People ask me: What is it about coffee and cafe culture that has given it that certain lasting quality? That particular something that keeps it on our radar time and again… I mean, one need only subscribe to a newspaper or magazine or watch TV to experience how pervasive coffee culture is in society. For me, although not a life vocation, coffee has been a steady source of fascination and creative output.
And I cannot help but admire the person that captures some of the energy and puts it into book form. Because from where I am sitting, books are forever baby!
A successful photographer in his own right, Ray Weisgerber’s has put some of his coffee love into a soft cover book that we can all enjoy – and on several levels.
For the coffee lover, the drive-through espresso stand or kiosk is the alter of caffeine, the church of brew, the mosque of hot, black and satisfying java. And as we now know – the thing that makes the coffee stand or cafe that sacred place is its ability to take you away from the everyday. The coffee house is not your home and it’s not your office. And with the blurring of the work place, the cafe has become that one place where you can chill for 15 minutes to a half hour and get away from all the day to day demands.
Ray Weisgerber’s photos encapsulate a part of the American experience that is familiar and reassuring. He accurately captures the breadth of architectural style that is at once common to the North-west but also unique in its variance.
Driven to Espresso would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys a hot cup of joe or simply wants to share in the American journey. Driven to Espresso is available directly from Ray’s website or via online vendors like Amazon.