Red Shoes
Driving along Dallas Road to take my partner to work I spotted this toilet with legs and arms holding up the back of the bowl, which made me want a picture.
A few blocks further along, I saw an older man walking a dog that matched the colour of his hair, wearing a pair of brightly new red shoes. I really wanted a shot of him too.
On my return trip I stopped to shoot the toilet (not everyday I can deliver that line), and as I was setting up along came the man, his red shoes and dog. I had just enough time to fit them all in one picture.
While I was taking these pictures a woman on the first floor balcony of the apartment block at this spot called out to me. She was on the phone with another woman on a balcony near the top of the building who had dialed her friend downstairs so she could call out to me across a shorter distance (complicated, isn’t it?). And the relayed message was about the toilet, that it is a really good one, still works fine, cost $600 new and I was free to take it. There was a ripple of disappointment up the side of the building when I said I only wanted to take the toilet’s picture.
They were almost disapproving, as if I had taken just the toilet’s seat.
Or refused to pick up after their dog.
I should have taken a picture of the two of them on their widely separated balconies, phones in hands, other hands gesturing about the merits of the porcelain at my feet, which by the way were dressed in worn black clogs.
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Olympus XA, f2.8/35mm lens, Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 film, scanned with Epson V700, edited with Lightroom 5
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Fantastic story. I need to deal with a toilet as well as I move out of my place in New York. It’s a Japanese washlet toilet with remote control. So complicated, but that’s a story for another time.
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A remote control for a toilet? Does one use the toilet from a distance? Doesn’t sound practical, at least not for the middle aged and elderly…
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Oh, it’s very practical, especially for the elderly. I’m amazed they haven’t yet taken off in the West. But I do see them more and more in New York restaurants now, so it will eventually spread here. More importantly, you never have to deal with a cold seat in the winter as it is heated, etc. It also has a built-in fan, among other features.
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A better toilet does sound a bit like the proverbial better mouse trap. But a heated seat would be nice. And a built in fan! (Did you notice the one I photographed has a fan as well, which sometimes blows at 70 knots). Yours sounds perfect for a small space.
It is so unexpected some of the things I learn about through my blog.
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It does? I’m staring at the photos now and I’m not seeing the fans.
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The fan was turned off in this photo so kind of hard to spot. However, I have a picture of it in action just beyond the red shoes. The picture was taken with the fan turned up to about 50 knots and can be seen here: http://wp.me/p1R4lY-25h
🙂
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Ahhh. I see. Thanks.
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Sorry for my obscure humour, if it can be called that. I think it is a subconscious reference back to the many breezy outhouses that I have made use of over the years.
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Excellent story that goes with these images. I am particularly fond of the phrase “ripple of disappointment up the side of the building.”
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Thank you Melinda! I toyed with the phrase “a flush of disappointment up the side of the building” to go with the main subject of the story, but decided it was a bit too cute.
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I laughed out loud when I read this…
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I’m reminded of the Elvis Costello song “The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes” when I saw this. It’s a great song but it has nothing to do with an abandoned toilet, which seems to be the main subject. This photo shows that some viewers will focus on a small scale portion of a photo even though the dominant object is something completely different. I guess we all bring our own vision to a photo.
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I think we do bring our own vision to photos. It can be one of the interesting things about commentary on photo blogs – the things people see in photos that are totally different than what I see.
As to the red shoes – in this photo they are a small and very personal reminder of how they looked in motion, flashing along the sidewalk with each step in the yellow morning light. I did not do justice to the flashing with this photo, but I like the memory. A shot just of the toilet, while bizarre, is not all that interesting so I was glad to have that man add his shoes to the story.
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You see the trouble you get into when you shoot strange objects!! Not every day you see one of these beside the road. But of course we want to take a picture of it – even if the on-lookers think you are a sandwich short of a picnic. I get that reaction regularly!!
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It is a strange boat that photographers sail in some times. I was pretty amused by the phone relays. And the reminder that unseen people on upper floors of buildings are watching the street below. And they don’t need curtains to hide behind.
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You see the darndest things or is that just how Victoria is?
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Hi Val – I think that is just how Victoria is. And with a view to taking pictures, I see more of this aspect of Victoria than I used to.
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