After Midnight

near 3rd Ave-New York City-2005

I found another "Lost Sole" today. Technically this should be number four in the series, but as I was without a camera when I found the two before this, by default, this becomes the second photo in what I hope to be an ongoing series of found shoes. I spotted the first number two (does that makes sense) last Saturday on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. A pair of sneakers lying smack dab on the middle of the road, as if someone had tossed them out a car window. Ocean Parkway can be one scary mutha of a street to cross and because I didn't have my camera with me (which was dumb because I was on my way to the hospital to see my newly born nephew) and because I was in a moving car at the time I decided to just let the photo opportunity go. I’ll tell you though, IF I had had my camera I’m almost positive I would have asked my brother to pull over so I could attempt the shot. that’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

The pair of shoes that would have been number "three" in this series were found just this past Tuesday evening ( or early Wednesday morning depending on how you look at it) while I was walking home from work. I could kick myself repeatedly for not having my camera with me. I even considered going home, getting my camera and going back to the scene but it was already after 1 am and well, once I was actually inside the apartment and feeling the delightful air-conditioned coolness on my skin there was no way I was going back out into the sweaty night to take some crazy picture. Anyway. The shoes. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect set-up, a pair of women's dress shoes, real sleek, with a long and narrow pointed toe and a perky little heel that was maybe 2 inches high. They looked as if they had been slipped off momentarily, perhaps so that the owner could find relief from a blister or rub sore feet, but then, somehow they were abandoned near (and maybe even because of) an overflowing NYC garbage can that had a few of those heart stopping and immensely skeevy giant water bug creatures scurrying nearby . The street lamp, traffic light and car headlights were all reflecting off the black leather in such a way that depending on how I moved my head the shoes looked almost sparkly. There was a cab parked nearby and the driver (I’m assuming he was on a break) was staring at the shoes through the open window of his cab. The whole scene made me think of the lyrics to a Patsy Cline song: "I go out walkin’ after midnight Out in the moonlight Just like we used to do I’m always walkin’ after midnight searchin’ for you…" Oh well, I think that even if I had gone home to get my camera I probably would not have been able to accurately capture the mood anyway.

daytime near 3rd Ave-New York City-2005

Enough about what could have been, let me tell you about what became. The shot you see above was obviously taken earlier in the day than the final night shot up at the top of this post. I wasn’t crazy about the day photo for many reasons and thought about not posting the shot. I didn’t have my usual camera with me, (Nikon D70) instead, I had an old Sony Mavica (long story, silly reason). The Mavica is a conspicuously large camera (it saves to a floppy disc) and compared to today's tiny slip into your back pocket models it looks ridiculous I guess. I imagine that, combined with having suddenly stopped dead in my tracks to whip it out this enormous camera to photograph a shoe might have seemed a little odd. The street was crowded which is pretty normal for that time of the evening (6:30 pm) and passersby were definitely puzzled by what I was doing, one woman even muttered a snarky "O-kaaaaaay" as she passed me to which I (silently) replied "oh please, if this is the weirdest thing you've seen in NYC then you need to get out more.” It’s funny, but since giving birth to my daughter I’ve gotten over worrying about what people think of me. I mean really, I was in a hospital grunting and sweating like nobody’s business to a steady stream of (mostly) strangers who were privy to my more intimate parts, and this lady thought photographing a shoe on the sidewalk was surreal? Anyway, I also just didn't have a lot of time because I was running late for work so I rushed to take the picture and didn’t give it much thought and I think that’s definitely reflected by the weakness of the composition. It’s a lame shot. On my way home from work later this evening (and on the lookout for more shoes because this is turning out to be a lot of fun), I couldn’t help but think how great it would be in if the shoe were still where I had found it, so I retraced my steps and LO and BEHOLD, (to my great pleasure) it was!

Written by Deb on August 5, 2005 02:08 AM