I recently shined up a pair of shoes I wear frequently to work. My shoes are not fancy or expensive, but they are practical and decent looking.
Before Shine:
After Shine:
In my opinion, some gents can take analyzing shoe appearance too far by over emphasizing the importance of having immaculate shoes or judging others by the way their shoes look, believing them sloppy, lazy, not detailed or unprofessional if their shoes are not shined to a high gloss buff.
While I feel this is going too far, I do believe it is important to take care of your things and have a professional appearance when you are in a professional environment. Proper maintenance is practical as well and can prolong the life of a pair of shoes by moisturizing the leather, waterproofing them and helping fill dings/scratches, all while restoring the original look of the shoes.
I was not taught how to shine my shoes, but there are a number of good tutorials on the internet, and shoe shining kits are relatively inexpensive these days. I have also paid to have my shoes shined at different times in the past, and watching a professional shine them up is also a good way to learn.
Shoe shining is a chore, but a worthwhile one for me.
Take care,
Brian