News & Notes - March 2014

Well, well... I can finally look out of my window and not see any snow on the ground. It's about damn time! This winter has seen it's fair share of snow and I cannot wait for the warm weather to arrive. I crave getting back to doing some photography and seeing countless pairs of cute feet. But in the meantime, I thought I'd go over some news and notes to keep everyone in the loop. Here's what's been going on with Soles of Silk and what is hopefully set to come:

Lela Beryl debuts on March 12.

New Model - Lela Beryl

If you've been following this blog you already know that last week the site gained its second new model of the year in Lela Beryl. (see blog: "Tuesday's Shoot - Lela Beryl") I'm not going to go into massive amounts of detail since I did in the aforementioned blog, but it was great to finally meet this fun loving girl. Those VERY soft feet spent a few hours in front of my camera and in my hands afterward. They're just as every bit as soft as she claimed - if not softer!

Other New Models

With 2014 marking the site's 10 year anniversary, I am hoping to debut at least 10 new models over the course of the year. It's a tall task, but one I'm really hoping to accomplish. Lela Beryl was the second with Megan Jones debuting on New Years being the first.

At the end of last year Ryan introduced me to two girls right around the time the weather was getting cold. I asked both if they'd mind waiting until the spring since I prefer outdoor shoots and in all honesty, had around 70 unpublished sets accumulated at that point. Both agreed and as soon as the weather begins to get warm and stay that way, I'll be asking both to wiggle their toes for me. I can't wait to see their soft foot bottoms on display!

I also have two other potentials. Two coworkers might pose as well. One is really looking forward to it, and should also pose once spring arrives. The other is considering it, but I'm not sure if she will or not.

So it looks like I'm about half way to my goal. I'll have to see if any of my models have any friends who might want to pose. I'll also have to keep tabs on any models on Twitter who may be traveling through the area.

Returning Models

It's still too early to say, but 2014 should also mark the return of a handful of models that haven't been in front of my camera in some time. Cierra, Carlin, and Mileena have already agreed and I cannot wait to see those three return. I've also sent out some feelers to the likes of Shayna, Sara Swirls, Paige Noelle, Lady Steph, Kayleigh, Katie, and Ginger and am hoping to see as many of them back as possible.

Ryan is just one model who will be shooting again soon.

Shoot Planning

Having to sit through all this crappy winter weather has given me cabin fever and a massive desire to get out of the house. With that being said, it's also made me begin planning some shoots early. I've talked with some of the girls already, planning some early set ideas.

Mindee hit me up just the other day to say the weather is breaking and it's time to plan some sets. She couldn't have been more right! Even though I still have a few sets left of hers to post, I would meet up with her every week to shoot if I could. So yeah, Mindee will be joining the 3K Club (3,000 photos) one day. Then the 4K Club, 5K Club, and so on.

Aspen and I should be getting together in April to do a baseball themed set. It is one that eluded us last year because we kept finding days to shoot when it rained. Hopefully this year will be a little different. We have a few other ideas we're looking to do too. All I'll say is, you haven't seen the last bikini shot of this cutie!

Olivia will be making a huge impact this year. Not only is she slated to represent Soles of Silk in a 2014 feature gallery on Wu's Feetlinks, but we have so many plans for other sets too. I can't wait to get with her and begin shooting.

Ryan is another model who should be posing quite regularly in 2014. I just finished sending her a long email detailing a two day trip we're looking to do. It's not going to be all photos, but we're going to do as much as we can while we're out enjoying ourselves. If all goes as planned, it should produce a little on-going series featuring a number of consecutive Ryan updates.

Ashlyn and I were never able to get together before the cold weather set in last year to shoot a few sets we had planned. She's very excited to get to them this year though. Since we didn't meet up and shoot until late summer last year, I hope to get in a good number of sets this year. I want her to be a regular in front of my camera.

While I haven't planned any sets with other models yet, you will certainly be seeing many of the others doing new work. The above are just those who I've discussed some exacts with when it comes to themes, locations, etc. 

Carlin has an upcoming interview.

