Wood Oven

[Robert Watcher]

Anne and I went out for a meal with friends last night, and found that end of the city to be without electricity. Such a thing matters not, in Nicaragua. Although it was hot because the ceiling fans weren't on, a few strategically placed candled provided barely enough light ti see each others faces. But it was very romantic. Because the restaurant cooks with a wood fired brick oven - our stomachs were filled as well.

I set my camera and 90mm focal length lens, on a glass ledge that the cook was using to prepare food (he was a little annoyed but he couldn't see who I was LOL) - set the self timer to 12 seconds with the sensitivity set to 200 ISO for a 2 second exposure:

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rob,

Anne and I went out for a meal with friends last night, and found that end of the city to be without electricity. <snip>

Great picture and a wonderful story! Thanks so much.

Wood-fired ovens are wonderful.

Often, one of the members, in a strident "the gear doesn't matter" mood, says, "You know, when they bring out your meal, you don't ask the server, 'what kind of pan did the chef use' ".

I then generally remind the readers of those pizza restaurants that advertise on their sign, "Wood-fired oven."

But none that advertise, "Cooking even in the case of power outage."

And of course there are restaurants specializing in crêpes that brag about the special pan technique they use.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Anne and I went out for a meal with friends last night, and found that end of the city to be without electricity. Such a thing matters not, in Nicaragua. Although it was hot because the ceiling fans weren't on, a few strategically placed candled provided barely enough light ti see each others faces. But it was very romantic. Because the restaurant cooks with a wood fired brick oven - our stomachs were filled as well.

I set my camera and 90mm focal length lens, on a glass ledge that the cook was using to prepare food (he was a little annoyed but he couldn't see who I was LOL) - set the self timer to 12 seconds with the sensitivity set to 200 ISO for a 2 second exposure:

Rob,

It's fabulous to eat in "camping style" by candle light....but not fish with bones, LOL! The pizza choice was an excellent one. The lighting of the red hot embers is just right and we can see the brickwork of inside floor of the oven extending outside to the front of it with light and shadows in an impressive composition. We immediately think of the pizza that was just removed and the one about to be slid in on the giant spatula in the foreground. All fabulous and very alive.

I imagine another, entirely different alternative setting too.

This fire through the opening would be potent and significant addition to our "Looking Beyond" Portal series. Here one look at this pizza oven coals in a different way. We'd have to face questions about accountability!

This shows that context of a picture can have a tremendous influence on our understanding, the impact and influence of the same image under different circumstances. Shown here, it is what it is, a pizza oven and a good picture. Shown with neighbors in the portal series, it signals our awareness and confrontation of the certainty of our mortality and our thoughts of the account we have made during our lives of good and bad and what we did with the resources and talents within our control.

This is another strong example of the image sometimes not speaking the same speech for itself in different arenas.

Asher

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Robert, a very cool or should I say hot shot ? Man, I bet that pizza was delicious.
Don