Still Waters
I published a book of black and white photographs called Still Waters in 1989. The pictures are a personal view of the Broads. Other parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty often contain a hill or mountain and can be spotted and recognised from a distance. It is in the nature of this region that the 'best' rivers, marshes and lakes are secretive and hidden from the casual passer by.
The exhilaration of climbing a peak is replaced here by coming across a remote patch of silvery water on an autumn evening; a marsh full of delicate flora; a wherry in full sail gliding noiselessly past.
Many people have lived all their lives in Norfolk and never explored the Broads. I have taken many pictures for The Broads Authority which illustrate the restoration and conservation work they are doing. I decided to show some of the more idiosyncratic scenes, with an emphasis on the region as a working community as much as a tourist destination.
I work in the footsteps of PH Emerson and George Christopher Davies, to name but two eminent photographers at the turn of the 19th century who represented the Broads in their very individual and different ways. The challenge for the contemporary photographer is to reflect the timeless quality of the landscape using technology whose rationale is increasingly driven by a demand for speed and 'accuracy'.
Richard Denyer
December 2000