As a photographer, I know that I tend to take photos when I reach the summit of a mountain. Even if clouds are obscuring my vision beyond five feet, I’ll take a photo, just to prove I’ve been there. Looking through my folders of photos, all safely stored on my external hard drive, I notice other trends in my picture taking. I like to take photos of food, glacial rocks, flowers, bumblebees, shadows, weird mushrooms, reflections, furry and feathered animals (usually blurry), and … my feet? Yes, I have a habit of photographing my feet. I realized this today and began collecting all the foot photos I could find on my hard drive. I ended up with 20 photos in 20 different locations. Why, you may ask. Good question. I could come up with a completely bogus philosophical essay about how my feet symbolize my love for hiking. The funny thing is that if I go back to the times that I took each individual foot picture, I think I took them for different reasons. I’ll give my best guess for the reasoning behind each foot photo in the caption of 12 select foot photos here.
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- By Aislinn Sarnacki. My foot on the door of Derek Runnells Subaru after falling while hiking down Cadillac Mountain via North Ridge Trail during the summer of 2010. Why: I’m taking a photo of my bloody leg, of course.
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- By Aisilnn Sarnacki. My feet in front of a campfire at Foster Field in Baxter State Park during summer of 2011. Why: I was testing my flash at night so I could take photos of my family around the fire. Yes, that is black toenail polish. My mom said that black fingernail polish makes me look “Gothic,” so I decided to paint my toenails instead for her.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet on Islesboro in the summer of 2009. Why: I really like my sandals and I was lying on a comfortable log sunning and didn’t want to get up to take a photo.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet at the natural watersides in Baxter Sate Park during the summer of 2010. Why: I thought my aunt’s 1980s water shoes were awesome.
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- By Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet in Speck Pond, the highest pond in Maine. Why: My feet have never been so happy to be dipped in cool water. I just climbed Speck Mountain, elevation of 4,170 feet)
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet on Mount Abraham in summer of 2009. Why: It was a really muddy trail and I felt like complaining via photo.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet on Knife Edge, Mount Katahdin, in the summer of 2011. Why: I don’t know, but I don’t think it was a good idea that I took a photo while walking on Knife Edge.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. Snowshoeing buddy Derek Runnells and I take a break while walking around Mount Hope Cemetery in Veazie during the winter of 2010-11. Why: I’m fond of my snowshoes? I’m not sure why I took this photo.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My foot on a ladder on Beehive Trail on Mount Desert Island during the summer of 2009. Why: I was trying to get the view looking down. I probably shouldn’t take photos while climbing ladders, either.
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- Photo by Aisilnn Sarnacki. I introduce hiking buddy Ben Robie into the art of foot photos. We are sitting on a ledge on Knife Edge during the summer of 2010. Why: It’s my favorite spot on Knife Edge because you can sit down and dangle your legs over a drop that is more than 1,000 feet with no danger of falling.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet on the ladder of the old fire tower on the summit of Big Spencer Mountain during the summer of 2009. Why: Not really sure about this one. I was trying to get a better view of the surrounding terrain, but not necessarily a view of the ladder.
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- Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My foot on the summit “sign” of Sugarloaf Mountain during the summer of 2009. Why: I was hiking alone and I wanted to prove that I had been to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, which is actually the second highest peak in Maine.
If you’re wondering, I will continue to take foot photos, but now I’ll be more aware of what I’m doing and I’m afraid the photos won’t be as candid. I guess that makes this album a gem.
Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki. My feet on Mount Abraham in summer of 2009. Why: It was a really muddy trail and I felt like complaining via photo.
