With the Norfolk Broads only 15 minutes down the road from me, I have a wealth of photographic inspiration to call upon.
A few years ago, I spent a lot of time on the Norfolk coast, and I still love visiting when I can, but living in Norwich, I now realize I have never investigated the Norfolk Broads nearly thoroughly enough.
Sure, over the years I have been on day boats and shot my fair share of images, but it’s only since the 2020 pandemic that I have begun to truly appreciate all the Norfolk Broads have to offer. This is also thanks to my boyfriend who really loves the Norfolk Broads, having sailed them since he was a boy. He knows them well, and has been a good guide. He is my spotter, my extra pair of eyes. I recommend a good spotter when you are out taking photographs. I know I would have missed kingfishers, owls, deer and much more had I not had him by my side. He loves nature, and has taught me so much. While I’m staring at the sky, working out composition, or trying to attain the best angle, he is shouting at me to look to the right, the left, north, or just by that bush or tree!
The images shown above, are of St Benet’s Abbey ruins, winter sunsets reflected in streams near the Abbey and a view of Thurne Mill beneath a sail. All are available to buy via the link. Choose your format/frame/mount colour – free UK delivery.
A picture is worth a thousand words so they say. It is hard to convey the real beauty of places in one picture. But also, quality over quantity, so it’s important to consider each image carefully, to show the scene uniquely from your own viewpoint.
Although of course, I want to sell my work, I don’t solely think about this when I am out photographing in the wilds of Norfolk. When I am out on the marshes, my primary goal is to create something unique. To grasp a moment in time that will never happen again and show it.
While (hopefully) there will be many more sunsets to enjoy, the sky will never quite look the same as it did on the evening I shot the images above. This makes them truly unique. There will never be a moment again when I capture Thurne Mill from this exact spot, beneath a sail. The light will never fall exactly as it did on St Benet’s Abbey ruins from this exact angle.
This is what addicts me to photography, the uniqueness of each moment, and the image created from it.
Please subscribe to be kept updated with my photographic adventures. They aren’t always in Norfolk, soon I will be off to the Isle of Wight. I haven’t been there since I was a child…
Norfolk UK is my home, I live in Norwich by the River Wensum where everyday there is something different to see and learn.
I feel a big affinity with the river as I grew up in Cambridge, another great river city. My childhood and teens involved many walks along the Cam where we would watch 'The Bumps,' raft races and as we grew older we enjoyed adventures on our punting pub crawls.
Growing up in a multi cultural university city definitely influenced my reading choices, I am a big fan of Japanese fiction, love French literature and enjoy Shakespeare. As a young teen I entertained myself with Jilly Cooper and Dick Francis and then became quite obsessed with Henri Charriere's Papillon. At school all I cared about was English, Art and French, in that exact order. When I finished with school I went to live and work in Greece for a wonderful year before returning to study English Literature and Sociology. At this point I read more classics like the Wyf of Bath, Wuthering Heights and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man plus poets such as Wilfred Owen.
My first UK full time job was with Heffer's Paperbacks where I devoured several books at a time, excited by the fact I could borrow what I liked. Bizarrely for me I remember reading The Zurich Axioms, I have no interest in the stock markets but it had me gripped. I can't remember why I picked it up but I have never forgotten it. Heffers introduced me to so many authors, via their books and sometimes in person. It was here I learned about all the genres, it fascinated me that science fiction and horror were so popular, I tried reading it all.
Aside from writing letters, it didn't really ever occur to me to write anything myself for many years as I worked my way through a variety of interesting and varied jobs. Then on a visit to the London Aquarium I became struck by an idea so powerful I sat down and wrote my first novel. It went nowhere as really I wrote it because I wanted to. I wrote another novel and again, didn't have the persistance or determination to take it further, I simply enjoyed the process of writing and my characters.
Then years later another idea struck me and during a severe bout of Pleurisy where I couldn't do anything physical for months, I wrote the Eight of Swords and The Putsi. This time I published them as ebooks and they became pretty popular. When I fully recovered, I had to concentrate on my business and looking after my mother who has various health issues and the writing went adrift again for many years until 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world.
March 2020 I moved to my apartment alongside the Wensum to live alone for the first time ever. During the first lockdown I began to write a diary and then the idea for a new set of short stories came to me and in February 2021 they will be published. The Covid-19 Pandemic is not simply a scary virus, it is a historical time and here we are trying to live through it. To many it will feel like a punishment but to me as a writer, in some ways, it came as a gift.
Please stay as safe and as well as you can. I hope to entertain you with my stories as we all try to get through this together, even though we are apart.
Petra
View all posts by Petra Kidd
