Dear all.. on New Year's Eve, the legendary LORD LUCAN, deus-ex-machina of INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY FEET,
pioneer of foot-themed adult entertainment on internet and supremo connoisseur of anything related to female feet,
wrote the following post on WU's Foot Forum

GOODBYE, FAREWELL and THANK YOU!
"This is the final post from me at this forum.
After 19 year of running International Celebrity Feet, it is time to stop.
To everyone who has visited or been a member of my site over the (almost) past two decades, thank you. It simply wouldn't have existed without you.
To everyone I have ever chatted with, emailed back and forth or messaged, again, my thanks.
Life has simply become too busy to devote anymore time to this adventure, and it's time to move on.
Goodbye, farewell and thank you for the fun times!"

When I started surfing the web in the late 90s, looking for pictures of barefooting celebrities, LORD LUCAN was already going strong.
His site was THE PLACE where anyone could enjoy his/her own favorite celebrity in bare feet.
I hope that he is quitting because of positive developments in the.. non-fetish side of his personal life (most of us old-style vendors have such a side..
it's hard/outright impossible to make a living out of foot-themed websites nowadays, with piracy and the plethora of DIY crap by which we are flooded).

I will always be grateful to LORD LUCAN for his huge contribution to the valorisation of feet as an elegant, fascinating and exciting part of the female body..
and I do believe that ANYONE who is seriously into barefoot beauties should be grateful to him.

On a personal side, I owe LORD LUCAN a lot also for the fantastic artwork he made for BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS and BAREFOOT NUDITY.

So.. BEST OF LUCK, LORD LUCAN.. ALL HAIL THE LORD!!!

It's the end of an era. Everything comes to an end, eventually, and new things, people and sites will follow. But the pioneers will always be the pioneers, the first borns, the ones who set the foundations for what was built later. Heros, romantics, crazies, devils? Call them what you prefer, they are doers, makers, people who dare to create, to build a path for others to follow, people who are not comfortable just consuming what others serve, but who make their own magic.

There was a time, not long ago, when "foot fetishists" were considered perverts, deviants, psychos... things are changing, slowly. A time will come, someday, when admiring the beauty of the female foot and of the barefoot female will not ever be considered "abnormal", but just another option, another way of life. If, now, a man can love another man and a woman can love another woman....what's wrong with a man who loves a woman who happens to walk barefoot?

Long live Lord Lucan!

Amigo DG.. you are right in highlighting also the positive aspects of the evolution of the "barefoot scene".. because there are indeed many!
You and I have been around internet for many years now.. so I think that you can understand my sadness when people who have made history
die (one name for all: WU) or quit (besides LORD LUCAN, I would surely mention the great ARNAUD FERRAND of BAREFOOT FOREVER).
Time passes, things change.. this cannot be avoided.
Adaptive behaviour is a smart way to cope with changes.. I personally believe in combining innovation with tradition.
This is what I will do in 2018 for BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS.. I will keep on working with my best models, but I will also do my best to propose new ones;
I will add more "real life" content to the site, but without sacrificing the "glamorous/fashionable" style which has become my trademark.
I hope that this will be enough to keep my BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS project alive & kicking.
A final clarification on DIY barefootography. I am not saying that ALL DIY stuff is crap. There is actually a lot of DIY stuff around which is well crafted.
Quality DIY stuff brings progress in the scene, IMMO. CRAPPY DIY stuff just floods the web, brings no progress, and destroys the market.

This is sad news (not as sad as Wu's passing, of course), but sad, nevertheless. Was Lord Lucan the last of the early pioneers still around? I can't think of any others left.

I haven't really thought about Lord Lucan in several years, so maybe I'm part of the problem, but I definitely remember him from my early days surfing the internet in the late '90s. It was such a thrill to find this foot material, and to know that I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it.

