level, your romantic level, your attractiveness level, your sex appeal. Depending on the situation, you can wear the right clothing, which can determine how you excel in that occasion. Listen, you can walk into the supermarket with a good fit because you never know who you can bump into -- probably the love of your life, and I don't want you out there looking like a bum.
WOMEN WILL NOTICE Any woman worth talking to will notice. You want to be the leader of the pack? Look the part. You want to look like the man every guy wants to be, you can do that with the clothing. So many guys have put clothing to the back burner thinking, "Oh, that's just for girls -- I don't have to worry about that stuff." It's no wonder so many guys out there look like they're in middle school because they look like a bunch 14-year-olds as grown-ass men, not realizing they're shooting themselves in the foot. Nobody's looking up to them, women are not looking their way because they don't pay attention to how they dress.
WEAR RESPECTABLE SHOES Those flip-flops, those slides, especially without socks? That's embarrassing! If you're going to wear that at the beach, then that's one thing. In the real world, though, wear respectable shoes. Wear sneakers that are appropriate for the fit. Definitely get yourself a pair of leather shoes. Definitely get yourself a pair of boots. Don't just stick to sneakers ... wear the higher-end stuff for more serious events, and I promise you it will make a difference.
[ December 22, 2022, 12:47 AM: Message edited by: National ]
This is going to be the closest thing to an informal interview with me that you guys will ever see. I'm not going to write a book, and so this is about as good as it will probably ever get and I think you're going to enjoy the hell out of it.
This is a list of questions I think you guys always wanted to ask me, but for whatever reason you wound up not asking me. Some other questions in here may be the ones I was asked before and now I'm going to bring them up again just to refresh someone's memory.
I did this concept in December of 2020. I had fun with that and so I decided to bring it back for this year's Season Finale.
--
HOW DID YOUR PERSONAL STYLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY BECOME YOUR CHOICE OF EXPRESSION? When I started doing this, I didn't think about developing a particular style. I wanted to take photos of their feet just for the sake of taking them with no particular direction of how to differentiate myself from other foot photographers. After a while, after I saw that I was becoming very successful with getting women to show their feet for me, that's when I started to slow down a bit and started thinking about other angles to shoot to keep my interest in this ongoing.
I guess it wasn't until I had my shoot with Hall of Famer Cherry Coke that I realized I can really tap into a unique perspective on how people can appreciate feet in the female form. Up until that time I rarely took any photos of women's toes because I'm a soles guy.
I asked her (Cherry Coke) to put her feet flat on the chair. What she did became a eureka moment for me because she posed her toes in a way I wasn't expecting her to pose them. She just posed her feet in the way she did because that was how it came to her naturally.
I immediately fell in love with that pose because I always found pictures of toes to be boring, and the way she posed her toes gave me a reason to take pictures of toes going forward. When Cherry Coke posed her toes pointing towards each other, I knew this was a pose I had to make synonymous with my work. To this day, I have not been able to pose women's toes as well and as artful as what Cherry did on her own. The Cherry Coke pose is what I like to call it.
So that's when it started to become very important to me to develop a style of my own, to take a step back and try to see the bigger picture.
Developing my own style established my identity in this game. That's when it became important for me to establish myself here and to really take the time to enjoy this. A shoot means discovering nuances of what drives a person to admire women's feet the way I do.
Without Cherry Coke, I don't think I would've done this for as long as I have. Why is she in the Hall of Fame? That's why, for everything I just said. She started what my personal style has evolved into.
IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH? HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHEN SOMETHING YOU CREATE MEETS OR EXCEEDS YOUR EXPECTATIONS? To me, a good photograph is one that no other person with a camera -- whether alive, dead, or yet to be born -- could've possibly made. If another person with a camera could've easily made the same photograph, if that person were at the same time and place as the photographer, that photo will not be interesting to me.
When I see an image that blows my mind, it's one that truly reveals the perspective of the human behind the lens. That's something I strive to do with each shoot, and I know I have the kind of creativity to produce such images. I want to take photos that'll transport the viewer away from their reality for a brief moment in time. I want to create images that awards the viewers with incomparable experiences of seeing the world though my eyes.
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY TO SOMEONE WHO'S NOT FAMILAR WITH IT? Women's feet are beautiful. Women are beautiful. They have something valuable to offer. We want them.
