Richard Heeps Norfolk

That instinct began early. Growing up in East Anglia, family drives through the Fens became opportunities to search for the unusual — something Richard remembers as “Fen Hunting.” The idea would later become part of his autobiographical series A View of the Fens from the Car with Wings.

It still feels like an excellent description of the way he works today: travelling, observing and waiting for something unexpected to catch his eye. Sometimes it is discovered thousands of miles from home; sometimes it has been sitting beside a familiar road all along.

The Colour of Memory

America fascinated Richard long before he began photographing it. Growing up in East Anglia, American air bases, drag racing, magazines and images of New York offered glimpses of another world — faster, brighter and seemingly filled with colour.

That fascination became part of his photographic language. Diners, motels, cars, signs and everyday details are transformed through saturated colour and carefully constructed compositions, creating images that can feel somewhere between a memory and a film still.

But the same eye travels home with him. A sign discovered in Norfolk can be approached with exactly the same curiosity as something found beside an American highway. The location changes; Richard's way of seeing does not.

Keeping Photography Physical

In an increasingly digital world, Richard's photographic process remains deliberately physical. He works with film and vintage analogue cameras, choosing different equipment according to the image he wants to create.

For Richard, taking the photograph is only the beginning. The negatives return to his Cambridge darkroom, where he works on the master print before the finished image moves through the final stages of production and presentation.

Richard has described this as working across three studios: the location where the photograph is made, the darkroom where the image develops, and the studio where the finished artwork comes together. Keeping those stages close allows him to retain control from the moment of exposure through to the final piece.

It's a process that suits the photographs themselves. Images of places, objects and moments that might easily disappear are captured through a medium that is itself increasingly rare, turning fleeting discoveries into something tangible.