Dear friends,

Is it just me or do you, admires of winter barefooting, also think that the Chilly Feet site is losing a momentum? Before I explain why I am asking such a question and what exactly I mean, let me stress that nothing that I am going to say should be interpreted as criticism. The very opposite is true. It is my firm belief that everybody who contributes to the smooth running of the site deserves nothing but our respect.

What am I concerned about then?

1. A bit unrealistic scenarios.

I think that this issue is connected with a little unclear philosophy of the site. While it is obvious that walking barefoot in summer is quite natural and could provide a very pleasant experience for the models, saying something like that about girls walking in freezing snow is rather silly. Chilly Feet site is by definition somewhat more “hardcore” since being barefoot in subzero temperatures simply hurts. That is why I think that it would be much better for the site to acknowledge this fact and allow the girls to show that at a certain moment they begin to feel uncomfortable. Isn´t it more believable watching Alisa http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/9/view rubbing her feet (all red with cold) to get a bit warmer than looking at sweet Oksana´s http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/143/view happy smile? It´s not warm sand under her feet after all.

What kind of girl would take off her shoes in the middle of winter? Why is she in the street? To have a pleasant walk is probably not a very convincing answer. This is the reason why I think that Chilly Feet site perhaps requires more creativity. I´ve tried to brainstorm some ideas and must admit that it is hard. Have a look. Can you each come up with at least one more?

A repentance or atonement. The girl walks barefoot all the way to the church to pray.

Lost bet, lost game of cards. The girl must walk around a park as a “punishment”, cursing her friends who are laughing at her.

Wine. The girl has finished wine that belonged to her flatmate. When it is discovered, the girl must go to the shop to get another bottle to remember that something like that is not done. This scenario could be improved in the following way: the flatmate goes to the shop with our girl and when she sees how cold her friend is, she takes off her own shoes and lets the poor barefooter warm her feet for a few minutes.

New boots. The girl is going home from the office but her new boots are killing her. She takes them off and walks home preferring the cold to the bad footwear. Note: a colleague of mine told me that she did something similar when she was young. It was January night (Europe) and she went barefoot from the theatre because she couldn´t afford a taxi at that time.

2. The frequency of the updates.

Winter girls will always be in a minority. I understand that. But there are now 44 of them. A question for Paul: is there any spare material from the shootings? It might be interesting for some users to see what was going on when the crew arrived, e.g. to see the girl take off her shoes, to see how the crew is discussing what to do, etc. A 5 min clip like that for each girl would make a huge difference!

Well, it is all for now.

I´m looking forward to your reactions.

Best regards,

bfwatcher

Most interesting comments and a few points I'd come back with:
1. I joined chilly Feet recently but the poor frequency of updates means I've let my membership lapse. To support such a high monthly fee needs more frequent updates

2. to address the substantive point, yes winter barefooting is fairly unrealistic but from my perspective I love to see how the girls take it in their stride (as it were) and show NO discomfort. I do though, agree that we need some narrative to make sense of the scenarios (I've written about this before in relation to the main City Feet site). Therefore, I think we need more along the lines of bfwatcher's New Boots idea or 'putting out the rubbish' (like we've had on the main site before) or going to the corner shop barefoot in the cold to get more alcohol (do they have corner shops in Moscow??). Also perhaps barefoot shopping where one girl removes her shoes in the warm shopping mall and leaves them off once outside (her friend should leave her boots on, of course to get a contrast). Another; she drives to the shops barefoot and spends some time barefoot outdoors as well as in the warm car. Best of all though, take a leaf out of British night clubbers' book and take shoes to the club but remove them inside and leave them off on the way home despite the low temperatures. leave the coat at home too (though I understand that winter in Russia is a bit more severe than winter in Teesside or Manchester). This means, though that you just have to choose days to shoot that are cold but not dangerously so: it's do-able.
So, in essence I'm with you bfwatcher: a bit more creativity needs to go into Chilly Feet to make it worth the money.
Also as I've said before I'd love to see more poor weather (rather than freezing) shoots on the main site. That's why the new shoot cited by Paul the other day and coming mid-October is so welcome.
Mike123.[B]

I have to agree with bfwalker here. Walking barefoot in snow is no easy task, so having the girls show their discomfort is something I would prefer.

Having different scenarios is also a good idea, and would add flavor to the updates. That does not mean that I want to shift the focus to anything else other than barefoot snow walking though.

I also agree with Mike123 regarding the frequency of updates. As a long time member of this site, its disappointing how scarce the updates have become recently. I understand that finding the right time and weather for shooting is difficult, and I admire Paul for his dedication, however recently we've only had one measly update per month, as opposed to the old weekly updates.


