Best butcher shop of the year
In 2015 my local butcher, Ernest.W.Edges & Son and his team won the UK’s best butcher in Northern England. In fact, they came runners up in the whole of the UK. Pretty cool when you learn that Bruce is the third generation of butchers in his family business.
This year they will be entering again and Bruce asked me if I could create some great shots for his entry. Obviously, I was delighted to help. Bruce is very particular about his business and who his suppliers are. It’s all about quality and care, both for the product and his loyal customers. You can understand how important it was to him I get some great shots to better portray his craft and business.
I set about putting my skills to good use and working closely with Bruce as to what he wanted to show and how it would look. We came up with a great selection of images which I hope Bruce can take to the top of the tree once more this year. One of the most challenging images was of the front of his shop. That should be pretty straight forward right? A parking sign post kind of put pay to a simple solution.
The out of camera shot of the front of the butcher shop
Original out of camera shot
Butcher shop after a trip to Photoshop
Front window after a rebuild in Photoshop
Not only did the sign post cut right through the front window and canopy but the graphics on the window too. Normally you’d be able to sample a bit here and there and be rid of the post, but when the graphics had to be reconstructed from behind the post, is another matter entirely. I do most of my editing in Lightroom and don’t often have much need for Photoshop. It was time to dust off the old skills. It’s not perfect but Bruce is happy and I’m happy with how it turned out. If you’re interested in how I rebuilt the shop window let me know in the comments below and I’ll write or record a post, running through how it was achieved.
The prints are now delivered and I wish Bruce and his team the very best for the Best Butcher Shop Of The Year competition.
If you’ve ever wanted to work in a commercial way in photography, connecting with local businesses in your field, is a great way to learn, grow and support your community. The worst they can say is no.
I’ll be back with more tutorials and other shenanigans very soon.
Thanks for stopping by
