This was my second day in the city. I jumped off the ferry at Pier 11 and headed to Battery Park, with a plan to walk through Broadway all the way up to Central Park. After taking photos of people getting intimate with the Charging Bull, I thought I’ve seen enough and continued walking. Not far from the Charging Bull, I saw a Starbucks sign and thought that was my sign to fill my water bottle.

The Starbucks sign led me to this shoes. I didn’t inspect them, but they looked too clean to be thrown away. I don’t know for how long those shoes were sitting on the bench all alone. I thought it was only right to include some other shoes into the frame.

After taking the photo, I found out that it wasn’t a sign for me to get a water refill. The barista at Starbuck didn’t let me do it because I wasn’t a paying customer. Frankly, I wasn’t planning on becoming one either. Starbucks wasn’t in my list of all the places I could get coffee in New York.