As you guys said, everything ends eventually, and none of us is immune to the passage of time, but there is still brightness ahead. Lord Lucan was one of the first, but he is not the last. If nothing else, though, his "retirement" should remind us to appreciate what we have, while we have it. Things can last a long time on the internet, but they can vanish, too.

So, remember Lord Lucan fondly, but appreciate The Feetosopher, Hal, and Paul (or anyone else whose work you admire) while they're still at it, because they may walk away someday, as well.

Dear friend, I fully agree with you about a more adequate appreciation of the present.
What we tend to take for granted today, may be gone forever tomorrow. With its disappearance, we will probably realize its true value.. when it is too late.
We have the luck of having true pioneers and deep connoisseurs of "the female barefooting scene" here in this Forum.
Three names stand out: Hal, Pavel and DG_2001 (my presence on internet is too recent - 2007 - to be in this exclusive club, even if I have started with barefootography back in 1992).
It would be really great if this Forum could be again as lively as it used to be 2-3 years ago.. but decline in participation is sadly a generalized trend.
It has started affecting WU's Foot Forum, and also the more interactive social media, such as Facebook.
I have to call myself lucky if my posts there get some likes and some (often basic/skeletal) comments. Debates have become a rarity.
I do not consider all this "evolution". It is just "change for worse", IMMO. But it is the way things go now.

Well, I fully agree that we take CF, TIA and BUG sites for granted. Frankly, the guys who run them deserve more than our occassional comment. You know what, they do much more than just compile stuff that is available on the Internet. They go out there, look for real models, persuade them to expose their feet in public and then come up with another great set of photos and a HD footage featuring a barefoot stunner so that also others could enjoy this miracle in spite of the fact that they couldn´t be around when it actually took place. In other words, all of them, Paul, Hal and Feetosopher are heros as they aren´t afraid to follow girls around with a camera and put up with those glances coming from the passers-by. Correct me if I´m wrong, but now majority of people can tell that something "inappropriate" is going on in front of them and that the guy who´s holding that camcorder is in fact shooting a sort of porn stuff. I would´t be that cool about it. Certainly not! And still Paul, Hal and Feetosopher return to the crime scene again and again and never fail to deliver!

To cut a long story short, my thanks go straight to these guys because they simply make a huge difference. Let´s enjoy every single picture they´ve taken and every single second of each footage they´ve uploaded so far and at the same time let´s hope they continue doing so also in the years to come. The way I see it, in this particular niche of "real-life" girls, they would be impossible to replace.

So again, long live Paul, Hal and Feetosopher!!!

Dear @bfwatcher.. first of all, THANK YOU. For two reasons:
1) Your kind appreciation of my efforts at BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS
2) Reading deep and articulated thoughts on this Forum provides great relief to me. You do not post here often, but any of your posts is a milestone in the history of this Forum.
The person who just revived a thread which had laid dormant for TWO YEARS (and it had laid dormant for another ONE YEAR AND A HALF before he revived it on Jan 18 2016), in a pathetic attempt to drive me berserk, stands exactly at the opposite end of the intelligence quotient spectrum.

As for your inputs on the "porn" nature of sites like BUG, TIA or CF.. I can only speak for myself and BUG, of course.
I have always seen my photographic projects as "adult entertainment", and I am always telling BUG prospective models: "You are going to appear on a porn site. Are you really sure that you want to become the subject of sexual desires all around the planet? If yes.. join the circus".
You are also right that being The Feetosopher, or a BUG model, implies also PLENTY of nuisance.
I was inspected by the police on several occasions, and the models I was shooting with were inspected too.
I and the models were kicked off railway stations and other locations.
Lots of people in the street have looked at us as the ultimate weirdos, and have made very unpleasant comments.
And when nuisance in the street ends.. nuisance on the web starts!!!
You find people (Duffman847 is not even the worst pain in the ass I have experienced in 10 years of presence on the web) pestering your balls for various reasons, insulting you and your models, making the weirdest requests (from free videos to getting footjobs from the models) or.. simply taking for granted the LOADS of free stuff you have shared over the years.
Also considering the meager returns from BUG.. WHY THE HECK I am bothering to endure all this???
You can read THE FEETOSOPHER's INTERVIEW for WU's FEET LINKS for a more comprehensive answer, but it can be summed up as follows:

I LOVE BAREFOOT WOMEN, and portraying them for BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS is the best way that I know to celebrate them as "ICONS OF BEAUTY AND FREEDOM".

