Na-Na: Where the Barefoot Journey Begins

Na-Na is 170 centimeters tall, 19 years old this year, a young girl who just entered university. When I contacted her, she wasn't afraid of being barefoot on the street; she just said she felt her feet weren't that pretty, so I asked her to send me a photo of her feet. When I received the photo, I thought it was absolutely stunning, so we agreed to meet the next day at Riverside Park.

When we met, Na-Na was wearing a long dress, which I had requested because I think bare feet paired with a long dress is a very beautiful combination. After she took off her shoes, I saw her fair and tender feet and thought to myself, would it be too cruel for such feet to walk on the ground?

Na-Na asked me, “Are we shooting in the park?” I replied, “On the street.” Na-Na pursed her lips slightly, and I added, “Give me your shoes. You can't wear shoes during these three hours of shooting; you need to treat the soles of your feet as your shoes.” “Okay, no problem, I actually really like being barefoot.” I took Na-Na's shoes, took out my camera, and started shooting.

Na-Na felt very light on her bare feet, walking quickly, and even walking on tactile paving felt like walking on flat ground. I thought to myself, although this girl's feet are fair and tender, she is definitely skilled at being barefoot. Na-Na quickly got into the groove. When asked to cross the street, she would do so as usual, not timid because she was barefoot. She didn't mind the gazes of passersby, and gradually, people didn't deliberately observe her because her current state was just like wearing shoes.

Na-Na's feet are very well-proportioned, with straight toes, a rare pair of beautiful feet. Now she walks ahead, and the constantly wiggling toes to maintain balance are the most beautiful sight.

Some photos have already been taken. There's a bus stop ahead with seats, so Na-Na walks over and sits down to rest her feet. She extends her feet from under her dress, naturally placing them on the ground, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing over her feet. At this point, the soles of her feet are already black, and there's dust between her toes. The contrast between her fair skin and the dust makes me sigh: It's wonderful to be her photographer!

Next, we continue shooting, starting to take close-up videos of Na-Na walking barefoot. I ask her to walk slower so the camera can keep up. Her feet are walking right in front of me, and I notice that with each step, the ball of her foot lands first, then her toes wiggle for balance, followed by the heel landing. This is a very standard barefoot walking style; I have to say she's quite talented. Since I personally enjoy watching toes wiggle to maintain balance, I ask Na-Na to do a one-legged stance and include it in the video. Then we continue shooting. When passing intersections, Na-Na waits for traffic lights, but sometimes when she gets impatient, she also runs red lights.

We passed a road under construction, filled with gravel and crushed lime. There was a fallen utility pole in the middle, so I asked Na-Na to walk a ’tightrope' on the pole. Na-Na walked over the gravel, stepped onto the utility pole, and stretched out her arms to maintain balance. Her slender toes wiggled very frequently as she tried hard to walk on the pole. If she fell, she would step on the gravel ground that would sting her feet. After reaching the end, she stepped onto the gravel and walked out of there with two light steps, without crying out in pain, very naturally. I admired her from the bottom of my heart.

As we walked, we arrived at the riverside. There was a flower bed that had just been watered. I asked Na-Na to walk into it. Na-Na took a few steps and came out, the soles of her feet covered in mud. She said, ”It's too dirty in there, getting mud all over my feet. At first, you said to walk as if wearing shoes, but who wearing shoes would step in mud?” I thought her words made sense, so I had her walk to a grassy area and sit down, where she began to clean her feet.

At this point, I realized that this Na-Na before me is a girl who loves cleanliness, enjoys being barefoot just like enjoying a favorite pair of shoes. She takes care of them while walking, doesn't intentionally step in mud, and can calmly tread through muddy paths when unavoidable.

Afterwards, we walked up to a felled tree. She sat on it, and I crouched down, using a branch as a rope to play tug-of-war with her feet. During the tug-of-war, I kept tickling her soles with the branch, and her soft laughter emerged continuously. Here, I shot a large amount of close-up video, showcasing Na-Na's feet from every angle without any blind spots.

Time passed quickly, and we were almost done shooting. My feet were hurting from walking in shoes, and I thought Na-Na's feet must be hurting a lot too. So, we walked back to the starting point, cleaned her feet, Na-Na put on her shoes, and disappeared into the crowd.