Jul
1
It was Grey, cold and wet on the day arranged to shoot the Morecambe Bay Shrimpers. I was asked to provide images for POS, Display Boards, Banners and Internet page headers in a variety of shapes and formats, but despite the weather I knew there would be some great images ready for the making.
Morecambe Bay Shrimp Fishing, with reporters and magazine editors around, it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought
On meeting the client in a car park after asking him whether he knew if there was a Shrimp Farm nearby (as we’d never met before hand) he deduced I was the photographer and said that I was in the right place.. ‘shrimp farm ??’ There was no Shrimp Farm around here – only fishermen with tractors..
Matt said he’d been shrimping before and all would be revealed.. he said that we were due to be picked up shortly along with the other reporters and magazine editors and food writers and that we’d head out a mile or two into the bay on the tractors. I never expected to be part of a media feast as my brief was more Advertising based.. never mind, I’ll see what happens.
What happened was the tractor broke down and a trailer lost a wheel – not whilst we were wading through the waters of the Bay (fortunately) but immediately after the fishing demonstration, this prior to meeting up in Flookborough for the photoshoot I’d arranged to fulfill my brief.
So the photography session was rearranged – and what a difference in weather.
Shrimp Fishing in Morecambe Bay. Fishermen and Tractor Trawler
Bill and Les were the Shrimp fishermen and although unacustomed to posing for the camera, were very obliging and made very interesting subjects. I was grateful both Bill and Les managed to fit in this photosession into their jetset lifestyle between competing in a shrimping competition in Holland (which they won) and attending a sales exhibition in London. Without so many media people around they were a little more relaxed than our previous encounter, and despite the complaints about the heat, I’m sure they took pleasure from the fact that we had decent weather.
Attending the shrimp net. Morecambe Bay Shrimps.
What is so striking about both these fishermen is their dedication to catching shrimp. After being questioned about the dangers of driving a tractor and trailer into Morcambe Bay’s often treacherous sinking sands Les recounts how his tractor managed to sink into an embankment with water around his midriff and without worry about the potential loss of his tractor, trailer and nets – he was most ‘annoyed’ at losing his shrimps. ‘Annoyed’ is the more politically correct way of describing Les’s dismay of his loss..
Shrimp Fishermen, Bill & Les out in Morecambe Bay
I love my job for being able to meet so many fascinating and interesting people. Everybody has a story to tell and the work seems totally incidental in these stories. Today, I was illustrating the Morecambe Bay Shrimp fishing story from the perspective of retail sale marketing requirements. Tomorrow will be another story.
Shrimp fisherman in Morecambe Bay
One of the lighting setups whilst in Morecambe Bay
Lighting setup in Morecambe Bay