On Service: Photographs of Restaurants, Volume 1

Carter Hiyama has spent five years photographing restaurants, and On Service is the first collection from that project. His stated interest is in the people who give a restaurant life, the energy of a busy service, and the small details that reveal what a place cares about — and the photographs deliver on that more than on any portrait of the specific establishments involved.

There are more than thirty restaurants represented, from Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks to Atomix in New York.  Photos from different locations are scattered throughout without evident organization. What accumulates instead is a collective impression of hospitality culture: plated food, light-flooded empty kitchens, crowded passes, prep lists, cooks at work.

California and Oregon locations make up most of the roster, and the selection reflects Hiyama's personal history as much as any attempt at breadth. His notes acknowledge the particular influence of time spent at Bell's in Los Alamos, CA and at Anajak Thai. 

Twenty percent of proceeds benefit Southern Smoke Foundation, which provides emergency relief grants and mental health services to hospitality workers nationwide.

An unusually honest portrait of how restaurants actually look and feel from the inside.

Paperback. Color photographs throughout.