Three Layer Cake

I'm working on a new project.  When a former colleague was preparing to leave Italy, I thought I'd get him a 'coffee table book' of the aspect he'd miss the most about Italy.  I asked him and he said "Women, in spiked heels on cobblestone streets because I think the ability to walk in them is genetic, and red wine."  I said quizzically, "All three? Together??" and he said, "Yes.  Women in spikes holding a glass of wine on a cobblestone street."  I said, "Well.  I won't find that in any bookstore...  So I'll just have to make it for you.  It may take some time, but I'll do it."

The truth is that I had already, unknowingly, started about a month before.  When my sidekick and I were out photographing, I was instructed to get a photo of the little pendant on a woman's ankle (below).  I think it was a flimsy excuse to have a photo of the miracle that she was walking around a flea market in these shoes without a care in the world...  The requests from my sidekick and others were ever more frequent, and so the race for the high heels began...

 When the weather is permitting, sometimes after work I will position myself in a high traffic area and try to get some shots in.  You should know that shooting feet is not easy.  Not meaning to encroach on the Sartorialist's territory , but I must say I have an even higher respect for his work... It's true that he apparently has the consent of the photographed individual, but I am happy to say that I've already gotten over seeming like a weirdo.  (Hey, I think that girl just took a picture of your feet!).  What I haven't gotten over, though, is when I get home, and I hear, "Let me see what pictures you took today."  I feel like my sidekick is Fagin, and I'm Oliver Twist, sent out to 'steal' shots of these women's feet!  I don't CARE anything about these shoes, but there is something quite fun about taking the pictures... And I must admit, some women really can work it, but others should get help from their loved ones on deciding which shoes to wear out of the house, and when it's time for a pedicure...