The Waiter

Richard

lizzard_nyc

He has the classic waiter pose, as though you caught him saying "today's special is Chilean sea bass with scallops and roasted broccoli, drizzled with a lemon butter caper sauce...".
Also I want to know where his customers are as he seems oddly out of place in the midst of that crowd walking around with his classic waiter pose.

Here is another shot of someone looking directly at the camera. He looks almost startled to find you there.
I like it Richard, but cant' really say why this one works for me.

Joco

It's the pose and the expression that really hooks it. Perhaps a little less DOF would have been great, but I guess you had to use prefocussing here.

Flyinggina

This one definitely has an odd quality to it. Man wringing his hands looking at the photographer but not really seeing him, projecting some level of anxiety, while the happy crowd flows by. No sign of anything except his dress to tell us he is a waiter.

Neat!!

Virginia

Richard

Thanks, everyone. I had the feeling that he was looking past me, not at me. His tables were off to the right of the frame, outside the area covered by the arches, while the restaurant itself is out of frame to the left. I think business was slow at the time, which may explain the expression and hands.

bdcolen

Richard wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I had the feeling that he was looking past me, not at me. His tables were off to the right of the frame, outside the area covered by the arches, while the restaurant itself is out of frame to the left. I think business was slow at the time, which may explain the expression and hands.

Great expression, and it definitely says 'waiter.' My one thought - for next time - is that I would have tried to get just a few inches of trouser below that classic waiter's jacket, both to frame it, and to make it a bit more complete.

Richard

bdcolen wrote: »

Great expression, and it definitely says 'waiter.' My one thought - for next time - is that I would have tried to get just a few inches of trouser below that classic waiter's jacket, both to frame it, and to make it a bit more complete.

Same shot, different crop:



Better?

bdcolen

Richard wrote: »

Same shot, different crop:



Better?

YES!clap

Richard

bdcolen wrote: »

YES!clap

That was easy . Thanks, BD.

michswiss

That little bit of extra space below the jacket really helps open the image. Classic shot.

craig_d

*shrug* I like the original crop much better than the revision. The archway over the top with the lamp on the left was perfect to complement the figures, the tonal balance was better, and I really don't care about the little extra bit of space below the jacket. It was fine the way it was. Now it's just getting focus-grouped to death and losing important context.

Richard

Thanks for the feedback, Jenn and Craig. I kind of like them both, actually. The crop makes the waiter more immediate, but the original has more of the neat background. I can't resist those arches. I guess it depends on what the viewer finds interesting. The city itself is a subordinate subject in most of what I shoot--sometimes not so subordinate. Dunno.

bdcolen

craig_d wrote: »

*shrug* I like the original crop much better than the revision. The archway over the top with the lamp on the left was perfect to complement the figures, the tonal balance was better, and I really don't care about the little extra bit of space below the jacket. It was fine the way it was. Now it's just getting focus-grouped to death and losing important context.

Losing context? Hmmmmmm....We can still see the bottom of the coach lamp - and it's quite obvious what it is. And we still see arches going back to forever. So we've lost what context?