No Shirt, No shoes, Yes camera. No Entry to the Restaurant
Do you like food? Yeah. Do you like eating food? Yeah. Do you like photographing food? Hell yeah. Well now you are in trouble. Restaurants are now cracking down on people photographing their meals. I know a few people who do this and share the images on social media in particular. This could be to say that they are really enjoying a meal or wanting to brag about where they are.
The main opposition from restaurants is that a flash is normally used. Restaurants are usually dark and so to correctly expose the image you will need a flash. This proprietors say is distracting to other patrons. I would also say that the use of flash when taking pictures of food especially above would make the images of the food not look as attractive as if it had been taken using a proper studio set up. It also appears it is not just Instgrammers who are taking pictures of food in the restaurant but also amateur photographers with their DSLRs are joining in.
Chef David Bouley says he has seen it all, mainly foreign tourist are quite discrete even though they have their big bags with them. He says he has seen people bring in small flexible tripods and will even stand on chairs to capture their shot. At this point Chef Bouley will invite people to take pictures of the food in the kitchen on a marble work top because if they are going to take pictures they might as well make it look good.
I can understand how distracting it could be when eating in a restaurant, for there to be flashes going off all the time. However does the restaurateur have the right to stop you? Well it seems that yes they can (check local laws). And although it seems strange I can understand not wanting such pictures plastered over social media but on the other hand it is free advertising.
Google Image Search to Show Metadata
Oh how I chuckled, Google wanting to show metadata. I thought this was an Aprils fools joke but no. Google is overhauling its image search engine to show bigger images, faster with the ability to see the EXIF data. The data will show the date and time the image was shot, what camera was used as well as the file size. There will also be an option to see extended information as well.
This made me laugh after removing Metadata from images bought from Getty offered to users of Google Drive free of charge. Maybe they will add the information back for the image search.
Motography Stock Images
In recent years digital sensors have gotten smaller and have been fixed into everything. Mobile phones have taken advantage of this technology creating phones that are now mini media centres. There has been some snobbery about the use of mobile phones in photography with lines being drawn in the sand.
Previously stock photography companies were unwilling to except images from a mobile device. The lack of digital and optical resolution and poor exposures left the images high and dry.
Now though Alamy, the international stock agency announced it will take submissions from mobile devices for its new Live News service.
The stock agency says they will except images processed by apps but no Instagram style images. all submitted image need to have News, Sport or Entertainment value and must follow Alamy’s Image guidelines.
James Hall Alamy’s head of news said;
“When you think that the most popular smartphone cameras are now 8 megapixels it is obvious that good photographers using these devices will be able to capture and record breaking news and events with a quality that is acceptable to both on and offline news agencies…….We want to allow our contributors to upload stunning News, Sport and Entertainment images to us using the camera they have ready at hand – whether it is a DSLR, a compact camera or a smartphone. This is a recognition of the quality news images that can now be taken by cameraphones and the like.”
This news is good for stock photographers once again after Gettys treatment of photographers. It is also a good way for people who are not photographers to get their images out there when they find themselves in the middle of a news event. I can see that this can only lead to good, except I do worry about how this will change the Stock image market.
Will this possibly squeeze the market more reducing the value of an image more as well? Possibly and this is something I have been thinking about for the last couple of weeks. As photography is becoming more accessible and creating kitsch images is becoming easier with less skill has the image gone down in value. This is something I will need to think about more.
As I said there is snobbery towards motography, will these images be seen as less in value because they are from a mobile? Let’s see what happens. At the moment I will stay optimistic.
The New York Times Portfolio Review
The New York Times is offering a huge chance to photographers. They are hosting a professional portfolio review for 150 amateur photographers. All you have to be is courageous enough to send your work in.
The review is being organized by the papers Lens Blog, in the first and hopefully yearly portfolio review. To have a chance for your portfolio to be reviewed all you need to do is go to their application page http://projects.nytimes.com/lens-portfolio-review, upload 20 images from one or two of your best projects and let your images speak for themselves.
From all the applications 150 people will be invited to take part in a two day portfolio review on the 13th and 14th of April, where Editors, Curators and gallery owners will give you honest advice as they pour over your work.
The dead line is 13th February at 11.59EST and the final 150 will be notified no later than March 8th.
I think it is good that The New York Times is doing this, I think especially that it may offer some individuals a step up the ladder and inject fresh blood into press photography.
I suspect that restaurants in HK would be amazed if their patrons didn’t photograph the food (fast food chains excepted). It is almost mandatory. I am sure there would be uproar if the restauranteurs tried to stop it. Now whether it is ok to use flash or not is another issue. I do find it distracting when the couple next to us start to blitz everything that reaches the table but even the very best restaurants seem to tolerate it. More often though the flash shots seem to be reserved for people to be able to show off to their friends that they were in the Mandarin Grill or Caprice. I admire the chef who invites the clientele into his kitchen. Somehow though I doubt if an iPhone portfolio of food shots is going to get into the NY Times portfolio top 150
Do people really take a DSLR with them?????