The recent redesign of the Stove Cafe prompted me to share some urban coffee shop portraits of Megan I took several years ago in the then newly opened venue for my personal Dumfries-themed photography project.
This environmental portrait session brings back the memories of the Stove Cafe when it still positioned itself as a relaxed and trendy place for the creatives with good coffee and a wide variety of delicious handmade cakes (courtesy of the talented Mrs Green!).
The lounge area at the back, which is now a stage for live music shows, poetry readings, conferences and lectures, radio broadcasts and film screenings, featured then just a cosy lime green sofa and a coffee table covered with fresh newspapers.
However, from its opening day the Stove Cafe showed a great promise to become a genuine urban hub for Dumfries’ cultural life. It was at the heart of the Stove’s ambition to transform the High Street through social enterprise and artistic interventions. That’s why I was compelled to include the place as meaningfully valid for my Urban Portraits Dumfries series.
At the time my beautiful subject Megan worked at the Stove Cafe. I saw her serving drinks in the warm afternoon sun a day before and was so happy when she agreed to take part in my project!
Without further ado with the Stove’s management permission we went ahead taking our urban coffee shop portraits before the official opening hour. I had a chance to document Megan behind the counter setting up the cake display and making coffee. I even nipped outside to photograph her quietly savouring her cup of tea through the glass windows. We also moved to the lounge area for our portraits before the influx of the early morning visitors.
Having the time and the space for ourselves allowed for a lifestyle vibe to the images. And, of course, Megan was a star!
Now that the floor space was redesigned and the counter moved to allow for more customers let’s enjoy this nostalgic throwback to the Stove Cafe Mark I.
