Thursday, January 8, 2015

The Months After Wu




"I couldn't do any of of these things on my own, however. I needed the help of the Wu's Feet Links community and boy have they ever stepped up in the months after Wu!"
- Patrick 


 So here we are in 2015. The year that was 2014 is no more and there are many things to look forward to as far as Wu's Feet Links is concerned. In this particular blog entry, however, I will not be getting feedback and/or opinions from other people in the foot fetish community. No, this time around all the words below are my own. This is me, Patrick, from Soles of Silk, reaching out to all of you to say thanks!

 For those who may be new to Wu's Feet Links or somehow missed the news, back in May 2014, we learned that the man who has silently brought us one of the best foot fetish sites ever to grace the Internet had passed away. Many of us web masters, photographers, and models owed a lot of our success to him. A lot of foot fetish fans owed a lot to him for years of constant updates in bringing some of the best foot fetish content from around the web to the masses. Once we knew this great man had passed away, none of us knew what to expect. Would we lose the great site that is Wu's Feet Links?

 No.

 Soon after learning of Wu's passing I contacted Phil from Big Horn Enterprises, the hosting company for both Wu's Feet Links and Soles of Silk. I expressed my desire to have Wu's Feet Links stay a part of the online foot fetish landscape and assist in any way that I could. Phil agreed and we came up with some plans, even polling the users of the Wu's Feet Links Forum when it came to the sections they most enjoyed. We knew we had a task ahead of us, especially Phil who was tasked with maintaining the physical site itself. 

 Within a few weeks Phil had a new method of adding updated sites to the Links section. He then turned his attention to one of the site's most popular sections, Contributions. In the past Wu was very selective of the contributions he published to the site. Wanting to open things up a little bit more, Phil came up with a contributions upload tool which now allowed people to upload their photos themselves. Previously all contributions were emailed directly to Wu and then he would post them. Although each person does what works best for them, Phil is already a busy man and that is just not in the cards. So far, the contributions method, although different, has worked.

 The last major task Phil assisted with was getting into the Forum so that new members could once again join the already great community. Since July we've had a major influx of people come in and post some really great content - whether it is new site owners or just everyday people who want to share pictures of themselves, girlfriends, or wives. That's always one thing I loved about the forum community at Wu's - that diversity!

 With Phil's updates and modernization in place, it was then time for me to focus on the parts of Wu's Feet Links I wanted to revamp and even resurrect. I couldn't do any of these things on my own, however. I needed the help of the Wu's Feet Links community and boy have they ever stepped up in the months after Wu! 
Sha Sha was the November 2014 feature model from Feet Fair.

Feature Models



 The one item I wanted to keep going the most on Wu's Feet Links was the Feature Model section. Ever since Wu was kind enough to ask me to shoot a feature a set of Carmen back in 2005 titled, "Blue Jeans & Toes," I've highly coveted this section. I know many other web masters do as well.

 Wu was always one to publish a calendar ahead of time of the models who were slated to be featured. Since his calendar was not filled in after February, the only model I knew of that he wanted to feature in 2014 was Soles of Silk's very own, Olivia. He and I had exchanged quite a few emails at the end of 2013 about what month I wanted in 2014 for the site's next feature set. I told him a warm month would be best as I prefer to shoot outdoor sets. He asked if June would work and I said yes as it is also my birth month.

 When Phil gave me permission to come up with a new feature model calendar, he told me he was fine with me using Olivia's set to get things started. So in July, Olivia's set, "Back to Business," helped kick off the Feature Model Gallery section once again. And in the set we made several odes to Wu: 
  • I placed a black ribbon by the Soles of Silk watermark featuring Wu's name and a footprint. I also used this logo on my site for several months and made it available to others to use, should they desire.
  • I had Olivia wear black because black was, and still is, used predominately in the site's color scheme.
  • Olivia's black clothes also worked because black is often associated with mourning or loss.
  • We shot the set right outside of Washington, D.C., where Wu called  home. 
  • The title, "Back to Business," signified the relaunch of the section overall - stating that Wu's Feet Links was back!

I was very happy with the way the set came out and only wish Wu had been alive to see the set himself. He was always kind to my models, asking me to send his praise their way. He was fond of Olivia and I know he would have loved this set, or whatever one we would have done had his life not ended way too soon.
Olivia set marked the return of the Feature Model section after months of being inactive.
In the months following Olivia's set, many web masters have been gracious enough to step up and submit their own unique galleries to the cause. I thank each and every web master, photographer, and model who helped make that happen. If you haven't checked these galleries out, do yourself a favor and do so. There are a lot of great pictures to be seen in these galleries:

With 2014 over the 2015 calendar is not going to let up as far as the Feature Models Galleries are concerned. Already planned for 2015 are sets from: Foot Worship Studios, Toes in Action, and Barefoot Urban Girls. Are you a web master of a foot fetish site who would like to submit a feature gallery in 2015 too? If so, then be sure to send me an email at footphotographer@yahoo.com and we can discuss what is needed and what months are open on the calendar.
Roxie Rae (right) was featured in both an interview and column entries.

