Sunday, March 15, 2009

What's wrong with this picture?


This was used in today's Observer to illustrate an article on an increase in home cooking. I stopped to read because I like to cook, and something about this image kept drawing my eye.

Anyone catch what I'm on about?

The photo is credited to Alamy, an agency/clearinghouse for commercial photographers, so isn't staff work.

8 comments:

debbym said...

Is it Abahachi cooking one of Frog Princess' recipes?

bethnoir said...

is it the corn flakes product placement?

cauliflower said...

the elevation of the arm, perhaps? Never sure if it affects the final flavour.

debbym said...

He's about to let the chopping board slip and it'll send the top saucepan - precariously balanced on a bread board(?!) on top of another saucepan - flying, thus scalding himself and resulting in a trip to HOSPITAL (right back on topic!)

tincanman said...

Yes betnnoir, that looks awful suspicious doesn't it? I generally put the breakfast cereal away before I cook the evening meal.

I went to the Alamy web site, and they have all sorts to choose from. So this is a model posing, not a real person cooking. I'm sure if the editors would look this up in their ethics manual, they will find that's not approved of in a news story.

And then there are those Corn Flakes. And how perfectly his arm frames them. hmmm

Anonymous said...

Why does the saucepan look like it's on a side table and not on a cooker? Is that a walking stick in front of him (or is he pleased to see me?)

bethnoir said...

I think there's some porridge oats there as well... it looks a bit like there's a levitating knife by the saucepan handle, are there supernatural powers at work?

tincanman said...

I sent my concerns to the Observer. No response so far.
I did find out from this Alamy service that it costs about £100 for rights to print in any newspaper, regardless of circulation. Cheaper than paying a photographer's salary apparently, but dunno how that fits with the Guardian/Observer ethos.

(And no I am not a displaced photographer with an axe to grind. Just a reader who thinks about these things between taking the school run and the grocery store run.)