Shyheels

Interesting idea! Let me give it some thought...

And I agree with you that pic size can be tricky - I shoot with a pro DSLR and I wouldn't even bother trying to cut the pics down to size. Not that I would be ever likely to post pics of myself on here, or indeed anywhere. My philosophy is to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. I shall try to think up something to post...

When I was active it seemed like there were only two other people who ever posted. There was no sense of a 'forum'. And even then most of the sub forums had been gathering thick dust, not posted in for months, even years. Just look down the list of sub-forums right now - check out the dates of the most recent posts. Most are from last year. The 'new' ones date from January this year, nearly two months ago And look at the number of overall topics. I think when I stopped coming here there was something like 905 total topics on the board, according to the counter on the right. The vast majority of those topics and threads were mothballed long ago and are long out of date. Jump forward a year and the grand total of topics is 908 - that's three new topics opened up in a year. I don't see why file size of pics should pose the least problem. It is the posts themselves. Somebody posts a pic of their boots or sandals or what-have-you. Six months later somebody else posts beneath it and says "cool' or gives some other brief anodyne response. Not exactly the feast of reason and the flow of soul, is it?

I just by chance happen to check in this afternoon. It has been nearly a year since I looked in or posted - and looking at the dates of the most recent posts on most of the threads, nearly all of them last year, I remember why. Nothing ever happens here. It is dead in the water.

Not really interested in debating anything with you on the subjects of photography or photojournalism. I have had a long and distinguished career with some of the world's great magazines and quite frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. I began this by giving you a gentle hint that furtively snapping pics of ladies' high heels was likely to get you picked up and bounced for being perv. It was good advice. It didn't take. Fine. No skin off my nose. Go and be happy. Here endeth the discussion.

Er...no. And I think you are being a bit disingenuous here. The identifiable people in my images were all people who were quite happy to be photographed, agreed to it expressly and in some cases were given money. Others were in large crowd scenes, with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people milling about - as in the spice markets, long shots down crowded streets, the pictures being of Stone Town itself rather than any individual people etc. This offended precisely nobody. I used long lenses in order not to intrude my own presence into the story - by being present, close up, I would have altered the dynamic - generally because I would have been surrounded by hucksters and would-be guides crowding close with their hands out. You seem to know very little about journalism, photojournalism, street photography, rights, usages, or indeed foreign travel

I had an assignment in Zanzibar many years ago. There is quite a mix of people there - Arab, African, Hindi etc. The Muslim community is very conservative in Zanzibar. They do not even go for the fancy styles of minarets on their mosques because they don't want the ostentation. They - the vast majority of them - strongly object to having their pictures taken. I had to tread carefully, and respectfully. Where I was shooting defined individual subjects I went with Bantu or Hindi (cleared in advance) Crowd and market scenes were trickier. I used long lenses, big crowds, and tried my best to make certain no one person stood out. I got the job done, with no unpleasant experiences and, I hope, no offence given It may be different there now. They are quite used to tourists there these days. This was in the 90s, when Zanzibar was just opening up to visitors.

I was not talking about anyone bringing any civil action, but about calling the cops and denouncing you as an intrusive masher or fetishist, or having their significant other run you off or even give you a thumping. While you may see heels as an art form and your thoughts and motivations may be innocent and as pure as the driven snow, there are enough weirdos out there that your actions in furtively taking images of a woman's high heels could quite easily be misconstrued. I am guessing you did not seek your subject's permission. As I say, there is (broadly) no legal requirement for doing so in most public places for non commercial uses but there are quite valid artistic, social and compositional reasons for doing so. You can simply get a better shot if you have a willing subject. I give you an example. I was in a picturesque fishing village not long ago where boats were being unloaded with much colourful bustle. It was a public waterfront and there were several photographers working the scene. I was the only one to go up to the fishermen, engage them in conversation, ask if they minded my taking images (yes, I know I was under no legal requirement - these were not for corporate or advertising use) And of the half dozen photographers milling about, guess who got the best access? Guess who scored invitations to go out on their boats? I reciprocated by gettng their enail addresses and sending them a few good imagee. They gave me some fish. The whole thng was friendly and engaging and I learned much which added to the value if the images I took. It was a really great shoot. Nobody objected to the other photographers, who kept their distance and shot impersonally, but they never got anything immediate and engaging. the thing with going up and asking a woman you don't know if you can take pictures of her high heels - and pretty much just her high heels - is that you can be pretty damned sure what the response is going to be. I would imagine you would be aware of that, hence the oblique approach. Legal, but... As a counterpoint, it is interesting to read on HHP the oft cited irritation of male heel wearers who find themselves furtively being snapped. There are whole threads denouncing this sort if actvity. Yes, it's legal...but...

True - being in a public place means you can be photographed, no question about it, but there is a huge difference between crowd scenes, someone walking across Trafalgar Square and into frame, and furtively taken photos that zero in and single out someone or, more particularly, their footwear. Risky these days, even if you were technically withn the letter of the law.