I tend to style the photos so that it looks as if the women are not acknowledging the presence of me or the camera. I think if she's looking at the camera in too many photos, it takes the attention away from everything else in the photo and makes the viewer not care to concentrate on other things that makes a photograph tell a story. There's nothing wrong with the woman looking directly into the camera, but I feel that too many photos like that in a shoot makes things too fabricated or too plastic (the scene not being natural). I want the look and feel of sensing what it would've been like to experience that moment of feel natural and unscripted.
WHICH PHOTOGRAPHERS WOULD YOU LIST AS INFLUENCERS OR INSPIRATIONS? I wish I could give off a list of names but I don't remember them. Photographers I get my inspiration from take photos of nature, architecture, and photographers who take photos that explore into sexual fetishes other than feet. I get my inspiration from looking through photos of Central Park that were taken in the 1800s.
Inspiration also comes from the music I listen to. When my favorite band comes out with a new album, I notice how some aspects of their music stays the same while other aspects change. When they come out with a new album, that's my reminder that it's time for me to incorporate something new, to change something up when it comes to how I take photos and how I present it to the readers in here. The inspiration comes in the form of wanting to do something new and not stay the same. In other words, if the viewer looks at photos taken recently and is not able to discern the difference(s) between those photos and the ones taken years ago, then his creativity is stuck.
Inspiration comes from seeing things from outside the foot fetish bubble in order to expand my vision or creativity, to see what they see and finding ways to incorporate those into my work while putting my own spin into it.
OF THE WOMEN YOU PHOTOGRAPHED, HAS THERE BEEN SOMEONE WHO HAS REALLY SURPRISED YOU? IN OTHER WORDS, WHO WAS TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU EXPECTED? Someone who comes to mind is Bloody Mary. What started out as something I thought would be one of those paint-by-numbers shoot, it wound up being one of the most memorable shoots I will ever have in my life. After the shoot was over, I asked myself, "That was fuckin' insane, right?" It was hot chemistry. It's the magic that happens when two strangers meet.
Another one who comes to mind is a lady who I have not shown yet. Completely different from what I expected to the point that she is in my Top Five list of the Greatest of All Time. Not Top Ten, but Top FIVE!
I won't go into more details so I'll leave it there for now. That was a shoot for the ages.
WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT BESIDES DOING WHAT YOU DO IN CENTRAL PARK? WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME? Exercise, playing backgammon, honing my arts and skills of preparing and serving mixed drinks. Time flies and I'll have a thousand-dollar liquor cabinet before I know it, impressing people when they come to visit me.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SHOOT AND WHY? The shoot I referenced a few minutes ago. The one I have not shown yet. When it comes time for me to show it, I will explain in detail why that was my most memorable shoot. As for the ones I have shown, my most memorable shoot was Dalhous (pictured below). To this day, she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.
DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR VERY FIRST SHOOT? Yes. It was in Bryant Park on a Sunday night. I don't remember the month, though, but it was in 2012.
Before I started asking women for permission to take photos of their feet, I was one of those guys who would take candid pictures of their feet. I was friendly with a security guard who worked at the park. He came up to me one day and had a talk with me. He warned me about the kind of trouble I could get into if I'd continue going about my business in such manner. He went on to tell me that I either be more discreet about taking the candid photos (because apparently I wasn't as discreet as I thought I was because at least one complaint was made about me) or that I need to get the women's permission to do this. He basically said that by doing it that way (meaning the latter option), I could take all the photos I wanted and still not get in trouble.
About a month later (after not having gone to the park since that conversation with the security guard), I returned to the park and decided to give this asking-for-permission thing a try. I saw a Chinese lady in her 30s doing some paperwork. Her feet were already out of her shoes as she had her bare feet rested on the chair next to the one she sat on. She had glasses on and looked really busy and it didn't appear as though she was going to finish up anytime soon.
I could not figure out what to tell her. But I wanted to take photos of her feet so badly that I had to say something to her. I don't remember what words came out of my mouth, but she had no problem with it and allowed me to shoot away. After the shoot, she allowed me to rub and massage her feet for quite some time. There was hardly anyone around as it was getting dark.
Had it not been for the fact that she allowed me to touch her feet for as long as she had allowed me to touch her feet, I would not have developed the confidence I needed to convince myself that asking women for their permission to take photos of them is okay.
I started my "career" at this with the first four women I asked saying yes to me. It was so easy getting them to do this. The first time I was denied access to a woman's feet for photos, it was on my fifth approach. But by that time, I had developed enough confidence to realize the rejection didn't sting me and wasn't going to sting me moving forward. With my first rejection, it sucked because she was very cute. But at the same time, I was glad to get that experience out of the way because rejection was going to be inevitable and because it gave me a chance to learn something from it to improve myself for future interactions with women.
