Each week I send out a short, fresh reflection from the road – photographs, sketches, and observations from old places that still have something to teach us. What follows is a moment from those travels.
"I have a belief, I guess, in the power of the aggregate human attempt – the best of ourselves. In love and hope and optimism – you know, the magic things that seem inexplicable. Why we are the way we are. I do have a sense of trying to make things better."
Meryl Streep.
The Photo Detectorist
It’s been a long journey into Norfolk and I feel drained and famished. I haven’t the energy to cook something up in the van, so I head into Thetford to try and find a cafe. I walk straight from the car park onto the high street - it looks a little dated and worn around the edges.
Feeling tired, gnarly and disappointed, I find myself in a queue at Greggs. I’m standing next to a framed photo of Captain Mainwaring on the wall. I turn to the chap behind me. “What’s that all about?’ I say.” ‘Oh, Thetford is where Dad’s Army was filmed.’
He tells me that there’s a statue of Captain Mainwaring in town and that he’ll take me to it, if I’m interested. I say yes, and buy him his lunch for his kindness. As we both walk over to the statue with sausage rolls in hand, I tell him that I write a travel digest, and I want to take a photo of the statue to share it with my subscribers.
“Don’t tell ’em, Pike!’ he shouts.”
We both laugh.
The sausage roll has done the trick, and I ask him for directions back to the car park.“‘I’ll take you there,’ he says.”
Back in the camper, just before I set off, there’s a knock on the sliding door. I Iook over and there’s a lady in a colourful hat waving at me. I open the door.
‘I love your camper!’ she says, and then, observing the inside of the van: ‘Are you an archaeologist?’
I laugh and think about her observation. 'Actually, I’m more of a detectorist. A photo detectorist.’
I tell her of my work and she tells me that Thetford is full of hidden gems. She takes time to share her knowledge and gives me a list with detailed directions. And so I head off into ‘hidden Thetford’ with my camera.
On my way back into town, I start to think about the idea of being a photo detectorist. Is it the buildings or is it the photography? I can’t work out which. I conclude that it’s probably a happy mix of the two - but it’s always been the camera that has kick-started my journey.
I see my camera as a divining rod. It helps me see the stories within the walls and isolate narratives beyond the bricks and mortar. It gifts me a clear perspective on things.
On returning to Thetford, I start to frame things up through the viewfinder. It’s a slow process, but the light is good and the journey is rewarding.
I pass the Mainwairing statue again and say to myself: “Don’t panic, you stupid boy!”
And then the town unravels before me.
The intrinsic beauty of Thetford is in the details, the textures, and the correspondence of place with what lies beneath.
Through my lens, I can see how this town came about and observe the aberrations, lapses and silences in its history.
I can sense how its people overcame adversity through time.
I observe how they tied the past into the warp and weft of the present - a material act of not letting go; a way to preserve the thread of history, as if the world might unravel if they didn’t.
At times like this, Dorothea Lange's words always resonate with me: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
Up until recently, I thought I’d grasped the meaning of her words. However, what eluded me was the realisation that my camera was also teaching me to see and understand myself. My work serves as a healing balm for an introvert. I use my lens as a tool to dispel my creeping solitude and forge connections.
My camera doesn’t just help me see; it also aids in overcoming introspection by connecting with others and, through them, discovering the best of humanity when I least expect it.
After finding whispers in the walls through my lens, I upgraded my assessment of Thetford, but nothing proved more potent than the unexpected guide I met in Greggs and the counsel of the lady in the colourful hat.
Readers of the Genius Loci Digest
What stays with readers
That aura, those echoes - the muted light is transporting. What a space to feel rooted in history. I'd love to make that journey myself; you've stirred the opera lover and architectural dreamer in me.
From the heritage portfolio
Choose how to join, share or support Andy Marshall's work
Connect with me on: Bluesky / Instagram / Facebook / X / Tumblr / Flickr / Vimeo / Pixelfed / Pinterest
Member discussion