"Never would I have imagined that my little secret would attract so many people."
Ed Fox: Glamour from the Ground Up. Excerpt from the introduction by Dian Hanson
Page [1] [2]
"The most tempting part of a woman's body is her feet. Feet are a woman's second body, the one I can visually enjoy without her being offended or even aware, and never would I have imagined that my little secret would attract so many people."
Ed Fox has been called the new Elmer Batters, but he's clearly no imitator. Yes, there's that "little secret" he shares with the late Mr. Batters, but Fox celebrates the female foot in his own way, creating a style that is unique, contemporary, and technically impeccable. Because he draws inspiration from both still photography and video there's a strong sense of movement in his photos, reflecting his own energetic personality.
I met Fox when I was editor of Leg Show magazine and from the beginning he brought more energy to a shoot than any photographer I've ever encountered. Most photographers arrange a film set as if it's a stage play and they're the audience. The background stays in the back, the model stays in the middle, and the photographer stays down front snapping the photos. For Fox it's all interactive. He works exclusively on location because he needs his glamour integrated with the real world, and during a shoot he has to explore the scene from every angle: scrambling up trees, crawling along the ground, wedging himself into corners, cajoling the sun to do his bidding.
"If I could take the sun and put it wherever I want, the shooting would never finish," Fox says, especially when he gets "ants in his pants," his name for a hyperkinetic anxiety that hits when inspiration flows faster than he can move lights, change film, and silence ringing cell phones. There's no stopping him then. If the makeup smears, a stocking runs, or the model needs a bathroom break it's just tough luck, because Fox is going to keep clicking that shutter, begging everyone to "Wait, wait, wait" even as the model is walking off the set.
Fox's first experience with female feet came at age 10, compliments of his older cousin and a neighbor girl. The three were sitting together on a couch when the couple started making out. Fox felt excluded, but also aroused by the show, and by the girl's feet pushing against him."I didn't know what to do, so I decided to rub her feet," says Fox. "She didn't say anything so I assumed she liked it... and I was just happy to be touching a girl! It wasn't until my early teens that I started really noticing feet. I was always going through men's magazines, hoping to see bare feet, and all the photographers would either keep the shoes on or crop the feet out entirely, so I figured it was weird to like feet and didn't think anybody else was into it."
None of which kept Fox from sneaking a few foot shots into his photography. It always made him feel nervous, more naked and vulnerable than his model, yet he knew these shots were his most inspired work."I had to sacrifice my little secret so that others could enjoy it as well; so I could open their eyes and make them aware. I felt vulnerable, but then I found this magazine Leg Show and it had all these foot photos. I wondered why it wasn't called Feet Show, but then I thought, right, it's a secret for all of us. And that's when I realized I wasn't the only one."
I don't remember the first time Ed contacted me at Leg Show, but I certainly remember the second. Because Fox had never heard of Batters until he became his successor he wasn't intimidated trying to fill such big shoes. His style stayed his own, which meant a preference for bare legs and revealing high-heeled sandals over Batters' stockings, pantyhose, and tennis shoes. The two men did share a taste for bare feet and the womanly figure, both seeing the curves of the foot as a continuation of the curves of the body. As much as Batters loved voluptuous women he didn't have the infinite model choices now available to Fox, whose subjects tend to be exceptionally curvaceous.
Page [1] [2]
Page [1] [2]
"The most tempting part of a woman's body is her feet. Feet are a woman's second body, the one I can visually enjoy without her being offended or even aware, and never would I have imagined that my little secret would attract so many people."
Ed Fox has been called the new Elmer Batters, but he's clearly no imitator. Yes, there's that "little secret" he shares with the late Mr. Batters, but Fox celebrates the female foot in his own way, creating a style that is unique, contemporary, and technically impeccable. Because he draws inspiration from both still photography and video there's a strong sense of movement in his photos, reflecting his own energetic personality.
I met Fox when I was editor of Leg Show magazine and from the beginning he brought more energy to a shoot than any photographer I've ever encountered. Most photographers arrange a film set as if it's a stage play and they're the audience. The background stays in the back, the model stays in the middle, and the photographer stays down front snapping the photos. For Fox it's all interactive. He works exclusively on location because he needs his glamour integrated with the real world, and during a shoot he has to explore the scene from every angle: scrambling up trees, crawling along the ground, wedging himself into corners, cajoling the sun to do his bidding.
"If I could take the sun and put it wherever I want, the shooting would never finish," Fox says, especially when he gets "ants in his pants," his name for a hyperkinetic anxiety that hits when inspiration flows faster than he can move lights, change film, and silence ringing cell phones. There's no stopping him then. If the makeup smears, a stocking runs, or the model needs a bathroom break it's just tough luck, because Fox is going to keep clicking that shutter, begging everyone to "Wait, wait, wait" even as the model is walking off the set.
Fox's first experience with female feet came at age 10, compliments of his older cousin and a neighbor girl. The three were sitting together on a couch when the couple started making out. Fox felt excluded, but also aroused by the show, and by the girl's feet pushing against him."I didn't know what to do, so I decided to rub her feet," says Fox. "She didn't say anything so I assumed she liked it... and I was just happy to be touching a girl! It wasn't until my early teens that I started really noticing feet. I was always going through men's magazines, hoping to see bare feet, and all the photographers would either keep the shoes on or crop the feet out entirely, so I figured it was weird to like feet and didn't think anybody else was into it."
None of which kept Fox from sneaking a few foot shots into his photography. It always made him feel nervous, more naked and vulnerable than his model, yet he knew these shots were his most inspired work."I had to sacrifice my little secret so that others could enjoy it as well; so I could open their eyes and make them aware. I felt vulnerable, but then I found this magazine Leg Show and it had all these foot photos. I wondered why it wasn't called Feet Show, but then I thought, right, it's a secret for all of us. And that's when I realized I wasn't the only one."
I don't remember the first time Ed contacted me at Leg Show, but I certainly remember the second. Because Fox had never heard of Batters until he became his successor he wasn't intimidated trying to fill such big shoes. His style stayed his own, which meant a preference for bare legs and revealing high-heeled sandals over Batters' stockings, pantyhose, and tennis shoes. The two men did share a taste for bare feet and the womanly figure, both seeing the curves of the foot as a continuation of the curves of the body. As much as Batters loved voluptuous women he didn't have the infinite model choices now available to Fox, whose subjects tend to be exceptionally curvaceous.
Page [1] [2]
Ed Fox: Glamour from the Ground Up
Hardcover + DVD, 21.2 x 30 cm (8.3 x 11.8 in.), 280 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
Ed Fox's devotion to the female foot
Dita von Teese. Photos (c) Ed Fox
Kara Mae. Photo (c) Ed Fox