For a second year, I entered the Dark Peak Photography festival, based in the lovely Glossop, on the western slopes of the Peak District hills. The main exhibition was in the town hall, and as last year, it didn’t disappoint. An evocative set of memories of a family home in Hull called ’65, Thanet Road’ by the artist Not Quite Light was accompanied by a moving soundtrack and reminded me of my own childhood in East Yorkshire. I also liked Adrian Lambert’s facial distortions in a ‘Baconesque’ style. Adam Docker captured motion and light in a striking way in a set of images captured while travelling the world. Kat Wood presented us with a powerful set of women farmers in the North of England. Finally, there was ‘Childhood, Community, and Belonging’ by Shirley Baker, a set of images taken in 1960s Manchester. Visual humour mixed with empathy amongst a landscape of destruction and renewal – exactly what photography shows better than any other medium. Oh, and my image was on the high street in the unlikely location of an electrical shop window. Great to walk along the street on a voyage of creative discovery.
