Henry Leutwyler

https://www.footfiles.com/news-and-trends/article/henry-leutwylers-photobookdocument-features-celebrity-shoes https://time.com/4441211/henry-leutwyler-celebrity-shoes/

Leutwyler states that he wants to use his imagery to tell a person’s story, that shoes are a great way for us to learn more.

Shoes weren’t intentionally the main focus of his book, but they just ended up being so expressive that Leutwyler had to include so many shots of them.

Leutwyler uses the subtle features of shoes such as worn shoelaces and scuffs to tell the story of the shoe and owner. Every pair is completely unique and different.

“The Nike," the first Nike shoes to bear the now famous Swoosh logo, 1971. Henry Leutwyler

Shoes are what captivated Leutwyler’s attention and interest the most, he was mesmerized by the objects and their stories.

Leutwyler uses his imagery and exploration to narrate the owner’s journey and story. He wants the viewer to be able to understand the owner of the shoes and for the to “walk a mile in their shoes”.

"Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski's pair of zigzag shoes or "winos," c. 1996.

This is one of Leutwyler’s photographs from his series looking at celebrities and famous people’s shoes. Theodore Kaczynski is by no means to be considered a good person, he is an American terrorist attacker. However, whilst Leutwyler mostly photographed his idols and inspirational figure’s properties, he chose to look at Unabomber as well. This is very interesting for his work, he uses a simple object owned by a person to learn about their story. Looking at the tiny details on an object can lead us to discover a lot about a person.

Leutwyler used very simple techniques and set ups to photograph his shoe collection, this doesn’t make it any less effective though. Laying the shoes down on a plain white backdrop and using their dirt and shadows to frame them is very effective. There is no distraction within the piece and our one and only focus is the shoes and all their details. Leutwyler probably uses a high tech digital camera to take his shots as they are very clear and crisp. His imagery is also in full colour, which enables the viewer to properly take in the subject and all its details. This image featuring Kaczynji’s shoes is just one of many from Leutwyler’s collection. I have chosen to look at this one for one of my analysed pieces as I feel it holds quite a lot of story and meaning within it. These shoes are those of a cunning, mysterious person. His shoes, as we can see, have been modified so that he is able to disguise himself and his tracks. Looking at his shoes allows us to learn a bit mor about his case and what his journey has been. Leutwyler communicates his theme of using an object to tell a story by getting up close and personal with his subject manner. If not for Leutwyler, images like this probably wouldn’t have been made available to the public. Just looking at a simple possession like shoes can tell us so much, and shoes are not the obvious thing you look at when assessing or judging a person. Each and every hole and scuff mark on these shoes has a backstory and meaning. Leutwyler’s simple yet effective techniques take something so plain and spin a whole life story from one image, allowing the viewers imagination and knowledge to fill in the blanks.

I feel very inspired by Leutwyler to look at shoes and their appearance to tell a story. What messages and meanings can I spread from taking one simple shot? Whose shoes am I going to choose to look at?

A pair of dancer Sylvie Guillem's pointe shoes.

This image is another of Leutwyler’s celebrity shoe collection. This shot is very different to the one I have looked at previously. It features the ballet pointe shoes owned by Sylvie Guillem, a now retired French ballet dancer who was the highest ranking female dancer in the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984-1989 before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. These shoes are obviously very precious and important. They appear to be quite worn and well-used, as they would be. The shoes lie against their white backdrop as a pair, the left shoes sits the right way up and facing the viewer, whilst the right one is flipped the other way so that we can see its sole. I find it interesting that Leutwyler has chosen to place each shoe in a different position yet still sat neatly in a pair. Each one tells us a different story. The shoe that is the right way up shows us the more professional, polished side of Sylvie’s profession. How she had to look extremely put together and neat for her performances and audience. Whilst there are a few scuff marks on the shoe, overall is looks quite neat and held together. This contrasts on the other hand with the other slipper. The sole of the shoe has changed from a beautiful, dainty feminine pink colour to a dirty brown. There is writing and lettering scrawled across the bottom in markers and the ends of the shoe have been stained grey-black from dirt. In my opinion, this is Leutwyler’s way of showing the less glamorous side of her profession. How there are challenges, struggles and darkness hidden behind the show. The shoes are a prefect pair and will only ever have been worn at the same time by Sylvie, however they hold many stories. Sylvie will have had highs and lows whilst wearing these shoes. Maybe accidents and troubles have been undergone whilst wearing these shoes as well as her multiple extraordinary achievements. Leutwyler has taken a simple object and tied so much meaning and many messages to them. Using simple and minimalistic techniques such as a plain background, bright lighting and a clear focused camera have allowed him to properly capture subject matter. Even though Leutwyler has used very simple ideas to take his shots, they are still extremely effective. He has shown me that there is no need for me to overcomplicate my images and that I can still add meaning to any piece as long as I think carefully about it.