Photo of the "Bomb Shoe" Richard Reid used to try and blow up an airliner
Taken in Iraq by Andy Graham
Lost Sole in Iraq, Unknown Photographer
Lost Sole in Iraq on the Highway of Death, Unknown Photographer
Shoes at the Grace Cathedral memorial
Over the past couple of days there have been some tragic events. The terrorist attack over in India and a car accident closer to home here in Pensacola. While one is larger and resonates on a larger global scale, the deaths here during a car accident are easily looked over in larger news, but both are involve the loss of life for no reason which makes them both tragic.
The two events have a connection for me as they both involve a lost sole. As I watched the news where they detailed the events that took place in India, one survivor described the details of her exit from one of the hotels that were under terrorist seige. She spoke of being rushed down a hallway by armed commandoes, she noticed blood everywhere. She mentioned she was so thankful for them having removed the bodies so she did not have to see them, but one thing she will never forget was a lone woman’s high heel that sat at the spot where its owner was shot down. A lost sole I am grateful to never have seen although it would make for one powerful image, an image photojournalists live to get. So in that, I do wish I could get that photo. Not for the morbidity of it, but for the documentation of a tragedy. To humanize the event, to help bring it to reality, to let people around the world connect to the event on a relatable level so maybe it would help people realize the brutality of this world. To maybe even help people relate to those that were gunned down, not as some far off foreignors, but human beings just like us all. We are all connected, we are the world.
Then not long after the terrorist attack, the local news told the details involving the car accident. A man had gotten really drunk at a downtown Pensacola bar and got into his car and chose to drive home. He ended up going the wrong way on Pensacola Bay Bridge and running head on into a car driven by a father of three. Both men died on the scene :( And as the news is showing footage, the camera at the scene pans from the crash to a man’s shoe lying alone on the ground with the lights flashing in the background. Another iconic image that I would not like to take a photo of, yet feel compelled to be able document it.
To me there will also be something haunting about a lost solo shoe, something that seems out of place. Hence why I am still inspired to photograph them at any chance I get.