Paul I hope you read this, and thank you for hard work.

Just to add a couple of examples for how Chilly Feet might introduce more realistic scenarios, I'd point you to these two excellent pictures from a typical night out in Manchester (or any other UK provincial city in winter time)

http://londonnewspictures.photoshelter.com...ABqDITI-&GI_ID=


http://londonnewspictures.photoshelter.com...AGEfIfE-&GI_ID=

and on the more general theme of night time barefoot shoots, I'm thinking along the lines of..........

http://londonnewspictures.photoshelter.com...ABZqIUI-&GI_ID=

Brilliant

Mike123

I completely realize that 1 update per month is far too rare, 3-4 updates per month would be fair for the price of membership. Unfortunately, the last winter was catastrophic for making Chilly Feet shootings: it was no snow most of the winter (despite of temperature below 0C) and after snow had appeared the temperature droped too low (near -10C and lower). I hope this winter will be Chilly-feet friendly, in other case I would have no option other than closing Chilly Feet and making occasional winter updates on City Feet.

As for scenarios, it is good that this topic appeared before the shooting season unlike topic about foot show updates on City Feet that appeared after I had made 95% of the sessions.
By the way, what do you thing about the "foot show" episodes on Chilly Feet?

Hi,

Thank you for the contributions! Now it is much clearer that Chilly Feet site matters. I especially appreciate Paul´s explanation, which was an eye opener for me and I believe for other users as well. Running the site is much more difficult than we thought.

What do you think about the lack of snow problem? Wouldn´t it be better to shoot a clip or two in spite of the fact that it hasn´t been snowing? Since we are talking the new shooting season, I admit I wouldn´t mind watching updates shot in November and December 2014. If for example Natasha (see the wonderful photos in "Shootings with old City Feet models" thread) agreed to model in them, the number of subscribers would increase rapidly!

BTW, Paul, is Oksana the last girl you´ve worked with so far? If not, would it be possible to post here another "visual teaser"? The one showing Natasha was much appreciated! :-)

About the question of foot show scenes: if it was clear why they are there, that is if they contributed to the narrative (eg. a girl waiting for a friend who is late) I´d say yes. Otherwise I still find them rather unnecessary.

Mike123, I´ve spent the evening looking for my jaw since it immediately dropped to the floor once I clicked on the first link! Spending even one night in Manchester must be a treat! :-)

And last question for today: would it be possible to see some of the older Chilly Feet models again? If the answer happened to be yes, I´d suggest Katya http://www.chilly-feet.com/models/6/view and Arina http://www.chilly-feet.com/models/5/view

Regards,

bfwatcher

PS As for other scenarios, what about a girl walking a dog?

Thanks for coming back to us Paul and listening to what we have to say.

On the snow thing, I'd actually prefer a cold with little if any snow scenario so don't worry about there being no snow.

But on the wider point if we're not going to have many updates I think I'd prefer to wrap the whole lot into City Feet and have the cold weather updates included. I'd feel that was better value for money. Also, you could then re-incorporate all the Country Feet shoots you did for that site (assuming you still have the material) and then CF would become one bumper source of everything.

As for foot show episodes on Chilly Feet my view remains the same. If we're going to have more realistic scenarios in Chilly Feet ('d point you once again to the links I included in my last post) then foot shows are even less relevant since we're trying to introduce MORE realism.

By the way the Londonnewspictures site is brilliant for cold weather barefoot girls, especially those all dressed up in their party gear at night - just as I like it.

I'd like to see a little alcohol introduced to go with the cigarettes to give the shoots even more of a sense of recklessness and abandon.

Good stuff and thanks again, Paul for taking our comments on board.

Mike 123

First of all, I'd like to thank Paul for doing his great job at chilly-feet.

As for the scenarios, some kind of task is required. We've already seen some of them:
* crossing a busy road:
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/10/view
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/75/view
* shoveling the snow:
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/88/view
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/92/view
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/110/view
* talking with people around:
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/33/view
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/110/view
* walking over harsh surface:
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/41/view
http://www.chilly-feet.com/updates/106/view

If you would accept new ideas for the scenarios, I'd suggest that tasks:
* walking a long way to a certain check point (like, say, from the Vorobiovy Gory metro station to the Buran in the Gorky Park);
* doing the same with a friend in warm boots;
* begging in bare feet near metro (yes, I'm that pervert);
* pretending to do a poll about barefooting.

Please pardon my poor English.

