Old Hard Drive
I’m sorting out some ancient hard drives and came across a folder of images from my time living in Norfolk UK during the mid 2000s.
When I first arrived there I didn’t really know what to make of Norfolk, it was a stark contrast to the place I grew up. Tasmania’s landscapes are all about drama, the craggy mountain peaks, the ancient forests, the wild coastlines, deep waters and driving winds, many of the landscapes unchanged for eons. Norfolk in comparison is flat, there is barely a single hill in the county that rises above the tree tops, the woodlands are plentiful but have been cut and regrown for centuries, in fact humanities impact can be seen in every part of the landscape, from the woods, to the famous Norfolk Broads, created when abandoned peat mines flooded to create an immense network of rivers, lakes and canals harbouring an abundance of wildlife. digging below the soil you can find evidence of the people who came before, Vikings, Romans, Iceni and stone age mammoth hunters (mammoths as well).
Norfolk doesn’t give up it’s secrets as easily as Tasmania… That’s not to say that Tasmania gives up it’s secrets easily! Not at all, the landscapes and weather can be hostile to the point of endangering human life, people can and do die every year in the bush! Tasmania is showy though, it’s drama, whereas Norfolk is gentle. It wasn’t until I picked up a camera that I learned to look beyond the fields and hedge rows, slow down and immerse myself in the landscapes, the reward was that the wildlife started to reveal itself to me. Otters, seals, perch, pike, roach, rudd, barn owls, pink footed geese, water voles, herons, avocets, wax wings, swallow tails, adonis blues, brimstones, darters, emperors, blue tits, fire crests and many, many, many more.
While these shots aren’t technically brilliant and I’ve learned a lot over the intervening years one was good enough to win the UK National Parks photography prize. I consider this time the start of my career, all I wanted to do was shoot and it set me on the path to where I am now, I had a camera and a canoe and I never looked back.
