Paris Vignettes: The Shoes of Paris

The Paris Vignettes series features the inspired work of street photographer William “Bill” O’Such in themed installments

While taking a guided Explore Paris walk to explore the Popincourt neighborhood between Nation and the Bastille, we entered one of the several new 4* hotels in the area called the Hotel Les Deux Girafes and saw a photo exhibition which inspired me. After the walk, I sat down on a park bench in a local Marais park and for a few hours observed the shoes of people passing by. I realized how the shoes seemed to reflect each person’s style and were much nicer and more fascinating than the sneakers of San Francisco, where I live most of the time.

Over the next few days, I started capturing the vast range of shoes around me, whether it was while standing in the metro line 1, heading up escalators at Les Halles, hanging out in a Saint Germain café, resting on a park bench in the Place des Vosges, or walking in a park along the Seine near Pont Neuf. Some of them had little motion, some were in full Parisian sprint and others sadly just escaped my lens. They all had one thing in common, they all told a story! Looking forward to your comments as I share my first set of “Shoes of Paris”.

PS. The walk itself was very interesting especially if you don’t know the area and its evolution from wholesale stores to a vibrant community- the residents themselves contributing to the evolution. Watch for some “interesting people” pictures from the Popincourt neighborhood in a future photo essay!