The place I choose to document for this project was my family's restaurant in downtown Cleveland. The formal name of the restaurant is Sokolowski's University Inn. It was established by my great grandparents and started off as a bar. As the years went on my grandmother and grandfather took over the business and turned it into a European style restaurant, but also has American food to accommodate to everyone's taste buds. I am very proud to say that this establishment is part of my family and our history. The restaurant is known for giving off a family type of vibe, and our cooking is compared to "something your grandmother would make". My goal for this project was to give off a friendly, kind of "home" feeling of the place.
Trying my best to capture photographs that give off this vibe, I took around 100 photos. I felt like these met my expectations the best and hopefully the viewer can also see why I choose these photos. I decided to take most of my photographs without using a flash to create a more relaxing, natural looking picture. I did not want them to be really bright because I felt like it would take away from the calm and homey vibe that I was trying to communicate.
In a way it was hard to communicate photography's formal elements in order to communicate the ideas I had. For the photo of the man's feet, I know I wanted to incorporate frame. I only took a picture of the man's feet so the viewer could focus on what I was really trying to communicate. I feel like if the picture included the whole man's body, they would not pick up on what I was trying to say.
I love your second picture of your dad's office. I love that he can do the paperwork side of the business while still keeping his eye on the kitchen. It's nice that you can show that in a photo.
ReplyDeleteI found the first photograph to be my favorite. The combination of older technology in a restaurant which is also old but in the present cool. While to the casual observer I sure it looks like a mess, but whoever works there probably knows where everything is.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent visual exploration your family’s restaurant! I am glad that you photographically captured what customers typically see but also what occurs behind the scenes.
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