Market forces

Fakenham Market, Norfolk - July 2007

Fakenham is an old market town in Norfolk well known for the size and quality of its market. Like many towns, Fakenham has had a market for hundreds of years, but unlike many market towns around the UK , Fakenham's has remained strong. Many old towns dating back to the medieval period and before, have allowed their markets to decline through neglect or mismanagement.

This image sums up what a market is about. People go to have a chat, meet friends, browse and buy groceries. The market acts like a social network for the local community but it also attracts customers to the town shops. Markets entice people into town and once there, the shops benefit from the increase in customers through the door.

I love markets. A market is a great place for a photographer to take pictures without being noticed too much. Most people are too busy concentrating on the stalls and the bargains to notice you. Those that do don't seem to mind that much.

A few years ago, a market like Fakenham's was common in most market towns. These days, a market on this scale and quality are becoming rare and the commercial future for some British market towns is bleak to say the least.

Gimme shelter

Sea front shelter window at Cromer, Norfolk

This image was taken due to a sudden change in the weather. As i was walking along the sea front towards Cromer town centre and the great Victorian pier, it started to rain so i decided to take shelter and put my digital camera back in the bag.

Usually when you enter an old Victorian sea front shelter, the first thing you notice is the seclusion from the elements it offers. These shelters get you out of the wind as well as the rain but this one was lacking some important bits; i.e the glass of which only one bent and battered piece remained.

Probably the two greatest threats to the British seaside resort are from vandalism and the weather. Both can cause great damage but from the look and location of my shelter, i think it was the weather that had broken the glass rather than the attention of vandals.

During my last visit in 2005, that very sea front shelter had been getting a lick of paint and was looking great. Two years of North Sea gales and winter storms had obviously taken their toll. Hopefully the shelter will be back up to scratch again for 2008.

NOTE: The image was taken with the Nikon F5 and the Nikon 35mm lens using Ilford HP5 rated at 800asa. The camera bag i briefly mentioned is a Tamrac Pro 8 which i purchased during my trip and i'll be posting a review of it very soon.

The Wash Monster

The Hunstanton Wash Monster returning for more passengers.

Wiley the Wash monster is a machine of course; a 60 seater LARC XV amphibious vessel used for sea tours around the Hunstanton coastline. It sounds fantastic with the really beefy diesel engine running the vehicle up and down the beach and into the water.

The image was taken using a Nikon F5 and a 35mm f2.0 Nikon manual focus lens. The film was Ilford HP5 rated at 800asa which is my usual rating for HP5. I just like the extra shutter speed and aperture range that the 'slight' film speed increase gives.

Fifty Percent confused

Digital or film? A ship anchored in The Wash off the North Norfolk coast.

I must admit that sometimes i feel like a complete photographic dinosaur when i say i still use film. I bumped into a few photographers ( amateurs mainly) during the trip and the look of surprise when they saw a Nikon F3 or F5 was surprising to me!

Digital certainly seems to be the photographic medium of today taking over from film fast but every now and again i see digital processes like High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and i just end up thinking ' wouldn't it have been easier to shoot on film'!

Don't get me wrong! I love my D2H and the recent trip to Norfolk saw me shoot 50 percent of my work on that digital camera. However the other 50 percent of shooting was done using my F3,F4 and F5 loaded with Ilford Pan F, FP4 and HP5 and i don't see that ratio changing much in the next couple of years. I'm actually aiming at purchasing another F3HP and F5/F6 this year.

Oh and the answer to the digital or film question is.... ALL the Norfolk images posted so far were shot digitally.

One in a hundred pt2

I don't know which version of this image i like best!

Both the colour and the black and white version have something going for them so i'm posting both.

I think the black and white version might reflect the 40's era better.

One in a hundred

Photography is full of surprises. Some nice and some not so nice but this image was just one of those right place, right time nice moments.

This guy appeared in a authentic U.S wartime JEEP, dressed in the USAAF uniform. He looked the part too unlike many. For me this image reflects the museum's role of keeping the past alive for future generations of visitors. Looking through the viewfinder, i felt a cold shiver down my back; you certainly felt as if you were looking back at 1943!

Norfolk in 2007 is a quiet rural county but in 1942 the USAAF arrived in the UK and started flying missions against nazi Germany. By the end of the war, Norfolk contained over 37 airfields and nearly 2000 aircraft, the vast majority of which were under U.S control as part of the U.S Eighth Airforce.

Thorpe Abbotts near Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border was just one of those fields, used by the 100th Bomb Group known for having the highest loss rate of any group.In one mission alone, of thirteen B-17 aircraft dispatched, only one made it home and the 100th became known during the war as the 'jinx outfit'.

The control tower at Thorpe Abbotts was renovated in 1977 by a team of enthusiasts and opened as a superb museum displaying images and artifacts donated by 100th BG veterans.

Down at the Forum

This image of Norwich's Forum was shot on one of those days when it's sunny one minute and raining the next. About five minutes after this image was taken, the heavens opened and it THREW it down.

The Forum is one of the most impressive buildings i've seen in along time and it certainly seems popular with the people of Norwich. The atrium at The Forum in Norwich hosts concerts, jazz brunches, stand-up comedy nights and community events. The Forum is home to the Millennium Library, the Tourist Information Centre and the BBC's Eastern headquarters.

The image was taken using a Pentax S7 which is a great camera for architecture photography.

Back again!!!

It's back from Norfolk and back to the blog again! Over the next few weeks and months i'll be putting some new images of my travels on the blog and the stories behind them.

This image is of a Tiger Moth on approach to land at Burham Thorpe airfield. Just one of the many 'finds' during my stay. I've photographed some of the topics i've mentioned in previous postings but also came across some new ideas/issues to photograph.

So keep checking back for updates over the next few days and weeks.....