Where are the photos of my first shoot? I deleted them because ... I don't know why now that I think about it.
SPEAKING OF GETTING REJECTED BY WOMEN, HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? I look at it as being similar to someone who's dependent on chemicals. Many substance users are chasing the original high, the feeling they had the first time they used the drug. In a similar way, I want to recreate the feeling of my first shoot. I view the women turning me down as getting myself closer to finding the women who wouldn't mind showing their feet to me and the high that comes with those instances. Therefore, in a sense, both the women being absolutely cool with the idea of participating in an impromtu shoot, and the women turning me down, reinforces my wanting to find more women to shoot. Every possible outcome from me doing this encourages more approaches.
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND TAKING PHOTOS DURING THE SHOOTS? Forty minutes on average for my Central Park photos. Some shoots were longer than that while others were shorter. Some shoots I take around 125 photos while other shoots allowed me the time to take around 350 photos. The most number of photos I took during a shoot was just over 700 (seven hundred) with Anna Softinova while the shortest session I had was with Hall of Famer Jewel Spider, about twelve shots (both women shown just below, Jewel Spider with the glasses on the left, Anna Softinova with the blonde hair is pictured on the right). All the while taking photos of their feet for free. They saw the fun in it and thought Why not?
WE KNOW THAT EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER HAS GOOD SHOOTS AND BAD SHOOTS, BUT WHEN ARE YOU MOST SATISFIED WITH A SHOOT? When I'm given the time to explore new ideas ... when I'm given enough time with a woman to bend the rules a bit to allow my creativity to produce something different.
I'm satisfied with a shoot when I feel my photos stand out and are memorable. The images have to say something, and they have to be said as clearly and boldly as possible. I'm satisfied when a shoot has photos that show people something interesting in an interesting and/or memorable way.
I feel satisfied when I produce images that does not make people say, "I've seen that before, who cares?" Of course a common subject (in this case, women's feet) shown differently can be interesting, which is something I strive to do. But the trap someone can fall into is to try to imitate a style or a famous image they've seen before. Copies never excite or stand out unless they do something novel; you have to drill your own hole, which goes back to what I said about bending the rules a bit so that my creativity is given the leeway to produce something different. When I feel those criteria are met, that's when I'm satisfied.
HOW DO YOU DIRECT YOUR LADIES? WHAT DO YOU SAY? WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS IN GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE WOMEN WHO POSE FOR YOU? I take some time to engage in a conversation with them during the shoot that starts with some small talk: I ask questions about who they are, see if they have a sense of humor, and I show them what I would like for them to do and why they were chosen. A few compliments gets things off to a good start. I make them feel special; they all need validation.
This is like a dance. I lead, they follow. The woman who poses for me is my partner for the day. She is my canvas, the physical expression of my creativity.
DO YOU GET AROUSED DURING THE SHOOTS? It has happened numerous times but I can keep that under control. But some people may be surprised to learn that it doesn't happen as often as they think it does. If I were to give you the number of times I got aroused during a shoot in terms of percentage, you would not believe how low that number is. The vast majority of times, I don't get aroused.
I'm too busy paying attention to positioning and angles far too often to get turned on by the moment. When you have a starvation mentality about things such as women's feet -- that is, when you think of that thing as rare and exotic -- it can be hard to imagine seeing an attractive pair of naked feet in front of you without going a bit crazy. When women taking their shoes off for you is something that is a common part of your life, you can see it without losing your mind.
HAVE YOU EVER HAD SEX WITH ONE OF THE WOMEN YOU PHOTOGRAPHED? Absolutely.
HOW DO YOU GET THESE WOMEN TO REMOVE THEIR SHOES AND SOCKS FOR YOU? WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THESE WOMEN? Politely. That's the answer to the first question.
To answer the second question, there's this fallacy out there that there's this perfect pick-up line when it comes to doing this where you can just zoom right in, everything goes 100 percent right, you'll never have any problems, and you'll land the girl every time. It does not work like that. The more women you approach, the better you're going to get at this ... both because you're improving your game as you go along, and because you are coming into contact with more women who might like you.
First impressions are tied intimately to positive body language. Becoming cognizant of your gestures, expressions, and tone of voice (and making certain they're positive) will draw people to you. Using an enthusiastic tone, uncrossing your arms, maintaining eye contact, and leaning towards the person who's speaking are all forms of positive body language that high-EQ people use to draw others in. Positive body language can make all the difference in a conversation. It's true that how you say something can be more important than what you say.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WHEN YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR SOMEONE TO PHOTOGRAPH? It's really just about searching for someone, hoping that that someone might be awaiting me around the next corner, but I never quite know who that lady will be, and that's what I love about doing what I do in Central Park: the element of serendipity and surprise that I have little to no control over.