Wu's Feet Links Interviews Blog


Another one of the ways I envisioned to help keep Wu's Feet Links moving forward was to reboot the Interviews section. At the time Wu hadn't had a new interview posted to the site since 2007. In 2008 Wu had actually asked me if I would be interested in taking that section and conducting the interviews on it myself. He really liked how I conducted interviews on Soles of Silk with the site models and thought it might be something I was interested in.

 Formerly the interview questions for Wu's Feet Links were done by fan submissions, but Wu realized that the models were drowning in repetitive questions. I told Wu I could come up with the questions, if he wanted, and the section was something I was very much interested in. I came up with the name, "Sole Searching," and asked Cierra if she'd mind doing some photos with the both of us where I'd be sniffing her feet. Luckily for me, she agreed. 

 I even went as far as mocking up how the section would look once it was added to Wu's Feet Links, which you can see below. This is the first time I have shared this mock up with anyone other than Wu, Cierra, and myself.
A mock up of the planned Sole Searching section.
Once Wu had passed I decided more than ever that the interviews needed to come back. Just like with the Feature Model Gallery section, I wanted to do something that Wu had personally asked of me and see it through. Phil again gave his approval and the Wu's Feet Links Interviews Blog was born.

 I decided to go with a blog instead of publishing the interviews to the main site for several reasons, as Sole Searching "would" have been. I thought the blog format was much easier to update and keep track of when it came to new entries. I also wouldn't have to bother Phil to each time an update was ready.

 Before I decided to conduct the first modern interview on the blog, however, there was something I wanted to do first. From 2001-07 Wu published 25 interviews to his site. I wanted to archive them to the blog so they'd be there for everyone to enjoy. And should anyone new come across this blog, they'd be there for them to read as well.

 When it came time to conduct that first interview I turned to none other than Lady Steph. During the Sole Searching planning phase Wu informed me that he wanted the section to be kicked off with Lady Steph. I had no problems with that and it actually put us in touch to work together for the first time. So it only felt natural to ask Lady Steph to be this new blog's first interview all these years later. She was very eager to help as she was saddened by the news as well.
Leilani Lei gave a mature woman's perspective on the fetish in the November 2014 interview.
Since Lady Steph's inaugural interview six foot fetish community members have been kind enough to be featured on the Wu's Feet Links Interviews Blog. Once again, I suggest going through and reading each one of these interviews. Not only did I aim to feature various foot models, but I also have included male photographers/web masters, and even a foot fetish artist so far. Here's the listing of interviews thus far:

As is the case with the Feature Model Gallery section, I have already conducted or sought out future interviews for 2015. Those include: Goddess Red Velvet, Red-X, and Barbie Gurl. I'm always looking for more people interested in being a featured interview. Please email me at footphotographer@yahoo.com if that is something you'd be interested in.
Erotic Nikki was featured in the Part 2 of the One for the Ages column.

Wu's Feet Links Columns Blog


The Columns section on Wu's Feet Links was one I had always wanted to see revamped as it had fallen by the wayside since 2012. Honestly, however, even after talking with Phil about what sections we'd be relaunching, I didn't hold out much hope for it. That was until Mommie Dearest reached out to me.

Mommie Dearest wrote columns on Wu's Feet Links from 2009-10. She took over for Genie (2006-07) who had previously taken over for Sexy Michelle (2003-05). With Wu's passing Mommie showed a renewed interest in bringing the section back. I told her I would love her help and would keep her informed as Phil and I still had a lot to discuss.

As the weeks went by, I contacted Mommie Dearest with some news and to show her the newly created Wu's Feet Links Columns Blog. She, however, was no longer interested. In all fairness, she admitted that it was something she didn't think she'd be able to do justice - and if she couldn't do it right, she didn't want to do it. I respected her choice and then sought out to find someone who would.

I got a few nibbles from people who said they'd be up for helping, but by that time I had already began to write the blog's first entry to keep up with the schedule Phil and I created. After adding all past columns to the blog as archived material (just like I did with the interviews), I wrapped up the first entry and have written one every month since. 

Lela Beryl gave her views on the subject of FemDom in the August column.

Since I write regularly for the Soles of Silk Blog, doing the columns is second nature. The original Wu's Feet Links Columns section was actually what made me have a columns section on Soles of Silk when I launched back in 2014 (which I also switched to a blog format back in 2013). With the Wu's Feet Links Columns Blog, however, I always seek to have more than just my own voice being heard. Dozens of people have contributed to making the columns I'm going to link below interesting, and to many, great reads.


 A great many people assisted me with these columns above. Their words, opinions, and experiences all helped round out the topics and I couldn't thank them enough. After giving these columns a read, be sure to check out the conclusion of each of those entries as I link to every person who made them possible. It's just too many people to list here.
Karlie & Lana Lopez are set to be in the next Wu's Feet Links feature set.

Wu's Feet Links in 2015 & Beyond



 Other than what I've previewed above, who knows what is in store for Wu's Feet Links moving forward. One thing I am confident in saying, however, is wherever it goes, there will be a lot of fellow foot fetishists going there together. The community that has been around since the late 90's has always been a solid one with lots of great people. It has been my pleasure to have many of you help Wu's Feet Links move forward in recent months and I look forward to working with even more of you in the future.

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