A Work In Progress – Foot Traffic part 1

Welcome back folks. As you may have noticed, I’ve decided to add a new category to the blog called “A Work In Progress” to document my growth of my personal projects from time to time as well to hopefully gain insightful critique along the way. First up is a project that I stumbled upon and have been working on for the past six months. I call it: Foot Traffic.

The project first started while I was sitting down during an art show opening at the LDR Gallery in the South Bronx. I’m not the type of person to mingle at these events, but I always carry my camera with me and I just started shooting. The lighting was dim so I had to use a slow shutter speed and kept the camera on the floor with a mini tripod.  I didn’t find the images too interesting at first, but I started to notice the different shoes people were wearing, and more importantly, how they stand.

Each person has a different stance defined by their comfort and personality.

A display of distance and relationships to other people.

A motion of how they feel.

And a sense of their age. By the time I knew it, I had a project forming.

Over the period I started this project, I reviewed some of my older photos and noticed that I was already photographing people’s feet but hadn’t comprehended the meaning behind why I was shooting them. Only now do I see the connection.

The project may seem a bit voyeuristic, and at times perhaps it is. But discovering the unhindered, objective, natural identity of people through their feet and stance is an unique prospective for me, different from shooting portraits.