Thursday, March 26, 2009

feet


This entry is prompted by Joanie Hoffman's blog entry "Hoffman in a Teapot or Thepest in a Teapot" about why artist bloggers post pictures of their feet.

Well here is the proof! I also have photos of my feet. I took this photo a couple of weeks ago on one of my walks around the walkway that follows the shoreline around our town. When I stopped for a rest on the beach halfway through my walk, I took photos of my feet, my shadow, the contents of my backpack, and the scenery.

I think we do it for a few reasons. One, because we don't have anyone to take a photo of us and our feet are the furthest away part of our body that we can shoot ourselves. Two, because we are more comfortable with the anonymity and non-revealing nature of a photo that does not show our whole body, or too much of it. Three, because as artists we like the creativity of representing something in a partial, representative way.
I don't know if you all agree with this or have other ideas, I would be interested to know.
p.s. If I am starting to bore the artist followers of this blog with too much conversation, I promise that I plan to post some art entries again soon!

16 comments:

purplecat said...

Hummm interesting ideas! I don't think I have done this, must go down to our local beach and photograph my footwaer...lol

Anonymous said...

I have alot of pics of my feet!!! I often wondered why. I had thought of your #1 and feel that #2 is a deeper meaning and find #3 a great creative answer. Thanks!

Seth said...

Wondered this myself. I think you have come up with some solid reasons behind this trend.

Joanie Hoffman said...

Wonderful answer! Thanks for answering here and on my blog.
I love answers!
Happy days,
Joanie

Anonymous said...

I like your answers! Prompted by having read Joanie's post yesterday, I just posted my own feet on my blog tonight.

P.S. I know how you feel, my own actual artwork posts have been few and far between. I, too, intend to get some stuff up on my blog again soon. Good luck to you! And a good day!

Denise Moore said...

I agree with your comments. Although I have never taken a photo of my feet. I think too, it represents how we artists are always on the road to new discovery .
I like the setting of this photo, I almost feel I could then look up and see the water.

Kim Mailhot said...

I do agree with your way of thinking about the feet - safety in a kind of anonymous way is part of the wonderful appeal of blogging in general, I think. We get to reveal parts of ourselves that we want to reveal, sometimes parts we don't show anywhere else but we are safe behind our key board and screen where we call the shots.

Have to say, I haven't put shots of my feet out there yet - shadows yes though ! Guess I am behind the trend again !;-)

Thanks for the convo !

Jennifer said...

I have some pictures of my feet too. I wonder if a #4 would be as a sort of grounding, I am here now sort of thing?

And as to your comment on my blog.. I had been spending so much time worrying how I was going to come up with responses to my strange selection of words I hadn't even thought about tying them all together. That could make the project even more challenging/fascinating. Thanks for making me think about it. As of right now I'm thinking I should try and have them somehow unified in a visual way but not a conceptual one. The concepts are too far flung.

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hm, I don't know about some of that. If I photog my shoes or feet, peeps are gonna know they are my feet, so I only photog them when they look good. {blush} That's not often enough.

Margaret said...

What an interesting post! thinking back I can remember a number of blogs where I've seen photos of the author's feet and I've never really thought about why, rather just wondered what the rest of the person was doing! stopping for coffee, eating cake,?? who knows? I think that's all part of it.
Re my blog, I also remember the pictures of the earthquake and jumping (strictly forbidden) in front of the Siesmograph in the museum as a child to get it to move! I lived in Karori for a while and it was always rocking and rolling! M

Toni said...

My feet pics started out as a Foot War between my soul sister, Veronica, and me [ ... this, despite knowing that I have feet that look like hamburgers with everything on 'em ...] Mostly it was about who had the cutest shoes, I think. NOW I take feet pictures as a kind of 'I was there' souvenir.

Anonymous said...

I think that's a great idea about all posting and linking our feet pics daisy-chain-like through eachother's posts!

Caroline said...

Yippee - now I can comment - thanks for stopping the comments being embedded.

I think another reason for liking feet is that taking a photo of them places us in our context of the moment... I love the context you choose.

Unknown said...

Our feet are symbloic of our "souls". They are our foundation, they are our way to get to there from here. As an artist these are some of my lifes urges... to be in touch with my soul,to have a strong foundation and to get from here to there by growing, never stagnating...

:-)

Have a great hair day! Becci

Casey said...

Oh yes, I have pictures of my feet, and also of my kids. I do like the perspective, and I'm also very fond of shoes;)

ostrich girl said...

Sometimes I do pics of my feet cause they are kinda goofy! I can't wait to see your new mixed media pics!Thanks for sharing all the info you share! I was especially excited about the art/law stuff! I hope the U.S. follows suit!
Great To meet you! Sheri DeBow