On the Streets: Joe Bar

Joe Bar, Capitol Hill, Seattle, 2017.

Joe Bar is a great place to grab a cup of coffee. The people who work there are genuinely friendly. When they ask how’s it going or what’s new, it’s not perfunctory; they’re interested in a reply. I stop in almost daily for coffee, but today I gave in to temptation and finally ordered a savory crepe. Scrambled eggs and tomato. It was fantastic, and my photo definitely does not do it justice.

I tried this shot several times, and I knew I just wasn’t getting the one I wanted. I opened them in Lightroom and found one I could work with. I dropped the exposure some and increased the contrast. The Fujifilm X100T did its job, but the photographer was stumbling around a bit.

Coffeeshops have to be one of the world’s great inventions. Writers, artists, coffee lovers, soccer parents, and commuters have extolled their virtues for hundreds of years (I made the number up), so I’m not adding any insightful revelations here. But it’s easy to live fairly anonymously, more so than we probably should. Fortunately, it’s also easy to rejoin the community and make connections at a decent coffeeshop. Today at Joe Bar I talked to a gentleman next to me who sketches and draws. He’s working on a long-term sketching project that I am now very much looking forward to seeing.