Listening to: Sheryl Crow
Reading: next on TBR pile
Especially for Jan - this is Thurne drainage mill. (I could be fussy and want a slightly deeper blue sky, but this isn't bad - the light was good. You'd never think that on the way there I was fussing about it being too misty, but decided to give it a try anyway.)
I've sent my publisher quite a few pics, including one of Happisburgh lighthouse against a dramatically stormy sky; one of the first I took with the camera, involving lots of straight lines (sea and sand and sky and seaweed) at Wells-next-the-Sea; one of the Blakeney Point pics from the summer, with an incredibly cute seal pup; the bluebells at Foxley Wood; the stripy cliffs at Hunstanton; and various semi-arty (read: self-indulgent) pics of certain buildings that always say 'Norfolk' to me (though maybe they're too Norwich-based for me to get away with it), and churches and seagulls and a sunset (not the best I've ever seen, but still a nice one from my back garden).I've no idea what the designer will come up with. The 'Little Book of' series so far has a single pic on the front, though I'd love a collage.
The problem is: how do you encapsulate a county in just ONE picture? Especially one as varied as Norfolk. We have an amazing coastline with some of the best birdwatching sites in the country; we have more medieval churches and more windmills than any other county; we have the Broads; we have ancient woodlands; we have some terribly grand country houses (Blickling being my favourite); and, most of all, we have amazing skies.
Hmm. Skies. In a recent local newspaper interview, I said that was what I miss most about Norfolk when I'm away (which isn't very often).
Skies.
What I really need is a day when there's a fab sunset, and enough time to go and find something gorgeous as a silhouette to set against it (i.e. a church or a windmill - or maybe somewhere on the Broads where it's reflected).
But, at the moment, if it's a single pic rather than a collage, I think Thurne would be a front runner. (I have flagged the sunset potential, though. And as autumn is my favourite season...)
6 comments:
Oh, thank you, Kate! Now this is lovely.
I reckon you have to have the flat land and the sky to encapsulate Norfolk. It's what hits you, isn't it? Lots of places have grand houses, churches and water, but Norfolk skies are something else.
To me, Norfolk is the Broads. BUT, do you go with the same old, same old that people will instantly recognise, or do you come up with something different but also very Norfolk, but that "outsiders" may have difficulty associating with the county?
Norfolk also conjures up boats, birds and lavender. If you could get the lot all in one shot, maybe you've cracked it.
Sorry but I never think of the coast, for some reason ...
I'm with Jan on the flat land, I am in the fens here in west Norfolk and my perfect Norfolk image is the stretching flat fields.
In spring/summer the bright yellow oil seed rape with a brilliant blue sky, or at this time of year with the farmers machinery against a wonderful autumn sky. I even like the winter with almost barren looking fields and a grey winter sky (the typical 'bleak' view of Norfolk!)
Sorry I'm getting carried away, but then the inciting event of my second book - that I'm trying(!) to write - is based on the view of a wonderful Norfolk landscape!
Lori x
http://lorrainepowell.blogspot.com/
Jan - glad you approve. PS Your book has arrived and is nudging its way up my TBR pile - or it will if I tidy my desk)
Diane - good question. My market is mainly local, so... I dunno. I'm thinking and watching.
Lori - I do have one of a rape field (it was the same day as I took pics of the bluebells in Foxley Wood). Mmm. Will dig that out and include.
I'd like a tractor ploughing. Has to be a red one, though. (Would've been even better with shire horses... no, am getting carried away with my dad's tales of Essex farming.)
Good luck with that second book!
Post a Comment