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« Sunday School: The Most Important Lessons Cannot Be Taught | Main | mini exhibition »
Saturday
Sep182010

where do you stand?

In the 1940's my father used to get his shoes at the Converse rubber factory in the town where he grew up. I think of this tidbit every now and then when I slide off my kicks at the end of the day.

Our shoes tell us where we've been. Where we're going and {quite literally} where we stand at the moment. Everything tells a story {shoes included}. Maybe this is why I find myself photographing them so often.

Aside from being cute or practical, shoes share a story of environment and surroundings. Relaxed, dressed up, muddy... hey, even the whimsical photos with the cotton candy clouds and gigantic turquoise cowboy boot tells a story. {Texas is big baby. Big sky. Big boots.}

Can you feel the mood with the late evening sun shining in through the window at the end of a long day? So, where do you stand? What do your shoes speak of you? Try a different angle today, get down on the ground or shoot from above. Look and see if you can find a story of where you've been or where you hope to be going. I'd love to see where you stand!

Reader Comments (38)

Yes..there are whole stories that can be told about a person based on their shoes (and socks!!!):
http://marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1100
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMarcie
I love the blue and light in your image. Such a beautiful shoe portrait!

I agree shoes can tell a story. This image is of the rainboots I got last fall is important to me. Not only are they cute, but they are an external expression of my blossoming creativity at the time, and my willingness to share it more publicly. Before this, I would have been too self-conscious to wear something like this in public. Now I can't wait for it to rain!!
http://www.kateyeview.com/2009/11/where-is-rain.html
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKat
There can be so much character (and so many possible scenarios) in a simple pair of shoes:

http://instamaticgratification.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/172365/
http://instamaticgratification.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/177365/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentercigi
I've always been a fan of feet/shoe shots. . . here's one of my favourite of all time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedivinemissm/5000317805/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAmanda
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterellen
This is one of my favourite photos taken this summer. My oldest daughter walking towards my youngest who was so enraptured by whatever she was looking at in the harbour that she got down on the ground to really enjoy it:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zqqb5WTqcpIsaF2pnoyu9w?feat=directlink
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTrish
I just took my shoes' portrait the other day. These orange ones have been my favourites since I bought them 6 years ago (wow! time flies!). They have traveled far and wide, climbed trees, climbed playgrounds, seen love and loss, been part of a halloween costume, given me confidence in new situations, been soaking wet, been stuffed in bags, been worn for days and days. They are ripping in all the wrong places and the rubber is falling off. Will I throw them out? Not until I've finished making memories with them. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katyharmer/4988955026/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKaty
The first thing I like to do in the summer is get rid of winter's stuffy shoes and socks and put on a cute pair of summer tennis shoes!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalkshoes/4652923439/in/set-72157623117334376/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterPam
Mark & the boys were playing a really rowdy croquet game on our vacation and I just had to have a picture of their feet. It was something about the shoes covered in wet grass that spoke to me about the afternoon more than anything else.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23113159@N03/5000552039/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJill
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterclaudia
We have an annual Labor Day weekend tradition of hosting 15 friends and family members for a celebration of the end of summer. We eat, laugh, play a lot of games and several of them longboard down our steep hill. This year I decided to take some action shots including close ups of their feet hugging the boards.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rslaflam/5000676247/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBecky Sue
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria
There's no place like home...
http://www.vintagejonesphotography.com/?p=151
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMelissa
my shoes are kicking my butt lately so we're kind of fighting.

http://www.wishfulthinkingblog.com/wishful-thinking/2010/9/18/alright-shoes.html
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermichel
Oh a subject close to my heart! Shoes and feet!!!!

i will set at a table outside and just point my camera to the ground!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettina2/4884687736/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettina2/4884036667/in/photostream/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBettina
My shoes get featured at least once a season. My post-baby feet no longer are happy in my old trusty Converse so I had to search out new comfy sneakers last spring...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a-la-mosey/4495412743/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermosey
your light is always so dreamy. x.

i LOVE shoes & feet shots, i'm always capturing them.