WHAT WAS THE FUNNIEST/STRANGEST/MOST UNUSUAL THING THAT HAPPENED DURING A SHOOT? I walked up to an Italian tourist. I asked if I could take photos of her feet and she said yes. We get to the spot where I wanted to take the photos. Three minutes in, her boyfriend shows up. She had some explaining to do. Those two were together the entire time but when I approached her, it just so happened to be at a moment when the boyfriend had already stepped away from her for whatever reason. Maybe he needed to use the restroom?
For a second there I thought he was going to get mad at me as well and was going to challenge me to a fight. But he was completely focused on his girlfriend and she had her head pointed downwards as if she was a child being scolded. The way the whole thing looked made me think that she probably forgot all about him or that she allowed me to take pictures of her not knowing that her man was going to have a problem with this. She never told me about a boyfriend and was completely indifferent about the idea of a foot shoot and so I thought nothing of it.
Thinking back on it now, considering how she reacted to me, her facial expression when her boyfriend walked in on us, and her body language after being caught suggested to me that she was completely bored with her life.
The went their way and I went my way, and that was the end of that.
ARE YOU REALLY THAT HANDSOME OF A GUY? YOU'RE SUCCESSFUL WITH WOMEN, WOMEN FIND YOU ATTRACTIVE AND SO THINGS ARE FAR EASIER FOR YOU. WHAT ABOUT US WHO WEREN'T BLESSESD WITH GOOD LOOKS, GOOD GENES AND ALL THIS OTHER STUFF? WHAT ABOUT US AVERAGE GUYS? While looks do play a part, what plays an integral role is my energy, my confidence, my self beliefs, my mindset. It's how I organize my life and my thoughts, it's my planning, it's my execution, it's everything.
I'm six feet tall. Women like tall, dark and handsome men. You hear that all the time from women. They're entitled to that opinion and it's true to some extent because a tall, dark and handsome man is very attractive. A tall, long-legged woman is beautiful to me. I love long legs and I love to see a tall woman walking by. And there's also beautiful, shorter women. Gorgeous shorter women. Beauty comes in different shapes and sizes to me. What's deeper than that is the energy from the woman. You can be a tall, dark, and a handsome douchebag walking by. She can be a tall, long-legged, well-dressed woman who's just despicable. That's the way of life, but to me I'm attracted to energy and behavior. So what I'm trying to tell you is that people have a misconception that I have it easy.
I like food. I like pizza, chicken, ribs, burgers, steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, Chinese food, KFC ... I like it all. But I know that if I eat too many of those things, being undisciplined about it with no balance in my life, and not incorporating nutritious foods, I'll be a blimp walking around the streets of New York and I won't be attractive. Worse than that, I'll be unhealthy.
I give myself a haircut every twelve days. I'm on top of my skincare. I'm on top of my smell-good. I'm always smelling good. I go to sleep smelling good and I wake up smelling good. I dress very well. My wardrobe is diverse: if I have to go to a black-tie event, I'll be ready. If I want to go to the batting cage, I'm ready. I can go to a mall, the park, anywhere. I can put on sneakers, I have dress shoes. I have invested in myself and I'm prepared to adjust to any environment and insert myself in any situation. That takes preparation, that takes vision, that takes confidence.
Do you know how much work a "good looking guy" goes through in order to get the results he gets? He exercises, his hair is well maintained. He pounds the water. He's not an alcoholic. I don't smoke because I don't want my outsides and insides to be negatively affected.
I plan for a long life. You want to live in the moment, but you also want to plan ahead. Defer gratification because it doesn't always have to be now. I'm learning patience every single day. If you rush into things, you're going to crash.
I could be fat, ugly, undisciplined, swollen in the face, have yellow teeth, no game or confidence, walking with my head down thinking women are terrible. I don't think women are terrible. All the women in my life are wonderful. I don't attract knuckleheads. Why? Because I'm conscious about my bullshit.
If you want to become that attractive guy, you've got to put in the work. It all starts in the your mind, then it goes to your heart, then it comes outwards so that people can feel and enjoy your presence. Focus on your energy and thoughts.
WHY DO YOU LIKE SMELLY FEET? IF SO, WHAT'S THE APPEAL THERE? I've given a much longer, much more detailed version of my answer to this question many years ago.
