Shoes of the Subway

Have you ever noticed how much you can analyze about a person by their shoes?

It’s one of those incredible things that you don’t tend to think about, but once it’s brought to your attention you can never really stop noticing it again and again ever-afterwards. Judging shoes is usually such a subconscious process that once you start taking control of it and breaking down the process, you feel as accomplished as Sherlock Holmes.

You see, I’ve always loved people-watching… but it’s a difficult hobby to do discreetly. I think the idea to judge shoes first came to me while I was in an airport (one of my favorite people-watching arenas), but I immediately knew the process could be applied anywhere. You simply watch the shoes that walk by, try to make some sort of assumption about the wearer (athletic, rich, shallow, relaxed, outdoorsy)… then look up and see if the rest of the person’s clothing or demographic effects the rest of the picture. Or vice versa: how much does a person change in your mind once you look down?

For example, after coming to New York, one day I was sitting on the Subway when a huge man walked in, tattooed and everything. I was worried for a fraction of a second, until I saw his shoes: Doc Marten’s working boots. Suddenly I noticed the traces that this man had been working hard. A blue-collar job, perhaps, but a solid and respectable job nonetheless.

I immediately liked him after that. I didn’t think to start this photography series until days later, but I wish I’d gotten a picture of his shoes. Call me crazy, but only people who earn a decent living can afford Doc Martens… and only people who work hard would ever want to wear them.

And so, during my time here in New York, I spent not a few subway rides trying to take subtle pictures of the floor with my iPhone and prepare this short amateur photography series, entitled “Shoes of the Subway.”

(Thanks to Blogspot's less-than-stellar photo-posting abilities, I'm only showing a small number of the full series.)

Guess which teen the little boy belonged to!

What if I told you this was a teenage girl?
Now what if I said fifty-year-old man?
Funny how it works...

Fast asleep after a long work day.

     

These two women in the above pictures came into the same subway car from two different stops while wearing the exact same shoes, within three feet of each other, and didn't notice.

One of these three came from Wall
Street after a work day.

Somebody wasn't traveling alone...

What if I told you that girl in the flats was two feet shorter than the guy in sneakers?
Now what if I told you she was at least six feet tall?

He asked me for directions.

He wore a turban, and was traveling with his family.

Straight from the parade.

Drunk as a skunk.

Reading Magic Tree House out loud!

I overheard him telling someone that he was high.
Not what I expected from someone with such a put-together outfit.

"He loves me...
He loves me not..."

Two little brothers speaking French. There are a TON of French-speakers in NYC...

Guess what makes these girls particularly different -- besides their awesome fashion sense?

We actually got into a great conversation about her boots.

These were probably my personal favorite pair that I saw the whole trip.

And the best contrast goes to...

Fun fact: my own feet are somewhere in this series.