Well, it is not really a technique, but an art form. Well, it is not really an art form either. But it is a way of proving that you are somewhere, especially when you are traveling alone and no one is around to take your picture at some particular fabulous location. Or, even if others are around, taking pictures of your feet can be fun anyway.

Here is a small photographic journey of my shoes and feet. Note that occasionally, my youngest sister was with me on a travel adventure, so her feet are included as well.

The Piazzas and Squares of Europe make for a scenic city backdrop to my feet. These photos of my walking shoes are in Siena, Italy (sorry for the bad exposure), and Tallinn, Estonia, respectively.

Rushing rivers while hiking make for scenic outdoorsy backgrounds for my feet. Here my hiking boots are shown along the Savage River during a day-hike in Denali National Park in Alaska, as well as on a three-day tramp (“hike” in New Zealand terminology) on the Routeburn Track.

Beaches and the ocean are perfect places for footsie portraits. My bare feet are relaxing on this beach in Falconara, Italy. My sister’s feet and mine are gazing at the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Iceland.

More outdoor locations include looking down at my hiking boot while backpacking on the Wonderland Trail of Mt. Rainier, and showing off the crampons on our feet when my sister and I were taking a walk on Solhelmajokull Glacier in Iceland.

Grass is another pleasant place for a picturesque foot snapshot, such as this one in Hyde Park in London, with my black walking shoes.

And finally, the Galapagos Islands make for a variety of bare feet photos.

So next time you feel like you need an image of yourself to prove that you are somewhere, or if you just want a different type of picture for your photo album and to show all your friends, you can always take a photograph of your shoes and feet!

Sweet Travels!

All photos of my feet Copyright Debby Lee 2009.

—Driving around on Snaefell Peninsula, with Snaefellsjokull, a glacier-covered mountain on one side of us, the farmland surrounding us, and the Atlantic Ocean to the other side of us.

—Seeing my sister take photos of our priceless memories.

—Saying how lucky we were that the weather we had mostly cooperated, giving us warm, sunny days.
—Piling rocks on a cairn during a walk through a volcanic landscape, to give us good luck.

—Seeing the scrunch on our faces as we got a whiff of the rotten-egg smell of the sulfur of volcanic activity, seeing the colors of an area that looks like Yellowstone, and making shadows against those colors.

—Experimenting with Icelandic food, such as lamb soup, hot spring bread with smoked trout, and salted cod. Yum!
—Standing near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, over-looking a crack in the Earth.

—Seeing Iceland (which is more green than ice), from the air, as we took a flight from Reykjavik to Lake Mývatn.
—Looking at old Icelandic memorabilia, and old-style homes (some with grass on their roofs), at a couple of museums, including an open-air museum.

—Exploring and walking around a small crater lake at Kerio Explosion Crater.
—Seeing geysers spout warm water into the air, and then feeling the “rain” from it getting us wet.
—And finally, hearing my younger sister say, ‘”this is wonderful. I’m so glad we did this,” with crampons on our feet and ice axes in our hands, as we walked on a huge glacier, with its white ice and black volcanic rock, surrounded by brown and grassy landscape, with the Atlantic Ocean looming in the distance. Oh, and then trying our skills at ice climbing!

—And don’t forget to look back at the first blog with a photo of two sisters playing on swings…

Sweet Travels!

In my travel journal, I kept a list of the activities that my sister and I did when we were in Iceland. Some of the items on the list are typical tourist activities; other items describe the Icelandic landscape; other items are just things that we experienced together, as sisters, exploring and having fun. I’d like to share some of the items on that list, in random order, along with photos for the visual impact, to get an idea of what happens when two sisters meet in a far remote corner of the world.

—Soaking and relaxing (and playing) in the heat of the sulfuric water of the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa and hot springs, only hours after my sister arrived in Iceland.

—Sitting on a black rock/sand beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere on the Snæfell Peninsula, as we drove ourselves around.

—Putting our feet in hot water in a cave near Lake Mývatn. (Note the feet theme…)

—Sitting in a natural hot springs river, out in the middle of vast lava fields, of black rock covered with green moss, while it was raining out, near Hjálparfoss waterfall.

—Looking at several waterfalls throughout Iceland, many with rainbows, plummeting lots of cold water from melting glaciers, and hearing my sister say how ´beautiful´ it was, as we walked behind one of these waterfalls.

—Riding through the countryside of shrubbery and meadows near Geysir, on Icelandic horses.

—Looking at lighthouses on the coast, small community churches, and red roofed homes on green farmland, in various areas of Iceland, including during our drive around the Snæfell Peninsula.



—Watching Arctic Tern encircling our car, almost like in a bad movie.

—Overlooking the city of Reykjavík, with its colorful-roofed homes, from the bell tower of Reykjavík Cathedral.

—Seeing a red/orange sunset over the Atlantic Ocean at 11pm at night; and waking up at 2am, while sleeping in our tents, noticing that it was still light outside.

—Blowing on dandelion flowers and making wishes.

As you can see, this trip was quite special for both of us. Stay tuned for another blog with more photos of these priceless experiences and memories.

Sweet Travels!

arctic tern photo from Wikipedia