Rebekah's Sneakers

I photographed my daughter's shoes just after she finished decorating them with brightly colored permanent markers.

Per Wikipedia: Sneakers... more

by Sarah Loft

Title

Rebekah's Sneakers

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph

Description

I photographed my daughter's shoes just after she finished decorating them with brightly colored permanent markers.

Per Wikipedia: Sneakers (also known as athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, runners, takkies, or trainers) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also often used for everyday wear. The term generally describes a type of footwear with a flexible sole made of rubber or synthetic material and an upper part made of leather or synthetic materials. Examples of such shoes include athletic footwear such as: basketball shoes, tennis shoes, cross trainers and other shoes worn for specific sports.

The term "sneakers" is most commonly used in the Northeastern United States and Southern Florida. It is also used in North Carolina, Australia and Canada. The British English equivalent of "sneaker" in its modern form is "trainer". In some urban areas in the United States, the slang for sneakers is kicks. Other terms include training shoes or trainers (British English), sandshoes, gym boots or joggers (Geordie English in the UK), running shoes, runners or gutties (Canadian English, Australian English and Scottish English), runners in Hiberno-English, sneakers (North American English) and (Australian English), tennis shoes (North American English and Australian English), gym shoes, tennies, sports shoes, sneaks, takkies (South African English and Hiberno-English), rubber shoes (Philippine English) or canvas shoes (Nigerian English).

Plimsolls (British English) are "low tech" athletic shoes, and are also called 'sneakers' in American English and 'daps' in Welsh English. The word "sneaker" is often attributed to American Henry Nelson McKinney who was an advertising agent for N. W. Ayer & Son. In 1917, he used the term because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy. The word was already in use at least as early as 1887, as the Boston Journal made reference to "sneakers" as "the name boys give to tennis shoes." The name "sneakers" originally referred to how quiet the rubber soles were on the ground, in contrast to noisy standard hard leather sole dress shoes. Someone wearing sneakers could "sneak up" on someone while someone wearing standards could not.

This style of footwear also became prominent in America at the turn of the 20th century, where they were called 'sneakers'. In 1892, the U.S. Rubber Company introduced the first rubber-soled shoes in the country, sparking a surge in demand and production. The first basketball shoes were designed by Spalding as early as 1907. The market for sneakers grew after World War I, when sports and athletics increasingly became a way to demonstrate moral fiber and patriotism. The U.S. market for sneakers grew steadily as young boys lined up to buy sneakers endorsed by football player Jim Thorpe and Converse All Stars endorsed by basketball player Chuck Taylor.

Per Wikipedia: Abstract photography, sometimes called non-objective, experimental, conceptual or concrete photography, is a means of depicting a visual image that does not have an immediate association with the object world and that has been created through the use of photographic equipment, processes or materials. An abstract photograph may isolate a fragment of a natural scene in order to remove its inherent context from the viewer, it may be purposely staged to create a seemingly unreal appearance from real objects, or it may involve the use of color, light, shadow, texture, shape and/or form to convey a feeling, sensation or impression. The image may be produced using traditional photographic equipment like a camera, darkroom or computer, or it may be created without using a camera by directly manipulating film, paper or other photographic media, including digital presentations.

Note: The watermark will not appear on the products you purchase.

Featured in the Best of Minimalism group, October 2017.

Featured in the Images That Excite You group, October 2017.

Featured in the Strictly Neon group, October 2017.

Featured in the Total Abstract Photography group, January 2019.

Uploaded

September 28th, 2017