For some strange reason, I’ve acquired the strange habit of taking shoe-selfies.
I have been doing it for quite some time now, and only recently have I figured out why exactly. I realized, that most of these “feet pictures” are usually taken in places where I felt that “calmness.” Like when you go to a certain place and you look at the view and think to yourself: “This is amazing, and I want to document it.”
But somehow, you’re too ashamed to take a photo of yourself in a public place, or in a somewhat weird position (i.e. backriding on a motorbike) so you tend to just look down at your feet and decide they’re more interesting than what surrounds you.
You subtly take a photo of your shoes as proof that you’ve set foot on that wonderful place (even though it doesn’t show anything much, aside from the ground you’re standing on) and walk away contented with what you took.
But as soon as I went through my cellphone and camera photos, I have no idea how to appreciate these pictures of the ground and my shoes. I don’t have a foot-fetish, so I don’t know why I’ve been keeping these pictures all this time.
Somehow, I’ve found a purpose for these “shoe-selfies.”
I’ve always wanted to try and create a travel tradition. Like get something wherever I go to take home with me and keep as memorabilia. I used to collect rocks from places I had happy moments when I was a little kid. What can I say? I’m sentimental. But it didn’t work because they’re too bulky, and not everywhere I went to had rocks. Most of the places I had happy moments were indoors, plus, I keep forgetting where exactly I got those rocks from since I never really labeled them.
Instead of rocks, I decided another creative way of keeping memories from places I went to would be these shoe-selfies. However, because these photos obviously don’t show the actual places I went to, I made collages. Simple, yet effective.





I had a lot of travel experiences, mostly in beaches, but I figured 7 more pictures of my weird looking feet wearing slippers would be annoying.
A new tradition begins! Although I do realize, for this sort of collection, I’d probably need a bunch of new shoes.
xx
Gizel
- Oh the Places You’ll Go and the Weirdos You Will Meet (elisesmall.wordpress.com)
Haha I love it– and you appear to have adorable shoes, so it seems to be worth it.
I have a tattoo on my left hand so I usually take hand-selfies when I’m in a new place/country. It definitely feels less awkward and more subtle than pulling a duck face in front of a monument or something.
exactly! hahaha :))