Dongola | Sudan

Day 40 of the Cycle to Rwanda. – Sudan

After a long day in the saddle the previous day (147 miles in 47 degree heat!) eating meat, pitta bread, jam and drinking water from the Nile (there was nowhere else to drink for much of the journey!) I spent the night in Nubia House in the lovely town of Dongola (Arabic: دنقلا‎, romanized: Dunqulā)

After a few hours sleep, I allowed sometime to visit a couple of local sights. Catching bicycle taxi and then a small ferry, I headed to the Island near Dongola. A real oasis, away from life and a calming place to spend a few hours.

Boarding the ferry I was the novelty – they don’t get many blond haired westerners here!

Wandering around, enjoying being off the bike, I shot a few images and chatted to many of the locals. One young Sudanese chap caught my attention.
Abdul Baatin was a local trader and farmer on the Island. Using a mixture of nods, broken English and basic Arabic we made conversation for a while.
I shot some portraiture of Abdul, but the image that caught my mind and emphasised the feeling of peace, tranquillity and a beautifully basic life was this capture of Abdul drinking from a clay pot on the banks of the Nile.

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Norwich 100 Cycle Sportive – In The Sun!

With the country opening up again, it’s so lovely to see sporting events back in the diary and taking place around the region.

Last month I shot imagery of the Norwich 100 cycle sportive for the local cancer charity BigC.

The sun gods were certainly shining and it was lovely to see people out, keeping fit, raising money for charity and having a great time around the wonderful Norfolk lanes

#Norwich #cycling #Sportive #BIGC #Charity #Event

Tranquil Broads Capture

Such a simple composition, but the gorgeous ‘golden hour’ light and the striking reflection create such a delightful image.

Shot on the #BroadsNationalPark May 2021 with a Mavic Pro gently hovering above the water

#broads #Suffolk #Norfolks

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Gorleston Beach Clean Organiser

Portrait of Melanie, Summer 2019

Gorleston Beach Clean Organiser

“I always wanted to live by the sea” Says Melanie, spoken in her own words in 2019.

“Moving from a larger property to the seaside town of Gorleston turned both the life of Melanie and the town completely upside down.

The whole beach clean was organised via Facebook…. The plan was to organise one beach clean, mainly to bring the community together… within a few short weeks we went off and done our own little thing borrowing kit from the council. The following year we got £50 from the Lions to buy our own equipment and soon the whole community was getting into this.

Our group has achieved so much, the beaches are clean, we’ve helped bring the community together and importantly have created clean pleasant places to enjoy throughout the seasons”

#portrait #norfolk #gorleston #beachclean #clean #rubbish #litter

One, Two, Three Jump… | Hampstead Heath

My clients tend to supply me with pretty flexible briefs for photography, which often means it’s likely on most shoots I can shoot ‘off piste’ enabling me to capture a range of creative imagery, meeting the brief, but also supplying creative imagery above and beyond.

One recent shoot for the lovely folks at AgeUK Camden, saw me shooting a range of imagery for upcoming campaigns on Hampstead Heath.

David kindly agreed to pose for a portrait with his two dogs. Just as I was setting the strobe lighting up, one of the dogs jumped up and that moment presented me with a gorgeous natural image. Thankfully my trigger finger was ready to capture this split second moment of fun & joy.

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  AGE UK Camden May 2021

The Making of Dr Hills’ Casebook

The Making of Dr Hills’ Casebook.

A Short film I’ve recently made about the inspiring play, featuring interviews with the team behind the play, providing an insight into creating a play during the pandemic.

Free Tickets for screenings this week (24/25th June) are available using the link below.Dr Hills’ Casebook is a co-created play from UpShoot Theatre Company, developed with the Restoration Trust and the Norfolk Record Office.
The play tells the story of how Dr Hills, the Medical Superintendent of Norfolk County Asylum from 1861-1887, cared for his patients during a period of great poverty and negligible health and social care.

