Muswell Hill resident celebrates ‘great year’ for her photography

Zoe Norfolk has placed top in two major national photography competitions this year, reports Miriam Balanescu

Credit: Zoe Norfolk

A Muswell Hill resident has placed top in two major national photography competitions this year.

Last month, Zoe Norfolk was shortlisted for the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain Award with an image of her friend’s daughter Gracie.

The prolific Muswell Hill photographer also nabbed the silver award in the Association of Photographers (AOP) annual AOP Photography Awards for her series of photos taken on her son’s birthday every year since he was born in 2003. The work is titled Every Year I Take a Photo and featured in The Guardian last month.

Zoe told HCP: “This year I’ve approached my career differently, trying different avenues to showcase my work. Portrait of Britain was one of two things I tried and achieved success with, the other being the AOP awards – I received a silver award for my long-term self-portrait project with my son.”

The Portrait of Britain Award is the UK’s biggest annual photography competition, culminating in an exhibition of 100 winning images shown across the country through a digital screen display held for one month. Meanwhile, 200 shortlisted entries – including Zoe’s – are published in a Portrait of Britain book.

The competition, which aims to capture ‘the many faces of modern Britain’, is now in its sixth year.

Zoe said: “It’s the first time I’ve entered. My work is often shot landscape in format so I decided to shoot a few images ‘portrait’ that would work well for the submission of the award. The shot of Gracie was the one that was chosen.

“Gracie is a friend’s daughter – they live in Essex and a group of us went down for the day. This is one of the shots I took on the seafront in Frinton.”

Meanwhile, the AOP Photography Awards are now in their 38^th year, open to AOP accredited and assisting photographer members. The association describes the competition as the “Oscars” of the photography world.

Gold and silver winners were announced at an AOP annual showcase event in September.

AOP CEO Isabelle Doran commented: “It’s like opening a surprise gift box of delights, you’re not sure what you’re going to get but when you open it up you find a delightful myriad of visual treasures. This year’s finalists and winners are a delicious treat for the eyes.”

To add to these achievements, Zoe – well-known in her local community as the ‘Muswell Hill photographer’, the alias she posts under on social media – also published a book in September, titled Muswell Hill in Photos.

Zoe added: “It’s been a great year for my photography as well as publishing a book of my photos of Muswell Hill which I’ve sold nearly 300 copies of.”

To find out more visit: zoenorfolk.com.

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