In spite of all my whining about the non-stellar returns from BUG, I know perfectly that the only reason why I would shut it down would be serious illness or a sudden dive into poverty.
As long as I will be in (relatively) good health and with (little) spare money in my pockets.. you can keep on taking BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS for granted..
and unpleasant lads like @Duffman847 will have to deal with my annoying presence on the web..

Many thanks again, @bfwatcher.. and a 2018 full of barefoot beauties for you..

Dear Feetosopher,

now you´ve made me blush. I think that you give me credit for something that´s not there. I´m a mere enthusiast who feels that your effort as well as that of Hal´s and Paul´s should get some positive feedback. Well, at least time to time.

Speaking of the "pleasantries" you hear while you are working, I hope that now when you´ve brougt the issue up yourself, more members of this forum realise how much goes into each new update. As I said earlier on, I wouldn´t be able to put up with something like that at all. Moreover, given the fact that you and Hal live in a relatively small town (no offence intended), some of the morons who preach morality must´ve caught you in the act more than once, which must have been even more embarassing. By the way, something like that happpens also in Moscow, a true megapolis. Once I noticed that two Paul´s different picture sets feature the same bloke who´s doing his best not to show how much interested he is in what Paul and his models are up to. So again, hats off to you all for your courage and perseverance!

As for the conflict with Duffman847, I admit I don´t know much about it and don´t even intend to find out either as it is none of my business. Let me just say this: in our tiny world you are a celebrity, which means that you have to come to terms with one inevitable fact. That is, while you´ll always be loved by some, you´ll also be hated by others. Sadly, you don´t seem to see eye to eye with one of the most active members who as well as you has tried hard to keep the forum alive. Just think about his tournaments...

Anyway, nobody´s perfect and life is not fair. Let´s accept those facts if we can´t change them and let´s enjoy what we have.

Cheers!

bfw

Well bfwatcher.. in times when even "WOW"s and emoticons have to be valued as "positive feedback".. reading your posts is a panacea..

My hometown Mantova's small size (no offence taken! ) has pros and cons.. ditto for the other cities where I usually hold my shootings (Verona, Venice, Bologna, Padova, Vicenza..).
It takes very little to become a weirdo / pervert in the eyes of the "moral majority" in such cities.
The same goes for a lot of my models.. who mostly live in small/medium-sized cities (I have very few models from, say, Milan or Rome).

As for the conflict with Duffman847.. I had had NO CONFLICTS WITH ANYONE on the Forum before his arrival..
and then, all of a sudden, I had to experience the infamous Altered Dominant / Diminished Harmony issue, the massive trolling against me and my models, profiles who had laid dormant for years coming back from hell to attack me, etc. etc. Would you call this a mere coincidence? I would not.
Unfortunately I am not the kind of guy who accepts to have his balls pestered without reacting.

What is more upsetting is that the guy seems to consider myself, my models and my sites as absolute evil.
I mean, I am perfectly comfortable with the fact that many people around prefer City Feet and/or Toes-In-Action to BAREFOOT URBAN GIRLS.
I have deep respect for what Pavel and Hal have accomplished: they sell top-class stuff and a lot of their models are simply gorgeous.
Hey, I am a friend of Hal's, I have been visiting him every summer between 2008 and 2015, I have had the privilege of meeting several of his models in person!
What advantage for CF and TIA can result from Duffman's attacks to me? I really cannot see his point.

Whatever.. you are right, once again.. some people love you, some people hate you, some people ignore you. The show must go on.
Ciao from Italy!!!