ARCHIVE 386 – WOMAN IN A CAFE (MONO)
November 21, 2018 14 Comments
Woman in a café, in Camborne, Cornwall; 9 Oct 2013.
My wife was in the shops, and I was doing what I like to do – wandering around with a camera and an open, receptive mind, looking at anything and everything. I was slowly meandering up Camborne’s main street when I saw this woman in a café on the other side of the road, chatting with a friend.
It took several paces to register fully what I’d seen, and then I slowly turned and doubled back on my tracks, adjusting the camera as I went, and turned to photograph her – only to find her looking straight at me, probably wondering what this strange and rather bulky old man was doing, cutting back on himself.
The autofocus locked on (boy, do I love autofocus!), two shots (and do I love automated wind-on too!), and I walked on, expecting every moment to feel the heavy hand of the Image Police on my shoulder – but that’s untrue of course, as in the UK, in a public place like Camborne’s main street, you can photograph as you please.
I’d thought about presenting this photo in vertical letterbox format, showing just the door, the woman and the OPEN sign. But I’ve doubled the image’s width by including the net curtains and some other details, and I think this adds balance and context to the shot – but what do you think?
Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.
Technique: D800 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2’s High Contrast Smooth preset.
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