Last Sunday I popped Mrs O the question of whether she would like to go up to Norwich to see Affinity & Kindred – Richard Denyer’s show at the Cathedral. It turned out that she had already conjured up the same thought so off we trundled with a rear view mirror full of ominous skies yet the view ahead a totally different vista. A sky so colourful that it could only be a winter sky and by all appearances Norfolk had grown a mountain range that gradually wilted away on a stiffening breeze. By the time we got into the city the sun was cracking the flags.

Selfishly I wished I had driven up in my motor with a camera or two as the conditions were so good but I had popped a Trip35 into my pocket. One has to have a camera of some sort about one’s person. Now for all the years I have been visiting Norwich and I think that dates back to 1978, I have never ever visited the cathedral. Walking across town to it is quite interesting as it quickly drops off the horizon of the city-scape and then all of a sudden we were in the cathedral close. A charming enclosure.

Horror of horrors, we could not get into the Hostry where the exhibition was being staged and when we walked towards the main doors of the cathedral we just knew we would not be let in as a service was taking place. There was nothing else for it then, coffee and cake. Well, an ice age could have come and gone in the time it took Mrs O to get served but we had time to waste  and soon enough the place filled up with the church emptying time.

We took to the cloisters bathed in a blindingly bright light and sheltered from that northerly wind. Those monks knew a thing or two. Some grockles asked me to take their picture on an iPhone. I know how to use one of them now but no attempt at me trying to explain that they would be total shadow would work. They wanted the spire in the picture and them in front of it. So be it. They got a well exposed spire and they were happy.

We eventually got into the show but via the inside of the church. I was keen to see the work having just revisited some Outer Hebrides images of mine from the 70’s and also having a keen interest in boatyards. I was not disappointed. The printing by Bill Jackson was first class as expected but it was the narrative that was compelling.

This was certainly a body of contemporary work picking up on connections between two communities at either end of the Kingdom and separated not only by miles but by water and the relative owning of the places he represented but at the same time being no different at all. Picking up on themed messages of church, practice and boatyards  with quietly observed images made for a very interesting and thought provoking show. On top of that there was a book at an absolute steal for £15 as a limited edition of 500. I had to have one. I have one.

It is just tragic that Richard died just after this show opened. I do hope it travels to all all the other venues that were planned.