This week I’ve collected most of my related photographs onto my spare hard-drive & have subfoldered them into categories relation to the type of shoe or it’s state of disrepair. There are a number still to retrieve from backup drives & a lot still to process from last year. It’s sad how many are left to do, but it’s a personal project so it holds the lowest priority rating of my processing folders. However I’ve had a bit of a break this week & have gotten through processing over a thousand mostly personal shots. I’m rather happy with that.

Along with all of that processing, I’ve managed to get in a couple of shoots for the Shoe Book.  After finding a home published job for sale online that used my own words from the forum on this website & from my Livejournal, I was feeling rather flat & uninspired to continue it.  But a few good friends pointed out all the work I’ve put in so far, & pressed me hard to keep going.  So this year that is my priority.  There will be as many related shoots as I can fit in, & all my spare time will be spent working on it.  After all, there’s four years of work in it so far.

I’ve uploaded a small selection to my gallery.  These include photographs of shops (with permissions) & shoes from a mixture of booked & spur of the moment shoots.  Many thanks to all of the random strangers who have granted me leave to photograph their feet instead of running away screaming from the strange girl with a large camera!  Not just Perth either – I have quite a solid number from my trip to Beijing last year.

The other night I had the opportunity to photograph the pair of Red Shoes that have a story I will never forget.  That’s them above, along with the piano that goes with them.  Yes, you read that right; they’re a matched pair.  Those shoes haven’t been wearable for about a decade, but their owner is not intending to part with them any time soon.  She still has a mischievous glint in her eye when she tells their story.

And therein lies much of the point to the book.  The stories & desire behind a pair of shoes, or the compulsive need to own as many as possible.   As my mother & her best friend both say, “If the shoe fits, buy it in every colour.”

A few people have emailed me lists of their shoes, &/or photos of them all lined up, so that I can start planning shoots around them.  If you’d like to have your shoes & their anecdotes involved please drop me an email,  draganin at dragancaor dot net.  No matter their state of wellbeing or how ‘boring’ they might appear.

Alternatively, over at Livejournal you can leave a reply on one (or all) of three posts regarding this project.   Anecdotes are being collected here.  There are also  two questionnaires; an overview of your shoes & one that relates specifically to Chuck Taylors by Converse.

For my shoes book  it’s starting to look like the good old Converse Chuck Taylor All Star (“Chuck” for short) are going to take up a chapter to themselves.  Now, believe me, I don’t mind that at all… but I figured if there’s going to be a chapter on them, then I want serious amounts of words strewn in there amongst them too as to why there is an entire chapter on just one shoe design in so many flavours.

I’ve done up a little questionnaire for people to answer with regard to this shoe type & have hosted it on my Livejournal account.  I’d greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to answer the questions – even if it’s just to tell me that you don’t own any & why!  Pass the link to this questionnaire around to your friends & anyone else you know who might be interested in taking part. The more answers, from the most diverse range possible, the better!

In addition to this, if you live in Perth, Western Australia (or near enough that you can travel here) I’d love to photograph you in/with your Chucks.  There are a number of shoots being lined up later this month & over the next few after that, that are centred entirely on this single model of shoe.