New Interviews

This has been an ongoing project of mine, and something that has been working out quite nicely. In recent months I've added a handful of new interviews to the site. Ashlyn and Jasey Rae had their introductory interviews published in recent months. Mindee took part in an interview about her breaking the 2,000 photo mark and joining the 2K Club. (see blog:"2K Club - Mindee's Footgraphy") Olivia was the subject of an interview detailing the day we spent shooting in Cape May, NJ. Kayleigh did a small interview about returning to the site soon. And I even found a small sized modeling interview with Madison that I originally had posted as part of an old column years ago. It was copied into the interview format and added to the interviews section just a few weeks ago.

In addition to those interviews, I have a handful of others that are set to go online in the near future. Rachel DD just completed her introductory interview and Mariah has promised me she is working on hers. Jamie completed an modeling interview since she recently joined the 1K Club. (see blog: "1K Club - Jamie's Footgraphy"). Carlin has also completed a modeling interview, one I aim to post before she makes her return this year.

I need to work on getting a few other modeling interviews out to other site regulars such as Wendy, Ryan, Abby, and Aspen. All four have done enough sets for me to go into some details about their experiences over the years.

Cierra's 10 year anniversary avatar.

10 Year Anniversary Avatars

Every week I've been posting two or three avatars in the downloads section to further celebrate the site's 10 years online. Each model will eventually have her own avatar posted, but I'm going at it year-by-year. All the models who debuted in 2004 and 2005 are now published and I'm currently posting those who showed their soles in 2006.

The Where's Wendy? Contest was the site's most recent contest.

Contests

So far the site has held two contests. The first one, The Annual Soles of Silk Trivia Contest had some success, but the numbers were a little down from previous years. (see blog: "Answers & Results: The 2013 Soles of Silk Annual Trivia Contest") Funny thing is, the scores were much higher than ever before, which led me to believe that the questions were too easy. Wonder if some people didn't even bother to try thinking they'd be hard. Oh well!

The second contest was the first ever of its kind for the site. It was called The Where's Wendy? Contest. (see blog: "Results: The Where's Wendy? Contest") Within just a few hours the contest saw its first winner. And eight days later, the second.

I'm hoping to run 10 total contests this year, again, playing off the number 10 for the site's 10th anniversary. Another one should be right around the corner. I wonder what kind it will be?

This set with Mindee and Marcy will be posted in June.

Where is (Insert Set Here)?

A few weeks ago I got an email asking me where the set of Mindee and Marcy from the splash page is on the site. I know I made mention of this in a blog some time ago and many people might not have read it, so I want to get into this again here.

When I redesigned some of the site elements going into 2014 I wanted to spruce things up with some of the more recent AND upcoming sets - a teaser if you will. The Mindee and Marcy splash page graphic is one such graphic. The guest section header bar of Ryan is another one. Neither set is currently on the site and both will be making their way soon. You'll also notice some of the squared page images that are also from sets still yet to come.

As it pertains to the Mindee and Marcy graphic, however, I have an exact date for you. My plan all along was to post that to coincide with an important soccer event. With the FIFA World Cup getting underway on June 12, expect to see the set published on the June 11 update.

Olivia's pink socks video is now a free preview.

New Free Video Samples

I recently changed the two free video samples available on the Free Preview page of the guest area. They now show videos in the 1080p HD format I've been using for over a year now. It's one of those things I didn't think about for some time, but came across in changing some of the site's elements. It's probably for the better too because people can now see the quality of the clips they'll be getting once they become a member.

Redesign/Layout Elements

As of the March 12 update all models, contributors, and flashback models will have updated gallery pages that feature post dates and sample shots (instead of head shots). During the process I also listed all sets from newest to oldest so that the more recent sets are shown first. It's been a long process, but one everyone has seemed to like.

With the March 12 update I also slightly altered the models, contributions, and flashback pages themselves. Gone are the black boxes that used to surround each model's head shot. Just think it shows up nicer against the white background.

Blog Linking Changes

This has been something I've done for a couple of months now. Whenever I wrote a blog I used to link EVERY occurrence of a model's name, outside site, social media post, etc. Well, in doing so I had my blog blocked as it was viewed as spam. After Google reviewed the blog, which was Mindee's 2K Club blog, they restored it seeing that it was not spam. What it looks like had happened was since the blog had excessive linking, it was automatically flagged as spam. So from now on, I will link only the first occurrence of each model's name, outside link, etc.