Order Prep, Cafe Du Monde – New Orleans, Louisiana

With Cafe Du Monde’s bustling business, it was fun capturing the stream of waiters prepping orders. While my wife was in line for a take out order, I noticed this active doorway, nearby. Peaking inside, I was rewarded by this, behind the scenes. I love making these kinds of candid, street photography like pictures.

On my first visit, I used color and the wider 12-40mm f2.8 Pro on the E-M5 Mark II camera to make the image below. My main attraction, beyond the servers in formation, are the two distinct color temperatures, with the cold institutional blue in the background and the contrasting warmer incandescents in the foreground.

On my second visit, I opted for black and white, which shallow depth of field at a classic 50mm equivalent, with my usual Olympus PEN-F. I shot from near the doorway, shifting mid-way to make a more head-on composition. After a number of monochromes, these two were my favorites.

That’s the beauty of photography. You can create very different kinds of images from essentially the same vantage point. Color or monochrome, focal length variations and difference in composition, in infinite combinations, make all the difference.