Chinese Restaurant

Two salarymen discuss business in a Chinese Restaurant in my neighborhood. They wear the costume of the day, masks as prevention against corona virus.

Jack...Real time shot relating the concern with the virus....but would be interesting to see how they managed the soup???Good shot as usual!Salutations-Laurent

Jack, without the narrative, I never would have thought about the corona virus. The only hint of the location being a Chinese restaurant is the bowl with a Chinese-style spoon. Given a potential alteration of the scene - removing the bowl and spoon, the story line just as easily could have been about two men sharing a table, each involved in his own world.

Laurent, thanks for the comment. The perceived reality IS the reality at least for each individual. It's hard to see the number of people walking around with masks here in Osaka and not become infected - not with the virus but with the fear. By the way, they did take their masks off to eat, otherwise I might have had a comic masterpiece of a photo.

Michael - I almost never take a picture with the idea of story; it's almost always "see shot, take shot". The less thinking, the better. However, I am a man of my times and an observer of the events I encounter. I decided to add the narrative just because I enjoy reading photographer's remarks when they care to include them with the picture. Masks are so common nowadays here in Japan you'd think we were in the middle of the Black Death. I didn't think about any of this at the time, though, I was much more concerned with the cigarette smoke from the guy sitting at the next table. So that's the way I work, picture now, commentary in retrospect. It's how the picture looks when I see it in its finished form that may spark a title of an accompanying comment. Finally, I do think there's a bit of an Edward Hopper vibe about the picture in the vague sense of alienation provided by the masks and the enclosing nature of the architectural geometry.

Jack, my critique reflected something I'm doing. The older I get, I find that if I don't remind myself, I may not pay enough attention to the details. When I first laid eyes on this image, I should have remembered others of yours involving people wearing masks. Sadly, my having never studied the history of photography probably accounts for my not picking up on the masks as symbolizing alienation. In the final analysis, I was asleep at the switch, for which I do apologize.

Michael, you know that's simply my interpretation and not even that when I snapped the picture. I do feel there's a lot of alienation here or at least more in degree than what I experienced in the past but I guess that's true everywhere. Art and life run on two parallel tracks that never quite meet but they can't help influencing each other.