War photography from Simon Norfolk

Church on Ascension Island with radar station behind

BLDGBLOG once again comes up trumps, this time with an interview with photographer Simon Norfolk.

Norfolk’s work is brooding and captivating, and not what is conventionally seen as ‘war photography’ — the rich, highly saturated colours and warm lighting contrast with the often desolate scenes. His shots are devoid of people, and there’s a pervasive sense of emptiness. War zones, as well as the machinery of war, are depicted in a eerie silence.

“I think people kind of gobble up the photograph. They become what the photograph is. For me, people just aren’t that important; it’s about this panoptic process, it’s about this kind of eavesdropping, it’s about this ability to look into every aspect of our lives. And I think if you put people into these pictures, I don’t know – it would draw viewers away. It would draw viewers into the story of the people. It’s not about, you know, Bob who runs the radar dome; it’s about this thing that looks inside your email program, and listens to this phone call, and listens to every phone call in the world in every language, and washes it through computer programs.”

Update: nicely described by moominply as a postwar photographer.

Utah Beach, Normandy

Simon Norfolk’s portfolio can be found online, and prints can be bought from the Photographers’ Gallery in London.