I'll give a much shorter version of the answer here. I am attracted to the idea of experiencing something that deviates from the image I have of women. Something that challenges that image. If I think of women as dainty, polite, clean, well mannered, and dignified, then the idea of her feet having a less-than-pleasant smell to them creates a significant discrepancy. On paper, feet that smells unattractive is off putting, repellent. This shatters my image of femininity and provides excitement for me. That's the long and short of it.
Personally speaking, if her feet smells strong enough that it'll clear the entire room, that's too much for me. I like it best when the smell can only be detected when my nose is placed between her toes. If it's a bit stronger than that to where I can smell it from three feet away, I wouldn't mind that either. To me, smelly feet tastes saltier and better.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Death.
WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU WANTED TO BE GROWING UP? A train driver or a detective.
NAME A WOMAN. QUICK, YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS! Christina Aguilera.
DO YOU LIKE THE NAME CHARLIE FOR A GIRL? Yeah, why not?
NAME A WORD THAT STARTS WITH THE LETTER Q? Queue.
WHEN YOU FLY IN A PLANE, DO YOU WEAR A NECK PILLOW? No.
LIST TWO PET PEEVES. People who always or misuse the word 'literally'. The word 'literally' literally means -- or can mean -- figuratively speaking, which is the literal opposite. After having just read the last sentence, which definition was I using? I was using the literal definition. But does that mean I was using the figurative definition? You see, it gets confusing! A person may not know which definition I was using, and that person would not know because I used the word in the same context, so there's nothing that separates the figurative definition to the definition that means 'actually representing', unless the context is over-exaggerated, which then begs the question: why don't you just say 'figuratively'? Now I just drove myself crazy talking about all of this! My other pet peeve is people who use "ums" and "uhs" when they speak: filler words, whether it's in between sentences or in the middle of a sentence.
DO YOU KNOW THE DEFINITION OF ATAXAPHOBIA? No. Is it a fear of doing your taxes?
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE? Susan Slept Here.
AND FINALLY, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM COLLABORATION? Alexandra Daddario. Click Here
[ January 03, 2023, 12:16 AM: Message edited by: National ]
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NATURAL CLASSIC After I had the shoot with Our Lady of Origins (the last lady I showed), I went home to relax for a bit. I decided to return to the park that evening to see if I could manage to get someone else to pose for me.
Not even fifteen minutes after I enter the park, I saw this long-haired lady who had a crossbody fanny pack that matched the color of her buttoned-up shirt. Her black shorts and Converse brought my attention to her face again.
She walked past me, probably not paying attention to the fact I was even there. I didn't know what it was about her, but sensing from observing of her, I knew that her story was going to be different from any other woman I've photographed. Something told me she wasn't from this area.
Meet Siobhan. (If you're not sure how to pronounce that name, click here.) I've met many lovely women before, but never a Siobhan. It was a pleasure to meet her. I don't know about you, but to me that's a rare but beautiful name. Melodic to my ears.
Central Park has women from all over the world. This young lady is from Ireland and is a daughter to a father who's a farmer.
"How-ware-ya?" she asked with a little nice smile and accent, making the question sound that much more pleasant.
I told her I was doing just fine. She looked very nice to me and I thought I needed to let her know that. She liked the sound of that. When I brought the topic to feet and how I wanted to take pictures of them, she didn't think too hard about it before deciding to let me see how they looked like.
Being someone who grew up in the farm, her life is very different than a typical lady I meet. Siobhan is a very tough girl. She knows how to handle a half-grown calf across the yard. She wears steel capped boots because if a cow steps on her foot without steel caps, she would've been embarrassed to allow me to take photos of her feet. But because she's used to wearing those boots, she can kick anything with them. If she's not sure what's under that block of firewood, she kicks it over to see what it is.
She sees her father using the chainsaw, the block splitter, the angle grinder, driving a bobcat and other things a construction worker would do. Now Siobhan might decide these things look like a lot of work and that she can let someone else do them, but she will never believe that being female means she can't do them.
She watches movies, chat with friends, and grumbles about helping with the housework just like any other girl would, but hey ... that's life sometimes and you can't really hold that against her.
She painted a picture of what her life is like. "My typical day can be described in three words: fun, dangerous, hard work. (Okay, four words). It is the most difficult job you will ever love. Farmers are not in it for the money because there is usually enough to cover the bills of a modest lifestyle. It is the ability to live far from towns or cities. It is eating food you have raised. Rising early, taking the night shift of plowing or planting fields. It is sitting in your old truck talking to your neighbor whom you rarely see, only to learn his mother or father is ill."
