yan farm health - cumbria

18 Mar

i grew up around farms and Cumbria is one of my favourite places to be on earth so a commercial shoot with a new firm of vets on farms in kendal was the sort if job i’d do every day of the week.

My Grandad, Jack Noblet, was a sheep dealer and butcher so I have many fond memories of standing absolutely stock still next to the auction ring at Preston cattle market having been told that if I even scratched my nose in the wrong way, I could end up buying a bull.

In my early teens, I spent many weekends with my mate, Jim Beary, on his dad’s pig farm on the edge of the Trough of Bowland, happily mucking about in the muck and shooting stuff (and occasionally each other) with air rifles. Farming is up there with the hardest jobs in the world but you rarely meet a farmer who isn’t proud of their work and content in their surroundings; my pal Jim runs a successful rare breeds farm with his better half in the Peak District and you’ll not find a jollier person on all of Instagram - he’s here if you want to follow what he’s doing.

Tom Kidd - graphic design gentleman and advocate of all things rural - approached me to provide images and content for Yan Farm Health and so a dawn dart up to Kendal for a day of covid-safe shooting was arranged.

Managing Partners Kirsty and Andrew along with veterinarian, Jas, needed shots for their website and marketing included relaxed profiles, working images and landscapes so that Tom could build their brand around the reality of working with big animals. Tom needed a gallery of images to provide backgrounds and contexts for the website. We used the drone to get up high for those verticals and big panoramas that make for great banner fills.

As ever, the Lakeland weather played its part but we made the most of a couple of hours of great winter light. Like most normal people, our vets weren’t entirely comfortable with being the focus of the camera lens but after some laughs at one another’s expense, the we got an image bank that they were really happy with - we even managed a few pet portraits, including Maggot the terrier.

And if you were wondering about the name “Yan”, it’s ancient Cumbrian for the number One and is still heard today when shepherds count their sheep - yan, tan, tether…