Restaurant Kitchen, Kobe

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wow, Jack, this one runs pretty deep, but unfortunately at this moment I have no words to give the picture the words the picture deserves. But there is aesthetic power here; there is intimacy and intensity.

It looks like he is banging his head against the wall and thinking, Oh No!! not another street photographer!!!  But...a really nice shot with that brief intimate moment of connection between subject and photographer and the picture snapped before the emotional reaction has occurred. 

The first thing in this image attracting my attention is the face of the person and his mirror on the door. Wondering what he is doing, fetching something from the refrigerator?  Is he bothered or annoyed by you making a photo? Much of your work is guessing and interpreting about what is going on. A restaurant kitchen, sure! In Kobe, I don't know. But is that vital information?

The first impression is vital, a man leaning against a door confronted with his own image. How much fun is this work and his life.

Thank you for sharing and best regards,

Herman

 

I like the angle and reflection of the man, which makes this a successful portrait. I notice you are experimenting in recent days with scenes where a single person is in center focus, besides your usual forte of imparting character to insignificant objects. In this image I see great use of lines and boxes for framing the central subject. However I don't want to miss out on the distant man. His bent pose and attire bear resemblance to the foreground subject, as if it is a double exposure where suddenly he has moved closer and turned his head towards the camera. I am a fan of perspective when it comes to human subjects. The distant figure is partially blocked separating his hand from the head, giving the hand a special place. Hence I find that the image contains four distinct focal points, the distant head, distant hand, foreground man, and the reflection. Lastly, the man's gaze is fixated on the camera, but not his reflection's. This makes the reflection a separate character (to some extent, although one can easily tell that it is his shadow). This image (http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18129467) and the adjoining discussion come to mind, reflection as a separate character.

He has merged with his stainless steel environment and they are one, but he's still wondering what the heck you're doing.  Good stuff... Mike 

I like the way  you shoot  this  image. It is  so natural, and fit  well with the  subject, a working man somewhere. For  the composition or cropping, I would crop the  half of the stainless steel cabinet  to  strengthen the composition  on the man. IMHO.

Greetings to you,  Jack.

Bela

If this was mine, I would probably try it without the background guy; I think the gaze and the reflection are enough for a good street photo.

Maybe I'm the odd one but somehow this photo doesn't make me wonder about his pose, or his activities. Nor the background. I only get this instant alerted idea that I should go out, and not be caught making more photos.

Not that there seems to be anger, or some lingering atmosphere of pending violence, but neither do I sense any cosy warm fuzzyness which makes me think I'm in the right place. Teh reflection on the fridge is a terrific cherry on the pie, but somehow I think I get that pie thrown into my face if I stick around here.

You're probably pretty close to the truth. He notices someone out the open door, and sees some foreigner with a camera staring back at him. I'm sure it was a "what the....?" moment for him. It probably catches the instant of recognition just prior to activation of the programmed reaction, when the brain is still trying to interpret the information. I'm partial to that particular moment.