I really like the interior of the restaurant La Barra.  With its red hues and dark trim, it creates a lovely, homey and warm vibe.  I wanted to try creating something that showed that all is right with the world… when you’re inside La Barra.  This was the result.

I met Becky and Conor (the couple outside) at an exhibition of my photography and they were delightful.  They had that great couple banter that makes you love them and incredibly jealous of them at the exact same time.  We got to talking about them being involved in the Riverside at One Hundred Fifty project and I said, “Do I have a shoot for you!  Becky, how do you feel about strangling Conor?”

What really makes this photo pop is Becky.  She was into this 100%.  If mathematically possible, she achieved more than 100% of her potential.  Inside, people would look at her and ask me, “Is she actually strangling him?”  In just her face and body language, she conveyed that she was angry, that Conor was incorrect and that it wasn’t going to stand.

I would have liked to have had a bartender or member of the La Barra staff behind the bar but, since photography is a two dimensional medium, the person behind the bar would have covered up someone behind them and having the bartender bending over or getting something out of a low cabinet just didn’t look right.  This is one instance where there.just wasn’t enough space.  A minor issue at best.