Pleasant Respite

Posted by Twelvebit (Victoria, United States) on 30 January 2008 in Lifestyle & Culture.

Here I run into what, for me, is a frequent dilemma: categorization. Is this image, taken in an eating area in a store that is about food for the affluent, more properly classified as "lifestyle and culture" or "food and cuisine?" Since no food is visible here I went with "lifestyle and culture." Yesterday's shot was more about the chairs and the tables and it seems to me that it works best in black and white. This image is more about the lights and the city at night. This isn't to suggest that B&W can't be a fabulous choice for a city at night, merely that in this particular case, form was not a dominant part of the image. If you disagree with this conception please don't hesitate to let me know. I tried several of these images in both color and B&W and this one, and the one from yesterday, are the results I preferred.

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Comments (5)

danthro from Suburbia, United States

well, overall i liked yesterday's better. but i think this one might have more potential compositionally. in this shot i'm more drawn to look outside the window. an idea might be to consider cropping out the table at the bottom and just have the person and the window--and if you have more photo to the left go wider to the left?

30 Jan 2008 5:08pm

@danthro: I agree that the view through the window is the focus of the shot. That being the case I guess the main reason I didn't crop the bottom was because I didn't want to narrow the proportions of the frame, though I can't claim any logical reason for this thinking. I often have a difficult time deciding what particular framing I like best if I didn't get the optimum composition in camera.

Gary from Cochise County, United States

It's amazing how the color changes the time. This looks so much more modern than the B&W.

30 Jan 2008 8:30pm

@Gary: I hadn't really thought of it in those terms, but I can see it now that you mention it. You have me flipping back and forth between images trying to figure out why that is, and I can't come up with a good answer. Maybe it's because the color adds information about style, and we associate this particular combination of colors with something more modern --or don't recall a similar style including this particular combination of colors from our past; whereas we've seen chairs and tables shaped like this during other periods of our lives?

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

It's definetly lifestyle and culture, the woman her hair her style of dress. I think the colour reveals more the chairs are warmer, B&W is always more drama.

30 Jan 2008 10:08pm

@JoeB: I probably chose lifestyle and culture because of what I know that isn't communicated by the image. This is taken in Whole Foods and the people coming to this store have made certain cultural and lifestyle choices, especially about their diet, in buying organic food and other products that are supposed to reduce environmental impact (and many of the patrons here are very affluent). Ironically, some people associate these choices with left/democratic politics, but the CEO of Whole Food is a right-wing Republican.

Daroru from Amagasaki, Japan

I would have gone for Cityscape and Urban, as it is giving us a glimpse into the urban life where you live.

30 Jan 2008 10:36pm

@Daroru: You're probably right since, like I said to JoeB, my choice is based on information that is not part of the image. What the image itself reveals is an urban nightscape.