Travel always brings fresh perspectives.  Every human on this planet faces the same questions of food, shelter, water, continuing the culture, birth, death and wonder at the unknown.  Travel exposes to the answers that other groups of  people have answered and answering those questions.  Every culture is a set of answers to these questions.

Years in the restaurant industry helped this image catch my eye.  The contrasts in this image illuminate the dichotomy that is a restaurant. Empty chairs and tables close to full ones, clean surfaces next to cluttered ones, sharp, violent tools next to comfortable baskets of bread.  I love the contrast in this image that the knife is the darkest piece and the people are the lightest – it’s true if your tool is a wine opener or a knife, the people remain the best part.  Centering on this medieval tool used to slice bread also reminds me of the central role(!) bread has occupied for so long, even in Mediterranean diets, and the speed and accuracy it need be portioned for service.  In our changing world, bread is a constant and a constant change in form, and the contrast of black and white presentation highlights these transitions. This photo was taken after dinner in Lyon, after a tour of the old building, pieces of which were quarried by the Caesarian Romans, in the inner dining room of itself an old, delicious bistro.

I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do.  I prefer to print it with a matte finish on aluminum.  Please contact me at eric@ericcookimages.com for specific quotes about the size and presentation you prefer.