Ed Fox has what I would consider one of the best jobs in the world! He takes photographs of of beautiful womens feet and legs. His work has been published in numerous magazines (including “Leg Show” one of my personal favorites), he has his own foot fetish site, called FootFactory.com and Taschen is publishing a book dedicated to his work, in the beginning of next year. He is a fellow foot fetishist which clearly shows in his work.

I’ve always been curious about what it like to do what Ed does, so I asked him if he would do an interview for my blog and he gracefully accepted :-) So, read on, if you’d like to find out more about what it’s like to do what Ed does and see some more of his stunning work.

Tell us a little bit about yourself?
That question reminds me of when I was going after a firefighter position! I’m an adult that is still waiting to ‘grow up’. I love making things.

It seems to me that you have, just about, the best job in the world. How do you feel about it?
You know, I have been feeling that lately…. but it also doesn’t pay that great since I don’t ” milk it” like most of the adult industry does. I shoot this stuff because I love it, understand it and want to share my passion with others.
It does beat a 9-5 job BUT, I end up working twice as hard just to be able to do this.

How did you get started doing fetish photography? Has it always been an ambition or did it “just happen”?
I actually wanted to become a Playboy photographer and didn’t discover fetish photography, images or magazines until I came across an issue of Leg Show magazine. I realized it was the perfect medium for me to shoot what i REALLY loved… FEET!
This was all before the internet really took off.

Are you into foot and/or nylon fetish yourself or is your work purely professional?
I am very into it. I don’t just like feet because I see that there is some money to be made there. I actually laughed when Playboy did a foot issue. They were WAY off and had no idea what foot fetish was really about. I truly understand and am passionate about women’s feet. I fortunately have a little talent to get my message and my love for feet out there : )

Your models are gorgeous! Where do you find them?
They fall out of the sky! Actually different ways: Agents send me photos of new girls, models contact me directly and sometimes I find them at trade shows like AVN, Erotica L.A, Glamourcon to ‘hand pick’ my models. Models, believe it or not, are the easiest thing to find. The hardest are locations. IF anyone out there wants one of my girls to be shot at their home, shop, or back yard, PLEASE let me know!

Do you have a favorite model?
I really like working with Jelena Jensen and the latest beauty with a great attitude I recently met is Valentina Vaughn. OH, and of course Casey Parker! Wow-wow-we-wa!
Fortunately, most of my models are really nice and fun to work with so it’s hard to just pick one.

Do you do a lot of planning before your shoots or does the inspiration come to you as you’re working?
Ideally I want to go into a shoot totally prepared but I’m so overwhelmed with pre and post production that I end up going to bed really late so I don’t have much time to relax and prepare before a shoot. I do have an idea of what I want out of it though.
Even if I had story boards or notes, there is so much going on during a shoot that I don’t have time to look at them. Also, I may have an idea for pose or something and when I get there all of the elements just aren’t working right so I pass on the idea or pose.

I’m almost afraid to ask this, as I’m sure that a lot of my illusions about your line of work, will be shattered, but: Could you, briefly, describe how a typical photo shoot starts and evolves?
Sure, get ready to be turned off. After many emails, texting and or phone calls, the model shows up (hopefully on time or at all! Well, it’s not that bad. Sometimes they even get there before I do). I have to do a lot of prep for this to happen: shop for clothes, props, locations and catering. The day of the shoot my poor assistant has to lug a bunch of equipment to the location, set up lights, iron clothes, sheet or whatever else is needed while make up is being done by a professional. The models start to pose or I can start them somewhere and we slowly start working our way to a fully naked body. Finally we ‘bring it home’ with the orgasmic looking shots. After that set is done we break for lunch (if time allows) and change the make up for a second photo set. We start the second set already a little tired and end up exhausted a the end of the shoot. I end up dishing out over $1000.00 out of my own pocket that same day, to hope that someone buys my photos.
For me and my assistant it’s not over just yet. We then need to tear down and clean up. Our days end up being 10-14 hours. Then it’s what to do with the photos after they are on the computer. The fun part is only 10% of it all.
Oh, and for those who wonder if I get laid, did you see it up there on the long list of things to things to accomplish in one day? NOPE! It’s all professional. We are all there to make great pictures. If I fucked the girls i’d loose money because I wouldn’t have shots to sell. MOST importantly, the mystery of the model would be gone. I’d have no drive to explore or desire her so the photos would show that I believe.

I have to ask :-) Have you ever gotten romantically involved with any of your models?
I guess I got ahed of myself. See above.