Moving between past and present, the filmed performance explores Dr Hills’ therapeutic compassion, revealed through fascinating mental health archives in Norfolk Record Office that the Change Minds’ archives and mental health programme has been researching since 2016.https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/dr-hills-casebook-film…

Mohammed | Egypt

Another emotive image from the epic UK to Rwanda cycle adventure – from one of my favourite countries – Egypt. – a picture of Mohammed.

I had spent around 6 hours in the saddle, travelling along the Nile Southwards, ultimately towards Aswan.
It had been a really tough few hours in the saddle. The temperature was already 38 degrees and I had received lots of hassle. As I crossed the Nile, a small moto pulled up alongside, two young lads rode alongside for around a 100 metres, before gently pulling out an enormous knife. I vividly remember staring at it, seeing it shine in the baking heat. I can’t remember what happened next – basically I lost my temper, riding towards them and shouting lots.
It seemed to work, they departed and I didn’t see them again.With the temperature rising and already 6 hours tarmac/dust under the wheels I found some shade, under a small tree outside a factory. Sipping luke warm water I began to drift in and out of sleep.Within a few minutes a pickup arrived with 10 or so men and women in, a large chap came out and offered some shelter in the big warehouse… a few minutes later I was sat on a plastic chair, inside a massive warehouse, air conditioned and shear bliss. I spent around two hours, chatting to the folks working and learning about their village and work. It turns out (at the time) they grew potatoes for the UK & European markets and kept them in the airconditioned warehouse awaiting collection.

Mohammed wasn’t overly keen on having a photo, eventually I wore him down and he duly posed with the potatoes. A remarkable experience, that reinstated my belief in the good of humans after my earlier run in. After a hugely enjoyable rest, where I honestly made a couple of friends, I set off again. With another 40 miles to cover it was on with the adventure.

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Covid Portraiture | Robert

Early this year I began shooting portraiture of people working throughout the #covid19 pandemic.

A series of simple images, shot using one strobe, a plain background ( a rarity for me) and often in spaces with little room (offices, living rooms etc) Each image is accompanied by a paragraph telling their stories.

(these will be available to view on my website in a few months) It’s a simple body of work that creates a basic social history of time and region.

Let me introduce Robert Fairclough, freelance writer & blogger

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Filming of Dr Hills

Last week I had the pleasure of filming Dr Hills Casebook at the Halesworth Cut.

A fascinating play, pulled together by the inspiring folks at Bungay based UpShoot Theatre Company.
It’s a story of a Doctor, his patients and the extraordinary legacy he left behind.

“Dr Hills Casebook is an archives, theatre and wellbeing project aimed at improving the wellbeing of people in South Norfolk living with mental health challenges, and to stimulate public conversation, comparing past and present treatments”

Portrait of Biscuit Jill

Biscuit Jill

“Around 9 years ago I belonged to a business networking event in Norwich and we were provided the opportunity to visit the BigC centre in Norwich. The first thing that happens when you arrive is you’re given a cuppa and biscuit… instinctively I asked, “who provides the biscuits”… to cut a long story short, I thought I can do something to help… move forward a little while and I setup a twitter account ‘Biscuit Jill’.

Before too long I was meeting people in car parks, underground passages, cafes, hotels, all to be given packs of biscuits. It was all rather comical, but importantly served a crucial element to the offering of the BigC centre, it saved them money, time and effort.

Whenever I was at business networking events, instead of talking about my business, I talked about biscuits, why I am Biscuit Jill and how important every pack of biscuits is!
People would often say to me, “it’s only a pack of biscuits” but honestly, its so much more than that.
There is something so very British about coming in, sitting down, and having a cuppa and a biscuit. It’s a conduit to conversation. It’s such a simple thing, but so important.

You should see my spare room it’s like the biscuit isle of Tesco’s!

I’ve just collected my 30,000 pack of biscuits (recorded in 2019) and I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve instigated how the community has come together. After all, we’ve all been touched by Cancer in one way or another”