Cattleman's Cafe, Blue Ridge, TX

[texxter]

Stopped at the Cattleman's Cafe in Blue Ridge, TX to get some breakfast early this morning, and took this candid of some locals on my way out. Love this little place!

Fuji x100 1/75s f/2.0 ISO500 23mm focal length (the only focal length I got)



Edit - added one more from the cafe, a lonesome cowboy. Fuji x100 1/150s f/2.0 ISO500 23mm focal length

[Jaymoney$]

nice feel to this one

[texxter]

Thank you, Jay! I love this little camera! I carry it with me all the time in a small Think Tank Retrospective 5 with all my other stuff: phone, wallet, sunglasses, business cards, etc, etc. The color rendition straight out of the camera reminds me of the Olympus OM-1 with those legendary Zuiko lenses. It's like carrying an old film camera, but with modern digital technology. And, while these images don't show it, high ISO performance is spectacular.

[snydersnapshots]

Great shots, as always, Paco.

I've generally avoided shots like this because I didn't know how to approach the people. What was your technique in this case? Did you ask the gentlemen if you could take their picture? Did you take it surreptitiously? Or are you all regulars in there and they know you?

[texxter]

Ken, my approach is almost always the same. I talk to the people, show them my camera and tell them why I am making an image and what I am going to do with it. It's very rare that someone refuses. In a situation like this I don't ask for model releases because the images are not to be used commercially, and that makes it easier. But I have gotten model releases from strangers just for the asking.

While I have done the shooting from the hip thing, it's just not satisfying to me. I don't think it's a requirement to get genuine images, but different people have different ways of doing things, and they are all valid.

[BRosePhoto]

Great pics! I have to agree with Ken that approaching people for a shot like this is the tough part.

[groovyone]

Nicely done! Love that they are natural and relaxed. I really like the exposure on that second shot.

[texxter]

Thank you, Brett and Keith.

The second image was taken by a window, and that's the light you see on the old cowboy's back. The first image gets its light from windows at camera left, but also from mixed sources inside the cafe. The x100 did a good job calculating both exposure and white balance for me.