One of our neighbours started baking bread in his kitchen before the pandemic. During lockdown he took the opportunity to build a bakery in the back garden spurning a lifestyle home based business. We started ordering bread earlier this year and each time he delivered, I would try to catch him before he cycled off to ask him whether I could come and photograph him at work. I think he eyed me with suspicion to start with but warmed after the third or fourth request realising that the "Histon Rd: A Community Remembers" photographic exhibition held at St Augustine's directly across the road to him, was my work.
He bakes twice a week, Thursdays and Fridays starting at 7am and finishing deliveries around 7pm. That is a long day so decided to shoot it in 3-4 sessions each between 2-3 hours. First shoots always involve some exploration in choice of equipment and camera settings. The Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 is good for working in low light and small spaces. Here, with the ceiling spot lights on, an ISO down to between 400 and 800 was adequate, but with the Canon 5D Mk IV sensor, that can easily be bumped up to 1600 or 3200. The image stabilisation is so good on the Tamron lenses, it is possible to push the limits of what can normally be handheld. In these shots the aperture was mostly between f3.5-4.5 and the shutter speed was set between 1/50 and 1/160. These were all shot as monochrome rather than shot in colour and converted.
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