From the 1940s onwards, Siskind primarily photographed inanimate objects, but he never completely abandoned the human figure, which became an abstract and expressive element in two photographic series Siskind created in the mid-to-late 1950s. "Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation" features Lake Michigan divers suspended in mid-air. When shooting each composition, Siskind directed his camera upwards to isolate and silhouette the twisting, turning, and tumbling figures against the sky so that they appear to be flying—and falling—through space. For the Feet series, Siskind tackled the self-imposed challenge of transforming “the most lowly part of the human body.” Pairs of feet, usually shot close-up from below, fill the frame with their forms, lending them a monumental and sculptural quality.