Not too sure about the wisdom of doing that sort of thing... Those kind of candid snaps are not always welcome and can land you in hot water

Nice shot of Trafalgar Square.

Exactly. Those quirky little things that liven ones existence and sense of self.

Working on it! Yes, I guess the secret talent remark does beg a wise-ass response, but I do like the idea of having an off-beat talent that nobody knowing me or seeing me on the streets would guess that I had

Many thanks! I am hoping my narrow foot will help with fitting. I expect walking well in 5" stilettos to be a challenge, but a fun one (hopefully) and something I can master with practice. I kind of like the notion of having a secret talent...

Firstly, many thanks for the very considered and helpful response! As to shoe/boot size, I am actually a UK11 or better, depending on make. I put 44-45 down as something I might be able to squeeze into, so I think 5" might even be slightly more achievable still - with care and patience, of course, or maybe that should be tenacity. I have quite narrow feet which may or may not complicate things. My foot would more likely be able to fit a woman's last - possibly? Funny you mention Banana - i stumbled across them and was wondering if they were any good or reliable. Your recommendation counts with me. They do seem to have quite a lot of boots, although an awful lot of them have platforms. (I may have been a child of the 60s-70s, but I hate platforms) They did have some knee boots with 5" heels and no platforms, and while they are not exactly designer fare, as long as they are stable they should do the trick, not cost the earth, and help me to achieve my Bucket list ambition! This shoukd be interesting and, I expect, instil n me plenty of respect for women with relatively small feet who rock such heels casually and on a daily basis. Those ankle boots you tried on sounded like great things to avoid. I can do without a broken ankle - I came near enough to doing that last August stumbling on a broken bit of curb in London while wearing very sturdy hiking boots.

Thanks! My tallest is two and three quarters inch chunky heels on a pair of otk boots, so this will be rather a different thing. I am guessng balance as well as height will be issues...bound to be interesting!

My whole thing here has been tall boots, not necessarily with heels. Indeed of my three pair of otk boots, two - and my two favourites at that - are flats, and the third has a chunky two and three-quarter inch heel. All well and good. Quite happy. I am curious though about what it would be like to try stilettos - and thought I might put it on my bucket list: learning to walk really well in a pair of 5" stilettos (boots of course, no interest whatever ladies shoes) The idea is driven by a combination of curiosity, the athletic challenge, my own natural contrariness in wanting to do what one 'shouldn't', and the allure of the forbidden (but the not genuinely bad) My question is - would the difference in walking in stilettos be that noticeable enough to be a worthwhile challenge? Are they really hard to master? I have strong and flexble ankles. Other problem is finding 'nice' stiletto boots in my size - 44-45 would be the smallest I could go down to, I think. Maybe a silly thing for a bucket list, being able to walk really well in 5" stilettos, but I kind of like the idea of having a hidden talent nobody would imagine I had.

I've had days, then, when I have certainly been upside down!

Big feet run in our family - pardon the pun.

I met a guy the other day whose son takes a size 18 shoe. (we were talking about how big our kids were getting - he comprehensively trumped me!) I would imagine any interest the kid might ever have had in heels would be dead in the water.

Well, I certainly never considered myself vertically challenged until the past few years. Everybody seems so tall now. Likewise I used to have trouble finding size 14 trainers when I was doing a lot of distance running during my twenties. Now it is dead easy to find them that size - and bigger.

Well, I have been married twice both times to women from entirely different continents to the one where I was born and raised, so I am certainly no follower of the 20-mile rule! But then my second wife - 16 years now - is someone who is as world-based in her thinking as I am. She's English but I met her on the other side of the world, and began seeing each other in various locales. We were two peas in a pod - much the same as if we had grown up in neighbouring villages I suppose. I am six feet. I have generally gone with tall women. Wife is 5'9". I went out with a gorgeous redheaded basketball player once - she was about 6'1". I still hear from her. I don't know how tall her husband is but her youngest child is 6'9"

I was walking along the park near the citadel one night in Belgrade and found myself standing beside this incredibly tall family. The father, in his 50s, was a good 6'9" and big with it, and his wife was at least 6'2". Their adult daughter was about 6'5" in her heels. God knows how tall her little son will be someday. I wouldn't by any means say they were typical of people one meets in Belgrade, but encountering them that evening capped off a day where I - a mere 6' - felt really, really short.

I have been to Norway many times and although I know Norwegians are meant to be tall, I never really noticed it let alone felt as though I were in the land of the giants the way I did walking the streets of Belgrade. Those very tall Serbian women, and their even taller menfolk, must buy there boots and shoes somewhere, and they must be in large sizes so...

I wonder if he was thinking of the diminutive Minogue sisters? Australians are fairly tall as a rule, although nothing like Serbians. I had an assignment there not long ago and there are some seriously tall people there, and plenty of six-foot-plus women who are not the least bit hesitant to put on towering heels. I felt like a child there...