Why overdoing the photos isn’t flash

© Ioana Grecu Dreamstime.com

One of the items to ping into my email in-box yesterday was a link to Felicity Cloake’s Word of Mouth blog, published in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, http://tinyurl.com/nb9ls9. Since that doyenne of good manners Barbara Cartland is no longer around to rule on the matter, Felicity asks her readers whether it’s inconsiderate to photograph every single dish that is put in front of you while dining out and whether restaurants should move to ban it.

Well, Felicity - may I call you by your first name, Felicity? Thank you - my answer to the first question is yes, I do think it’s a little inconsiderate. Even if your dining companions don’t mind holding off on tucking into their meals while you take a few shots, there are other people in the restaurant to consider. Sure, no one’s going to mind it if you ask the waiter to take the odd happy snap of the table but a two-minute photo session before each course is going to intrude on even the most loved-up couple or rowdy family group.

I know this viewpoint probably won’t be popular with some of my fellow food bloggers but I was unfortunate enough to see a group in action a couple of weeks ago at Pier in Rose Bay and boy, oh boy, was it annoying. Far be it from me to criticise anyone for being passionate about food but in this case each of the five people at the table next to us took at least one photo of each of the eight-courses of their degustation meal (plus amuse bouche, bread basket, petit fours and whatever else landed on the table). With flash. That’s at least 55 flashes... In a glass walled restaurant... So much for romance at our table. Or even uninterrupted conversation.

Should management have stepped in and asked this flash-happy group to stop? Again my opinion may prove unpopular but I think that the maitre de would have been completely within his rights to ask the group to desist. A compromise solution might have been to suggest the group move to another table where they’d be less likely to disturb other diners. No, they wouldn’t have had such a good view of the bobbing boats and sparkling lights outside but given that they collectively spent more than 50% of the evening looking through a view finder, would that really have been such a big issue?

I’m certainly not suggesting that a blanket ban of photography is appropriate but I would like to see restaurants come up with strategies on how to deal with "food paparazzi" so that everyone can enjoy their dining experience.

In the meantime, if you know you want to take lots of shots, how about making a booking for lunch when you can at least be assured of natural light?