The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Return to Earth's Crust Bakery

A few months ago I spent a day embedded in Earth's Crust Bakery, with a variety of different styles of photos to take – from documentary and behind-the-scenes, to staff and product photography.

Surrounded by some of the tastiest produce to ever come out of an oven, along with the aromas to match, this was one of the most enjoyable environments to work in.

One of the key photos to get was one of the owners, the wonderful Tom and Pavlina van Rooyen, and some of the staff, behind the counter – a good banner shot for the website. However, the time of day when they had the most staff in coincided with it being their busiest time.

This meant every time there seemed to be a brief lull in business, I would quickly get the lights set up, only for several customers to suddenly come through the door seeking their delicious produce.


We got there in the end

And their food is incredibly tasty! You don't just have to take my word for it – they have won multiple awards, including being finalists in the BBC Food Awards in 2017.

Once tasted, you can't go back. Even Tesco super-finest-best-ever loaves feel pappy and aerated compared to the thick, mouthwatering delights, created with love and passion using the finest, organic ingredients.













I've written before about how Tom and Pavlina turned round the disaster when their home bakery business burned down (see - https://kimayres.blogspot.com/2016/08/earths-crust-bakery.html), but in the intervening couple of years they have grown from strength to strength. All this at a time when another major bakery in town closed down.





Earth's Crust have now been approached to appear in a book about the best bakers in Europe, so I needed to take a couple of photos of Tom at work in the kitchen area, which we did around mid-afternoon, after the place became much quieter.

This time I could set up the lighting how I wanted without having to worry about customers tripping over them.






With dough so light, Tom can levitate it with his mind...



Although it was a long day and I was shooting in several different styles, we ended up with a great collection of images they can use for a wide variety of media.

And as with my last shoot, I left with armfuls of produce at the end of the day.

I love photo shoots like this.

10 comments

Pat said...

Cor - you do get the gigs! How come they are all so incredibly photogenic?
I'm drooling at the thought of a goodie bag.
Excellent work Kim.

Mary Smith said...

Great pics, Kim. It must have been tantalising to spend a day with all those delicious aromas. I bet you enjoyed your goodie bag!

Mary Smith said...

Ooh, I just noticed it's an old photo of me which comes up when I post a comment. I need to see how to change that!

savannah said...

Bread! My most favorite food after chocolate! Great photos, sir! xoxox

Kim Ayres said...

Pat - we only have photogenic people in Castle Douglas! Actually, I'm sure we've had this conversation before - I don't think there is such a thing as photogenic - there's relaxed in front of the camera and not relaxed in front of the camera. As such, far more of my time goes into making people feel comfortable in front of my lens than in actually taking the photos :)

Mary - The good thing about being there all day, is still being there as they are about to pack up, so there's the stuff that would have been thrown out, but is still worth munching :)

Savannah - ash, well, in that case you'll need to watch this blog later in the year when I have a photo shoot lined up with a Chocolate Deli... :)

Viji said...

Everyone of those photos are eye candy.. I loved the dough on air pic and the 8th and 9th one.. The clarity is amazing. I feel like eating one of those goodies now :)

Kim Ayres said...

Viji - I love the dough in the air pic too. I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out when I took a few, but this one has a look as though he's levitating it with his mind :)

Viji said...

Ha ha.. Yes "levitating with his mind" is the perfect caption for the image

Pat said...

'Had this conversation before'? And no doubt we'll have it again. At my age its difficult to remember what one said five minutes ago. But you know that and still put up with me. Bless you!

Kim Ayres said...

Viji - :)

Pat - we're a good match, Pat - I repeat myself endlessly, so it makes perfect senst to talk to people who can never remember what I said :)

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