The Lone Grazer: Brian Finke on Desktop Dining

Office workers are a strange breed, aren’t they? If they were allowed to become sentient they would soon realise how unnatural their daily existence really is, but as it is, their most likely chance to make a break for freedom presents itself once a day – lunch time. However a 2015 study by the British Heart Foundation found that only one in two UK office workers take this opportunity, with 50% regularly eating their lunch at their desks. 

Until recently desk lunching was a secluded affair, but then along came a viral Facebook group by the name of Meal Deal Talk. The set-up was simple – anybody partaking in a well-established ‘meal deal’ offer presented their choice in photographic form in order to have their acumen castigated in a swarm of keyboard abuse and slander. It is an entirely and wonderfully British approach to lunching in the 21st century.

A much more American approach to the office lunch is a zany celebration through the lens of photographer Brian Finke. A regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he recently undertook an unusual brief for an article: Failure To Lunch – Desktop Dining. Finke visited offices around the USA to guerrilla-snap workers as they chomped at their desks.

“I just roamed around the offices during the lunch time,” states Brian. “I had complete freedom to shoot whatever people were eating and wherever they were around the offices.” He divulges: “Everyone has an ego so they were either into it or not.”

Describing his photography style as “stylised documentary”, Brian seemed the perfect candidate to capture and mirror back to us that all familiar scenario. Awkward poses over keyboards, and haphazard arranging of items across the desk are reoccurring traits throughout the intriguingly spartan images, with a voyeuristic feeling of briefly peeping into each subject’s life. Or, as Brian puts it: “I wanted to make wonderful, interesting, awkward photos of office lunches.”

While certainly relatable, whether they represent a degradation of the work/life balance or a witty celebration of the reality of the workforce is in the eye of the beholder. One thing is for certain though: combine these pseudo-candid shots with a venomous Facebook group critique and you’ll really have something to chew on during your lunchtime.