First Photos, Initial Interview

I chose a subject for my photo essay: Greg Snyder’s shoe shining service. He agreed to have me photograph and interview him for a couple Saturdays to make the piece possible. Today I sat with him and went to work capturing his operation. We discussed how he became interested in shoes, shoe shining, and serving the seminary in this way. I also asked him about odd shoes he has purchased or cleaned, and we watched a short YouTube video of a man shining a shoe. Greg loves the sounds of shoe shining and even plays the video at times as he does chores in his room. I found a bevy of interesting details about his shoe interests. These include:

• His initial interest in shoes came from the gift of a fine pair of shoes a professional singer gifted to Greg when he was a teenager.
• He owns around 25 pairs of shoes, only half of which he has at seminary.
• Shoe shining was something he inherited from his father.
• His time in the Air Force helped him hone his craft.
• He shines 5-8 pairs of shoes on a typical Saturday morning.
• Stephen Cieslak and I are his most frequent customers.

I won’t be able to interview and photograph Greg next Saturday because I will be out of town for a wedding, but we planned to continue in November at the next available Saturday. I look forward to asking him about his tools, supplies, and technique. For now, here are a few of my photos from round one.