On Trafalgar Day, also Mrs O’s birthday, dry rot discovery day, graduation day and now Swaffham Visual Arts Festival day I motored up to Swaffham with Mrs O through Thetford Forest. It was a wonderfully bleak drive through persistent drizzle that made for stunning autumnal colours. These days are rare and to be cherished.

We had no idea how long my session would run for at the Assembly Rooms in Swaffham so Mrs O booked us into the George – a Best Western. Now call me a cynic but the only good Best Western I have ever stayed at was the Villa Quaranta just outside Verona in 1995. I tried to warn Mrs O what to expect as most if not all Best Western hotels I have stayed in over the years working all across the UK have been on the grim side. I was not dissapointed but Mrs O certainly was.

That said, despite it being Mrs O’s birthday, and one I doubt she will never forget, the purpose of my visit was to speak about my photography. I had been told that access could not be gained until 1700 so I delighted in taking tea and tiffin with Mrs O at the Costa that is located in a lovely old building just around the corner from the rather elegant Assembly Rooms. Spot on 1700 there was a cohort outside the Rooms and a trailer full of display boards. Without further ado they sprang into action like a well drilled platoon of Desert Rats and began converting the empty space into a temporary exhibition space with seating.

We had some problems with the in-house projection equipment so we went through plans A & B and ended up with a working C. The room is quite elegantly proportioned. I suspect Georgian but I may be wrong.

Quite a few people have no concept of how high off the ground my usual large format setup is so I erected my two most used film cameras of the Edgelands series either side of the screen. The Toyo 45C on the left and the Bronica SQAi on the right.

I had been asked to bring some work along so I brought my Liverpool Echo series from 1972 with me. This series resonated with quite a few people in the room. I’m glad I took it.

Before the gig kicked off I had several mini-conversations with attendees and a few after the event as the place was stripped back to bare bones by the same well drilled team.

I think the talk and show went well, at least I hope so for those 30 or so paying guests.

Then it was back to the George for a very late butty and a delicious pint of of Aspall’s cider for me. We decided to keep the champagne back for a higher energy environment i.e. for when we got home.

The strange thing was that much as I despised the place I was drawn to it as a photographic subject. The day before was ‘Back to the Future Day’ yet this place screamed ‘Back to the 70’s’ at best. I literally could have spent my entire large format stock of Kodak Portra for this winter making a book about the soulessness of it. Breakfast was OK to be fair but the occasion was almost an unrun script from Fawlty Towers, so much so that Mrs O and I almost collapsed in laughter when we eventually got seated.

Having just seen Alec Soth’s exhibition and some of the Niagara images, this was Norfolk’s equivalent location but without the waterfall.

Onwards and upwards. More on-location shooting is screaming at me.