Up on the fell at The Lovely Cow Shed
Discovering a new passion and something you think you are quite good at, takes you down a path you’ve never been down before; it provides you with the chance and opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and find out things about yourself that you didn’t actually know. In many ways, I have been searching for my passion for the past 20 years. I thought it was teaching when I was 18, and in some ways in was, but just not in the conventional way. Realising it wasn’t teaching, led me down a path of discovering food, and in turn, food photography. What I’ve realised is that it brings out the best of all my skills and qualities: communicating with others; being creative; working with digital media; and, of course, helping to make others smile.
On a cloudy Wednesday morning last week, I did just that: I met new people, made new connections and learnt that I can do this – I can take photos and tell someone’s story. The someone, was Ann Lupton, owner of the ‘The Lovely Cow Shed’. A recently born business that had come about after life circumstances had told Ann she needed to do something new. Following a 25 year career in bar management, she decided three years ago to step out of her comfort zone and set up a small outside catering business from her farmhouse kitchen. I stepped into that kitchen last week and watched her make elderflower cordial.
Learn to be brave
The power of Instagram had led me to find her and I took the brave step just a couple of weeks ago to email her and ask if I could invite myself to her now purpose built commercial kitchen (attached to her house) and take some photos of her in action making the elderflower cordial from scratch. Her response was warm and her enthusiasm and excitement as great as mine, and so I packed my photographic gear and took the 5 minute drive up Jeffrey Hill to meet her and try my hand at being a photographer!
Capturing the moment
Prior to my visit, I’d made a photo shoot list. This was extremely valuable to me, simply because I can often become distracted talking to people and the important things can slip from my mind. After a brief chat to Ann and our mutual friend, Katherine, who runs the brilliant Longridge Haberdashery, I quickly jumped into taking photos of the action.
The focus for Ann’s morning was to make elderflower cordial for an fashion show she was catering for later that week. The cordial was to be served on arrival with prosecco to the guests. Using freshly picked elderflowers from a tree on the farm, Ann and Katherine began carefully picking the flowers ready to turn them into a delicious syrup using just lemons, water and sugar.
As the farm is on the top of Jeffrey Hill and the weather was inclement, thankfully, and I had lots of cloud cover which provided me with good conditions for taking photos both indoors and out.
One of my main concerns about working in a kitchen was the lighting. I knew there would be kitchen lights to contend with, but luckily the kitchen also had a large window and door at the front with floor to ceiling glass. It provided just the right type and amount of natural day light that I needed to prevent the photographs looking too yellow.
While the elderflowers were being picked, I squeezed into the corner of the kitchen trying to capture ‘the moment’ and tell the story of the beautiful process of homemade elderflower cordial.
The pour shot
After lots more chatting and in our usual Lancashire way, putting the world to rights, the elderflowers were quickly turned into a golden nectar which only meant one thing – the pour shot! I had done my homework the week before, found the correct camera settings and had a practice, so I was fairly confident that I would be able to do it…and I did. Such was our elation, the moment was followed by lots of cheers in Ann’s kitchen.
As Ann and Katherine continued their work in the kitchen, I set up and outdoor shot to show the how the elderflower cordial can be served. Ann grabbed me a white table cloth, I grabbed a few props from around the kitchen, and, hey presto, we had a gorgeous little set up facing the stunning views of the Ribble Valley; just how I wanted to tell the story.
Feeling proud
It was a wonderful few hours at The Lovely Cow Shed. I learnt so much, but what I learnt more than anything was that I shouldn’t doubt myself. I succeeded in completing my first live photo shoot in a place I’d never been, with things I couldn’t control and yet I came away feeling like I wanted to do it again; that I could do it again. My intention that morning was to come away with one good photo. I came away with 23. For someone who has never been on a live photoshoot before, I don’t think that’s too bad at all.
Huge thank you to Ann for allowing me into her kitchen and for being an inspiration. I look forward to the next time.
Laura x
