Dead foot...

I took a series of photos a few months ago (probably longer than a few, I suck at time) of feet.   When I was in junior high I went through this foot-drawing phase.  I just drew feet on everything and I have no idea why.  My English teacher (who wasn't a bit fond of me) smiled and said "Maybe when you grow up, you'll sell shoes."   Yes.  At 14 years old, I aspired to be Al Bundy (although I should say if Her Hotness Katey Segal was my wife, I would have zero complaints).

Last night and a bit today I've been playing with these photos.  I have a sort of love/hate for photo editing software because it helps me get my photos close to what I see in my head, but also allows me to procrastinate on learning how to fully operate my wonderful camera.  Lazy.  I'm just lazy.  On one particular photo, I zoomed in and out repeatedly; getting up close and personal with dry skin.  The adjustments I made to the photo caused discoloration and pronounced shadows and slight imperfections so much that the foot looks filthy, disgusting, and dead.  I love it.  I love the horror of it, I guess. 

Going back to the first paragraph of my childhood aspirations – I actually wanted to be everything in the entire world.  There were certain careers that stood out more than others, but I liked the idea of being able to help people with anything…from a plumbing problem to an interior design crisis.  One specific career that I was really interested in was becoming a mortician.  I wanted to be a Funeral Director.  To me Funeral Directors got to play several different parts; like actors, except continuous work was a guarantee (maybe this is relevant to my identity issues).   This life-long preoccupation with death comes through in a lot of my artwork and this foot photo was no exception!  After playing around, it started looking like a dead foot.  The skin, along with looking filthy and dry, appeared mottled.  I've done this with body photos before and I always like the outcome, but I've never zoomed in like I did with the foot.  I like that even more. 

I am fascinated with breaking people/bodies into sections.  Picking one area and highlighting or removing it from where it's supposed to be.  Disjointing, I suppose.   So taking this foot and zooming in so close goes along with that fascination.  It's truly repulsive (and I'm smiling as I write that).