When The Soles Go Marching By

Broadway and 13th Street-NYC

I really hit the jackpot for lost sole sightings this week! We’ve had family visiting us from out of town and so I’ve been doing a lot of walking and sightseeing and then more walking, a perfect opportunity for spotting poor lost and lonely shoes on these mean streets. Incredibly, I found all of the shoes pictured here on the SAME DAY. It must be because it is summer and it is hot and when it is hot people take their shoes off to air out their tootsies. I guess they forget to put their shoes back on afterwards, although I can't imagine not noticing that your bare feet are coming in contact with the sometimes skeavy NYC sidewalks, but that's just me.

Anyway, before I show you the latest Lost Soles sightings I just wanted to say a few quick things about them. A friend asked me to clarify my guidelines and explain what it is that I think constitutes a lost sole. So here it is, Deb’s Somewhat Official Guidelines for Lost Soles, I hope this makes sense. The shoes are definitely found shoes, they are not shoes borrowed from friends, stolen from shoes stores or from my own closet. Lately, I've been finding a lot of pairs of shoes over just a single shoe, that led my friend to think that I was setting up the shots I was taking but that is not the case, just an incredible coincidence. I do not alter the scene, that is to say that I don't move the shoes, or "pose" them. I will edit later on by making decisions like whether to keep the image in color or make it b/w and I might crop the image occasionally if it makes the composition a bit tighter overall, but that's all.

I've gotten a tremendous amount of positive responses via email about this series from some really nice people who have also started to tell me about their own lost sole sightings. I can’t thank all of you who have written enough, you have really encouraged me and given me confidence that I don't always feel about my photography, thank you. I'm also hoping to start accepting submissions from people who would like me to post pictures and text of their own lost sole sightings, wouldn't it be great to make this an international photo essay? I'll keep everyone posted as to when I might be able to start doing that, right now things are still a bit hectic around here and blogging isn't going to be consistent quite yet, but soon. I promise.

Fifth Avenue and 29th St.-NYC

6th Avenue and Van Dam St.-NYC

ROLLERBLADE! Hard to believe because of the sheer size but yes, this was seated all by itself right there on the bench.

Broome and Wooster Streets-NYC

I can sort of see why this shoe might have been left behind.

Washington Market Park-NYC

Washington Market Park-NYC

I can easily see how a childs shoes can be lost in the park especially now that I have my own child whose shoes I must account for. I was in the park for quite some time and no one in either play area claimed either of the shoes pictured above so I assumed they were lost.

Near Duane and Chambers St.-NYC

I love this shot, it's so peaceful and Zen-like.

Written by Deb on August 31, 2005 12:25 AM