Siobhan went on to talk about having pride when crops are good, worrying when prices are down, the stress that can occur when someone in the household goes to see their banker, the joy she gets from working with her parents, going on to say, "We put in twelve hours a day or more. We are mechanics, tire changers, veterinarians, care givers, risk takers, accountants, scientists, fertility specialists, doctors, nurses, teachers, neighbors, friends, and families."
She was in New York City because, "it's on everyone's list of things to do before they die." She talked about an experience she went through while she was in New York, something that never happened to her before. She told about the time(s) she would walk down the streets of New York City and the men would cat call her. I thought she was going to go on and say that that made her feel uncomfortable. Instead, she kind of liked it. The comments made towards her were things she considered to be more the tame side, which explained why she didn't feel disgusted by it all.
She doesn't think too much of her feet, saying, "they just get me from one place to another, so I don't quite get what the appeal is. But at the same time this is not harmful, so in that sense I'm in no position to judge."
Siobhan is a living and breathing force of purpose. She will fight a terrible battle and emerge successfully from it. "Trust me, this is not an easy job, because if it were easy then everyone would do it. Because it is very difficult, we do it, and we do it without complaint, because we are stewards of the land and good animal husbandry. We are feeding the world. What is your super power?"
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I can describe her as someone who is lively and who behaves in an enthusiastic and cheerful way. She's spirited and energetic. And she acts a lot younger than what her age is. She lets go of her adult burdens and perceives life with childlike wonder. This woman is young at heart and rejects stereotypes about how older people are "supposed" to behave, and continues to engage in all the activities she enjoyed when she was young. She's been accused of "not acting her age." She reacts by doing what she pleases, and it pleases her to act young.
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NATURAL CLASSIC She's from Russia, but lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a husband and an eight-year-old son. She was in New York for both business and leisure. The latter stems from how things are in her home life back in Atlanta.
Her marriage is, for all intents and purposes, pretty much over. The love they once had for each other is no longer there. She's at a point where she doesn't care what happens to their relationship anymore as she has no desire to get it fixed. And apparently, he doesn't either.
The marriage certificate is keeping the couple together pretty much, along with their son. Both she and her husband do not really have any attraction to each other at all (even though they did in the past). There is no love or affection between them that acts as the real glue to make their marriage solid. They sleep separately and do not really spend much time with each other anymore. They live separate lives under the same roof.
By the way, at no point did she ever emotional about it or appeared to be distraught over this. All indications are she's so glad to have practically nothing to do with the guy now. Yes, it was demoralizing for her at first. It ate away at her soul and it stripped her of her essence. But she doesn't care anymore because she feels free now. Her son she loves.
During the second half of the shoot, she became a lot more chatty. She became more comfortable around me. We connected in a fun way and it seemed as if we could talk about anything and everything. The conversation was playfully aggressive and spontaneous.
We spent an hour with each other after the shoot as we were walking around the park and we met up with each other the following night. At Bryant Park, actually. My old stomping ground. When she got out of her Uber, she ran down the half block, ran up the steps that lead into the park and gave my this huge, tight, and quite affectionate embrace. I didn't see that coming, but it felt very nice. Our time together had some surprises, it was a bit comedic with rapid, overlapping dialogue with one of us speaking before the other finishes.
Going back to the shoot. Towards the end, she asked what I wanted her to do next (in terms on how to pose her feet). "Get sexy for me," I said. She then tapped on her chin several times with her index finger, in deep thought, trying to conclude something or make an important decision. But she did so in a way that was meant to mock someone in deep thought -- one of those things where she wanted me to think she was thinking about it, but we both knew she was just having fun with it before she eventually said, "Okay, but only because I'm having so much fun with you."
I don't ask for much when I talk to these women, but they come through for me in spades.
We had to wrap up the shoot because not too far from where the photos were shot, there was a family having their picnic. The small children and their parents kept looking over at us. The look from the father's face said, if this is going where I think it's going, then you two better not get sexual here. He was right. We were starting to get a little carried away and out of decency for the children, we ended the shoot. But it was fun, though.
EXISTENCE -- Click Here SHOE SIZE: 6 (US), 36.5 (EUR), 3.5 (UK), 23cm, 9.05in
ON HER FEET Nike - SB Check Solar Canvas Type - Skateboarding/Casual
Natural Park, The Women of Central Park, NYC - 2022 Season Finale
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