Do you have any special “tricks of the trade” that is essential when taking fetish pictures (I suspect that there is an amateur photographer or two amongst my users, who would love to know :-)?
Like with everything you shoot, lighting is very important. You want to bring out as much shape as possible. The secret is cross lighting. It’s like if you look at an egg and point a flashlight right at it and then do it again but this time point he flashlight so it’s perpendicular or lighting it from the side only… doesn’t it look more round, more 3-D and more desirable? Next is to shoot something how YOU like to see it… hopefully others will have the same fantasy or desire to see what you have created.

If someone wanted to make a living doing what you do, is there any advise that you’d give them, that could make it easier?
You need to live and breath this stuff, like any career, in order to make it. There are millions of people that want to do this. Out of the ones that make an attempt, a bunch can make money out of it if they crank it out and have good business sense. Out of that bunch, only a handful that are craftsman and truly love what they do and will get a name for themselves. I think I’m one of those. I have almost wanted to give up at times but there’s something inside of me that ends up back in the same place with the same desire - to make a difference.

I must work about 80 hours a week and can barely keep up. Most of the ‘fun’ is only 10% of it, the rest is pre and post production. Snap, I already said that huh?

Your site, FootFactory.com, is very well designed, did you do it yourself?
I actually had Tysus Media do that one. I normally do my own design but since this site was more of for the money type site, I thought I’d let someone with fresh eyes create it. I designed chromelady.com. That one is more of a personal site that is only updated whenever I feel like it…. Unfortunately i haven’t felt like it for about a year : ( Well, again, it’s the time I don’t have. Ideally, I would stop creating content for FootFactory.com and ONLY shoot whenever I felt like it. I hate having to crank out material just because I have to meet the update schedule I have promised my members. I got sucked into the adult business and it’s hard to get out.. but I’m working on getting out of it.

Do you produce the pictures and movies especially for your site or is it material which has been published elsewhere?
Some of it starts out as material for Leg Show or other mags and ends up on my site. Other work is content trading with models who have sites. (the stuff that isn’t as ‘pretty’ or stylized) - this work is made just for FootFactory.com and for my own personal collection (books, art shows etc). Speaking of books, I am currently published in Taschen’s The New Erotic photography and by the beginning of 2008, I will have my very own Taschen book published.

Do you find that it is hard to operate an adult website? Does it take a lot of your time?
Ha, ha!!! Oh boy, if you only knew! I’m actually sick of doing it. I hate having to ‘crank out’ material just to meet the update requirements that I promise to new and existing members. This falls under the ‘for the money’ category and hate myself for it. I only like shooting once a month so that I’m fresh and I don’t burn out. I started out with a good amount of ’stock’ that I had but am now running very low which means I will now have to ‘crank out’ more shoots OR start to buy some content and occasionally shoot and include my photography on the site.

You also have videos on your site, do you film them yourself?
Yes.. unless they are behind the scenes, then my assistant Edward shoots them. He also jumps in the shoots at times and goes by ‘Paco’ He probably loves the job more than i do because he doesn’t have the stress factor that i do. He just has fun.

Is it harder to do good videos than it is to take stills?
I’m actually making the switch. Now that I have reached my goal of getting a Taschen book, I will move into the movie making direction. I mean, how can you jerk off to photos that are not moving? Also, I feel like I miss way too many great images by shooting stills. With video I can capture every movement that a woman makes. I think it’s about the same making videos or stills. The advantage of video besides not missing all the shots is that if the light does not have to be perfect every single frame. Well, let me rephrase that. If I’m shooting a video where the girl’s face is in shadow, it’s o.k since she will eventually reveal herself. Now, if i took a photo of the exact same thing people would say ‘Hey, her face is dark” or ‘I can’t see her face”. The disadvantage of a video is that the story I’m laying out for the viewer is the story that is married to that scene. If I shoot a photo set or for a magazine, the viewer can make their own story from page to page even if I have made an attempt to make a story for them. I did it all the time when I first started jerking off to magazines. I’d pretend that she was thinking this or saying that, or that in between pages or shot to shot, she was doing something else I wanted her to do… damn, is that pretty sick? ha. ha.

What is in the future for you and your career?
Making movies. My goal is to be the next Andrew Blake (for the foot guys). Also, I’d like to get out of the adult business to make better money doing mainstream photography. I’d like the erotic work to stay personal and occasional so I can give it my all.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, hope to see much more of your work in the future
Thank you. .. it did take me some time but it’s refreshing or a reminder to myself every time I do these things to actually do what I say I’m going to do… and that’s to be an erotic artist and not a sell-out.

If you want to see more of Ed’s work you should visit his site, FootFactory.com, you’ll find loads of great foot fetish images and video. Click here to go there