Aiming High - Practicing in Heels

[Shyheels]

It’s a nice capture. Interesting clouds.

Theres a saying amongst photographers that the best camera is the one you have with you. And it’s true.

i would love to take some arty shots of heels. It would be quite a departure from my usual work and so I have to think through how I’d do it, and be prepared to put in the time and mess up quite a few. I’m quite good at capturing the mood and feel of a place and good at portraiture - I need to work out what I’m saying or want to say about heels. 

Edited yesterday at 10:12 AM by Shyheels

[mlroseplant]

I'm not really beating myself up about the photographs I post on here, it's just that they're beginning to all feel the same. I suppose that's because basically, they are all the same. There are several ways to go about improving that, but at this point, I'm kind of set in my ways, and it's not all that important to me. And if I must be honest, I still feel a little bit silly as a grown man taking pictures of himself.

 

[Shyheels]

You shouldn’t beat yourself up about your photos - nothing wrong with them at all. You present a very nice image of a guy wearing heels and that’s all to the good. The world needs more of such images.  I just get hung up on the challenge of trying to create art house or magazine style images because that is what I do and the notion of trying to do this with heels appeals to me. 

[Cali]

@mlroseplant you think your pictures are all the same because you have a set-up that works so you use it over and over. I have a set-up that I use to show me in my heels because I am lazy and it works.  The distance and lighting work well there, so why change it

@CrushedVamp nice photo. Make postcards and sell it to the summer tourist. You get sunrises and I get sunsets. Each provide an array of vibrant colors.

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Cali

[CrushedVamp]

21 hours ago, Shyheels said:

It’s a nice capture. Interesting clouds.

Theres a saying amongst photographers that the best camera is the one you have with you. And it’s true.

i would love to take some arty shots of heels. It would be quite a departure from my usual work and so I have to think through how I’d do it, and be prepared to put in the time and mess up quite a few. I’m quite good at capturing the mood and feel of a place and good at portraiture - I need to work out what I’m saying or want to say about heels. 

Thanks for the compliment about the picture.

Yet I can commiserate with you regarding high heel photography. I have tried doing some high heels still life’s and such, but as you mention, “what am I trying to convey” comes back to haunt me regarding them. It is a really hard subject matter because we have an interest in them and so for us that is enough, but for others it begs the question: why are high heels in the picture?

I did this with my daughter when she was born. My wife loves her high heels, and I love her in them, and so it is natural for me to combine everything with a newborn that just bore out the proof of that love, but for anyone else looking at the photo it is like, “why are there high heels in a newborn picture of your daughter?” Even with other still life’s that did not employ a model of any sort, the question is there… “why are they there?”

The answer for that I think is that for many people, high heels do NOT represent something functional or stylish to wear, or a lifestyle, or even a life-challenge of shoe-choice, but rather just being symbolism for s*x.

Edited 5 hours ago by CrushedVamp

[Shyheels]

While I’m sure that association exists in the minds of many, I don’t think it exists that often in the minds of the people who actually wear high heels - and I mean wear them as a matter of course, as a part of their personal style. None of the women I know who wear high heels wear them because they want to appeal to men - they wear them for reasons of elegance, style, aesthetics and the sense of empowerment they project. And simply because they are fun.

i wear them for the same reasons. I like them. I like the cavalier styling - what a lovely break from the Puritanism on the men’s aisle - and because they are fun and a challenge to wear, and to wear well. I too find them empowering although for different reasons than a woman might. For me they feel empowering because I’m refusing to be cowed by the herd, am making my own style choices regardless of the opinions of others, standing in my own two (heeled) feet.

i think far too much is made of stereotype

its the joy of wearing them I’d like to capture with my camera. Simple as that. It just requires a bit of imagination to find a way to capture it in the shorthand form of a single still image 

Edited 3 hours ago by Shyheels

[mlroseplant]

I figure it is a question that cannot be answered. I get different reactions with different shoes. For example, with my burgundy Mary Janes, it's always, "Oh, those are so cute. Those are adorable!" With some of my open toed stiletto mules, maybe I get a completely different reaction. I think a lot of it really depends upon more than just the shoes in question, but on the total package. I have no idea what people would think of my challenge shoes, should I ever get the hang of walking in them.