I'd have to disagree with no-snow shoots. I come to this site because its the only one of its kind where I can watch girls walk through the snow barefooted, and I would not want that to change. If anything, the behind-the-scene shoots mentioned earlier are a better idea.

I do not mind the foot show clips if people like them. Personally however, I only watch the little snow dance they do at the end and skip everything else in it. Paul's girls are brave, but I would not mind if they showed a little more discomfort in their voice and expression while walking in the snow. It gives it a little more realism.

To add to the suggestions, I suggest a walk through a snowy forest sounds fun, as long as weather conditions allow.

I think what all these contributions show is that there's room for a wide variety of shoots on Chilly Feet.
But I think we all agree that we need some set up, some rationale established about why the girl is barefoot in the cold (or the snow) in the first place.
It's easy to see where my tastes lie - in girls dressed up for the nightclub or party and barefoot on a cold evening having discarded or even lost their shoes. I also like the idea of barefoot driving and shopping in the cold mixing the warm indoors with cold outdoors as I've said before. I also like to see the girls taking being barefoot in the cold in their stride as you see in the photos I've previously posted from Manchester and London
Others clearly don't mind the slightly more contrived scenarios and want to see some element of discomfort ( I don't share this but it takes all sorts).
I think there's plenty to go at here, Paul: we just have to accept that you cannot please all the people all the time.
If Chilly Feet IS going to focus on snow rather than simply cold weather shoots then I'd rather have the cold weather shoots folded into the main City feet site. I think one of the best ever was Nightclub Gallery.

http://www.city-feet.com/updates/344/view

I know it was too cold to go barefoot outdoors that night but I'd like to see a similar shoot in spring or autumn where it is cold but not dangerously so.

Similarly Barefoot Shopping trip where it was clearly very cold but ok to believe a couple of crazy girls would go barefoot to the shops.

http://www.city-feet.com/updates/3378/view


Thanks,
Mike123

Great scenarios, indeed. Yes, yes and again yes to all of them! I´m a bit concerned about the begging part though: do you think that the Moscow police wouldn´t interfere? I understand that a camera always provides a sort of alibi but still?

Bald, your idea of a forest walk is cool as well. Speaking about the no-snow option, it was mentioned only as an alternative to unsuitable weather. Otherwise snow is a must of course! On the other hand, try to check out the update of Aljona http://www.city-feet.com/updates/804/view. The park is frosty and the overall impression is not bad at all.

I think it would be great to do as before, where the girls walked barefoot in the snow, in the cold, but not alone or in lonely places, but in public places, full of people. When they had some food or hot chocolate while barefoot, when they walked barefoot through a crowd, in the middle of the people.

It would be nice that, as they walk amongst the people, in a public places, they would have a seat and warm her frozen feet with their hands, as people watch. They would smile and then keep walking.

Another idea, recently done in City Feet, but this time it could be done in Chilly Feet: Two girls, one with winter boots, the other with bare feet, both walking confidently in the street, going to the movies, to a fast food restaurant, etc.

And let's not forget an idea of several of us: Girls in a party or club barefoot! Also that girls would interact, talk with passers by about why they are barefoot.

How about an interview to the girls, as they show us their feet, their soles, show the hard rough spots, etc.? It would be in Russian of course, but a translation would be provided.

I think we're giving too much work to Pavel

There seems to be some desire in these posts for the girls to play up to the camera - e.g. the interview thing. Personally, I'd prefer it if the girls behaved as if they were completely unaware of the camera and as if the cold didn't really bother them.
I'm pleased that DG2001 agrees with my party / nightclub shoot theme. This, I think would be made more realistic and better if some element of alcohol could be brought in: they don't really feel the cold because of the effects of the vodka or beer or wine or whatever they drink at the club / party. We've all seen this in real life (as in the photos I posted a few days ago) - and it will start to become visible again as winter descends - on Friday and Saturday nights outside the nightclubs of the UK (and I guess elsewhere in Europe and the US??).
I also agree with DG2001 that we need one barefoot girls and one in boots. I'd like to see three or four girls only one of whom is barefoot (one in strappy heels and bare legs, one in closed shoes and the other in boots while one girl is barefoot)
I look forward to the new, focussed and creative Chilly Feet and to seeing more cold weather shoots on the main site.
Mike123

One girl in boots, one in bare feet. Yes, I agree. This scenario was used at City Feet couple of years ago. "Barefoot tea ceremony", I guess. Unfortunatelly, there were only photos. In the clip both models were barefooted.

The more cold weather shoots, the better.

The newest model Maria is a beautiful girl with sexy feet. Any chance to see her again in any of the 2014-15 shootings?