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Where to find locations, where to find inspiration.. frequent questions and I hope by starting this thread early in this project I might make some suggestions where others might find their own answers to these questions.
I've never just looked to photographers for inspiration, I find a lot in the works of painters - both landscape and portrait. A notable local painter was Walter Dexter (1876-1958) and several of his landscapes are in the collection of the local council and town museum. I can remember seeing one version of this view at the Registry office last year.
Lynn from the South West, Norfolk
Dexter painted this view on several occasions. The detail of the townscape changes as buildings are developed or demolished. However there are several consistencies - the general viewpoint, high tide and fluffy cloud skies.
First up was finding the location where Dexter stood to sketch/paint. A combination of Google Earth and the OS overlay for Bing Maps was handy here. I identified several key buildings in the town that are extant today and looked at how they relate to each other. In this case the churches of St Margaret (the twin minster towers in the centre of the painting), St Nicholas (to its the left) and the Granary tower (to the left of St Nicholas). That quickly narrowed down the point on the river bank that would give me the right angles and by dropping the altitude of the view point on Google Earth and pitching the angle of view relative to the horizon it confirmed that the general sweep of the river was about right from this position.
Today was my first opportunity to take a few shots and see what I can get. Perishing cold so I wasn't hanging about, the tide is far too low and the light is nowhere near right. But it does look like I've got the right spot and it still offers a pleasant view of the town.
Next is waiting and revisiting to try and catch better light and better skies in combination with a high tide.
I've never just looked to photographers for inspiration, I find a lot in the works of painters - both landscape and portrait. A notable local painter was Walter Dexter (1876-1958) and several of his landscapes are in the collection of the local council and town museum. I can remember seeing one version of this view at the Registry office last year.
Lynn from the South West, Norfolk
Dexter painted this view on several occasions. The detail of the townscape changes as buildings are developed or demolished. However there are several consistencies - the general viewpoint, high tide and fluffy cloud skies.
First up was finding the location where Dexter stood to sketch/paint. A combination of Google Earth and the OS overlay for Bing Maps was handy here. I identified several key buildings in the town that are extant today and looked at how they relate to each other. In this case the churches of St Margaret (the twin minster towers in the centre of the painting), St Nicholas (to its the left) and the Granary tower (to the left of St Nicholas). That quickly narrowed down the point on the river bank that would give me the right angles and by dropping the altitude of the view point on Google Earth and pitching the angle of view relative to the horizon it confirmed that the general sweep of the river was about right from this position.
Today was my first opportunity to take a few shots and see what I can get. Perishing cold so I wasn't hanging about, the tide is far too low and the light is nowhere near right. But it does look like I've got the right spot and it still offers a pleasant view of the town.
Next is waiting and revisiting to try and catch better light and better skies in combination with a high tide.