Tips for shooting a crowded café

[aliceyeo1212]

Hi everyone!

I've been shooting commercial spaces for a while now, and have recently been assigned by an interior designer (that I've been working with for a couple of years now) who designed a new café. However this time, the management won't allow me to photograph before opening hours and the communication didn't allow for much negotiation. The café is situated in a mall, and gets very crowded from 8:30am onwards. Was wondering if anyone would have any tips on shooting a very crowded space while trying to capture the design of the space? I had a look at the place and it's almost impossible to capture details with the crowd. Otherwise, is there any way I can relay this to the interior designer? She's not exactly willing to arrange or accomodate.

Thanks in advance for your help and happy new year!
Alice

 

[one eye jack]

Be creative..ask designer for concept drawing he/she presented to client,then you have an idea of the layout and features.If not possible then go when staff open..I think there will be no customers? Closing time is also an alternative. Good luck.
Ps there will always be lull periods like after peak morning before lunch and so on.

 

[ziggy]

Morning off-peak should be about 10-11.30am, and from 2.30-5.30pm in the afternoons. There should be less crowds then. Perhaps having some people in the cafe could make the pix more interesting.

 

[ed9119]

Try middle of the week before closing time ? Most places are empty at closing time Mondays through Weds
Otherwise Sunday mornings are usually dead most places till lunchtime

Cant advise further without knowing how big or small the place is and how the traffic flows etc etc

 

[skf]

Be creative..ask designer for concept drawing he/she presented to client

The concept drawing should be able to give you a good starting point. When I did the interior shots of my renovated place, I used the concept drawings plus some of my own ideas. In the end, I find that the shots taken from using the design sketches point of view gave the best views...

But then of course, there were a couple of shots that couldn't be done. In these cases, the view point was floating outside the walls...