29 Apr Boston Magazine Features Shoes and Stories from Marathon
In a tribute to the tragic bombing victims at the Boston marathon April 15, Boston Magazine’s May issue features a cover photo of running shoes worn during the marathon arranged in the shape of a heart.
According to the magazine, the original idea for the issue was to commission essays from well-known Boston writers, but during the brainstorming of how to illustrate that on the cover, the staff came up with the idea of collecting shoes and stories from marathon runners and then arranging the runners’ shoes for the cover.
The problem was the magazine was already well along in the production cycle, so they had only three days execute the concept.
According to the magazine, they figured they’d need at least 100 pairs of shoes, so the staff set out to find people through social media and friends.
Editor-in-chief of the magazine, John Wolfson, wrote “To me the cover is about two things: perseverance and unity. By itself, each shoe in the photograph is tiny, battered, and ordinary. Together, though, they create something beautiful, powerful, and inspirational. Remove just one shoe and you begin to diminish, in some small way, the overall effect. Collectively, they are the perfect symbol for Boston, and for our response to the bombings.”