these shoes are full of love http://www.flickr.com/photos/xantheberkeley/5001656482/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterxanthe
I've been admiring Shutter Sisters from afar for some time and just recieved your book - I was so delighted!
I'm a novice with photgraphy and with my Nikon D50 - but excited to experiment and play.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/32092371@N08/5001122777/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32092371@N08/5001119005/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32092371@N08/5001112825/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKimberley McGill
LOVE this! Where I've been standing this week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lillianclaire/5000215926/
Outside. Finding bits of fall. Playing. Laughing. Enjoying the last weeks of permanent flip flop wearing!
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLillian
I love pointing the camera down. It's like I'm a living "You are here" sticker on my own map. And today, we found some acorns.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onemoreplease/5001841184/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentererika
Shoes off during dinner? That's fine with me!
http://www.jmbbnv.com/wordpress/?p=2067
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJanet
Fun post. Well, it just so happens I got a fun shot at a wedding last night of my cousin's and my feet. I can usually be found wearing my cleats and knee high socks, or slippers. But, tonight was a wedding and I had to do what I could to shape up my gnarled bunion laced feet. That included washing them, painting them with garish gold sparkles (which, come to find out my garish toenails were in good company), and slipping on some sandals.

http://lastpictureshowphotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-flickr-stream-attended-my-cousins.html
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAudra Van Vliet
Sounds comfy to us!
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterbaby
Who doesn't dream of a pair of Christian Louboutin's?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/junebugphotography/5001956550/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKimberly
one of my favorite subjects! love your shades of blue above.
Here is one i took this week where i found autumn.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallroots/4997218671/
my project dedicated to where I stand: =)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallroots/sets/72157623331620810/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentersmallroots
My shoes are old, worn out Vans. There's a hole in the heel from the wear of walking, and another hole in the canvas from my big toe. They are the most comfortable shoes to me, because they are so worn in that my footprint is permanently pressed into them. They are stained and dirty and smelly, so I am ordering a new pair soon, but I will never forget where these ones have taken me...I have grown up so much in them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deniselivingston/5001456269/

And just for fun...TOES!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deniselivingston/5002073560/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDenise
This is one of my favorite shots of me in my running shoes.

http://www.shirleybehindthelens.com/2010/05/sooc-saturday-my-running-future.html
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentershirley
how serendipitous! i was just preparing a submission to an exhibition called ... what else, but ... "shoes"! realized i had several images in my iphoto files that might be appropriate for this show at a local gallery in a former shoe store. the exhibition is intended as an homage to the building's roots/history. i've whittled my selections down to NINE possibilities. oy. hoping to make the final cut (two or three images) by end of weekend. my top picks at the moment – ones perhaps most compelling because they seem to have a story – are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonpiepuck/5002193397/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonpiepuck/5002187743/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonpiepuck/5002188157/

but i kind of like this one, too ... and would exhibit it as a triptych with companion images in B & W & sepia.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonpiepuck/5002189885/

if anyone likes one over another, PLEASE let me know ... i need to finalize that submission pronto! THANKS!
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermelissa
I love your post. Shoes are a great subject...
so here is one of mine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/htekmo/4446414409/in/set-72157605108082204/
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHeather
When you discover your favorite summer shoes are broken, perhaps it is time to embrace autumn...
http://journeyleaf.typepad.com/journeyleaf/2009/10/rain-.html
September 18, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterValerie
My shoes are fairly typical of the kinds of work shoes you'd see in many offices here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reportererin/4934122906/
September 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterErin in Kona
Mmmmm, I heart this post. I just took a picture of where I was standing today.
Thanks for this loveliness. Its inspired me.
September 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJane
I stand by my boyfriend. We're only in high school but we know where we want to be in life. Through school, football, soccer, family, and friends, I'm always right beside him.

This is a picture that one of my friends took of me and my boyfriend with his football uniform on. I wasn't even aware of her taking it! But I love it more and more every time i see it:)



http://www.flickr.com/photos/54037404@N02/5000910797/
September 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterEmily
I can share this whole set here ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/sets/72157610880545412/ ), because I was browsing through it, and I realized how much my late shoe-pictures have turned to nature, care, art and home.
September 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJulie Alvarez
Thanks for such an inspirational post!

At my mother-in-laws birthday over the summer, a sudden shower caused the adults to stick to the deck to avoid dirtying their shoes...the little ones didn't care much at all and had a field day running through the puddles and mud. =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23758891@N05/4909711866/
September 20, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterEmil
Where I Stand...

I've been standing outside a lot... and I'm ok with that...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teaandbrie/5009786068/
September 20, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMeg
What a great and simple post...I always say 'shoes maketh the man'...meaning shoes, i picked right, can make a man look like a MAN! Great post, and eloquently put. Shoes...yes what a great metaphor you've drawn, thank you.
September 21, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBeth Jennings
Love watching shoes and feet in the big city - always an assortment.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkleinrn/5029657680/

Kristin
September 27, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterkristin

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