Fish & Chips

These two self-satisfied looking characters, dressed in their Sunday best, strike one as a fine couple of gentlemen from bygone times. Their suits, cloth cap and trilby hat are straight out of the forties. The camera with its leather cover strung over a shoulder looks exactly right for the period. But it’s the fish and chips being eaten directly from broadsheet newspapers that gives your photo its touch of old traditional authenticity. Well done you for seizing the opportunity to stop these gentlemen in the street in order to capture their perfect, sepia-toned portrait.

There were quite a few photos entered of people eating their take-away fish and chips in the street. This one has brilliantly caught everyone’s unposed poses eating out of polystyrene packaging with wooden forks. All deep in concentration enjoying their meals blissfully unaware that their photo was being taken. In the best tradition of ‘al fresco’ photography your photo is a culinary gem but what tips the balance in your favour is your photo title. I can never stress enough how much a good title can swing a judges decision in selecting photo entries - your ‘chip off the old block’ sits perfectly in every sense of the meaning.

Together with Harry Ramsden’s this is probably the most famous fish and chip shop in the UK. No visitor to Whitby can fail to notice the daily queues outside the Magpie Cafe eagerly waiting for a table to become available. My wife and I managed to secure a table in the left-hand bay window and I still remember the dish I had that day. Situated virtually opposite the fish market, where freshly caught seafood arrives early each morning, the cafe is best-placed to be the first to chose the pick-of-the-catch. Thanks for entering a great street photograph and bring back fond memories - not just for me but for everyone that’s ever eaten there.

This man looks real but I can’t be sure if he’s a dummy or not as it was taken in or around the Beamish museum. Either way the subject and angle it was taken at is most creative. The sepia toning harps back to a time gone by and although the decor is antiquated I’m sure the frying equipment could still be in use today. Catching the man’s reflection in the mirror is a nice touch as is the glimpse of the newspaper cone being filled with fish and chips. New or old this is a great photo capturing the heart and soul inside a traditional English chippy.

There were a few photos entered of this end-of-pier fish and chip restaurant in Cleethorpes but I chose yours because you wisely waited until nightfall to take your shot. The benefit being that you captured the coloured fluorescent lights against the dark sky reflected in the sea below. Your photo of the silhouetted Lincolnshire pier draws the viewer’s eye in the same way it must draw nighttime promenaders towards Papa’s glowing diner.

Now this is clever. Taking the raw ingredients of a fish and chip meal and composing a photograph around the culinary items. A whole uncooked fish will always be more interesting than a piece wrapped in deep fried dough. Your original entry using the menu in this way immediately made your photo stand out from the crowd. Your composition is certainly well-balanced right down to the tiny green peas sitting on top of each other. I always appreciate a good photo title and yours just couldn’t be bettered - or should that be battered?

Of all the entries submitted of ready-to-eat fish and chips yours stood out because it was captured on something other than a simple plate. You’ve wisely taken a step back in the cooking process and displayed the meal in the wire basket in which it was deep fried. The paper napkin resting on the surface to soak up the oil residue gives your shot a touch of reality as does the lemon and flower embellishments. The blue background is nicely suggestive of the colour of the sea where your New Zealand fish was caught.

I selected this photo for my top ten because it was the only entry that was composed of fish and chip takeaway packaging rather than of the restaurant building or the meal itself. This wall of repetitive brick-patterned cartons is nicely reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s pop art painting of Campbell soup cans. We’ve all seen similar boxes stacked up on top of each other in our local chippy but you were the only one who’s thinking was literally outside the box.

This is a classic black and white street photo that could have been taken during the austerity of the twenties or thirties. The giveaways that it’s a more modern piece are the double parking lines (introduced in the 1950s) and the mention of doner kebabs (introduced to the 1960s). Your entry shows evidence of past customers queuing outside the fish and chip shop with traces of their their discarded chewing gum left on the pavement. Ironically it’s your almost fish-eye lens has taken us back in time.

I’m a sucker for street art. Cleverly combined with the subject of the challenge and you have my undivided attention. Your photo of the ‘Posh’ fish and chip takeaway queue is like a Who’s Who identification parade. There’s the granny with her shopping trolley, the hippy, the mod and the punk followed by a policeman. Next comes a footballer, David Bowie, Ginger Spice, Amy Winehouse, a boxer, Harry Potter and Winston Churchill completes the line up. As much as I love the photo I feel it needed an extra input such as a real person at the front or back of the queue which would have elevated your entry.