documentary

THE NORFOLK PROJECT | Landscape and Documentary Photography

Part documentary and part landscape, the Norfolk Project is a long term project documenting the social, historical and geographic aspects of the English county of Norfolk. The photography started with film cameras. 35mm was the main format with Nikon F3, F4 and F5 cameras doing most of the work. Medium format and especially 6×6 was added later. Digital was added in 2007.

Film stock was a mix of Ilford FP4 and HP5. Some Kodak TMAX 400 was used as well.

Combining a variety of photography from landscape to street, I wanted the imagery to cover a broader spectrum of topics as possible and I wanted to document aspects away from the normal, more obvious seaside holiday destination. Norfolk has so much more than that.

Project Beginnings

Originally I’d planned for the documentary and landscape project to last around five years. I then realised that the project could run over a much longer time frame. The aim was to develop something that I could return to again and again. Over the years it has grown into a large collection of images covering a broad range of subject matter.

Some photographs were shot prior to 2001 with early photography going back to 1998. These images have also been added into the project. The photographs of the memorials on the clifftop at Hunstanton are among those early images. The idea for a long term project really started from those images.

Recent Photography

The most recent project images were shot in September 2016 during a week-long visit to the county and those final few images can be found in the gallery starting with the couple on the windswept beach.

A place I would like to document further is the pilgrimage village of Walsingham. It’s described as ‘England’s Nazareth’, where thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit each year and it’s a remarkably tranquil place even if you aren’t particularly religious. Most would describe it as spiritual.

The notion of a pilgrimage may seem like something out of the medieval era to many. However, a steady stream of the faithful, from all over the UK and the world, come and visit the Norfolk village every year. Sadly I’ve only ever come across one pilgrimage and that was way back in the 1980s.

The Norfolk Project is currently on hold but it will return at a later date.

Photography Influence

The photography book ‘Photographer’s Britain – Northumberland’ by John Tordai was a huge influence. Released in 1993, Tordai’s book was an impressive blend of black & white documentary and landscape photography. The images explored the rich landscape and history of the English county of Northumberland.

Photography Book

A photography book of 6×6 images is in the early stages of development and is planned for release in 2020. More details can be found HERE

Featured Photography Page

A dedicated page for the Norfolk Project that provides a detailed account of the background behind the photography can be found HERE

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print then the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints and acrylic block plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.