THIS PLACE
Photographing everyday lives in Derbyshire

In a few words...

Derbyshire County Council's Cultural and Community Services Department, which incorporates libraries, museums, archives and arts, collaborated with local professional photographer Kate Bellis to develop This Place. Kate worked with residents of Derbyshire to record their daily lives, first producing her own work and enabling local people to respond by photographing personal interpretations of what makes "Their Place" special.

Kate Bellis (photo Ashley Franklin)

The situation

Many Derbyshire communities are facing difficult issues such as economic change in relation to diminishing farming and quarrying work. There was a sense of 'vanishing lifestyles' and the project sought to record these changes and capture a sense of the history of the area and the people who lived and worked there.

The idea

The project worked with a range of communities in the county to explore what gave these communities their 'heart'. Talks and presentations were held to raise awareness of the project. Kate Bellis initially created an 'essay' of 40 photographs recording the daily working lives of villagers in the Wirksworth area and this exhibition was loaned free of charge to local libraries.

Community photography workshops were then organised targeting various sectors of the community, through schools, the Youth Service, and public venues. Participants were encouraged to record images of their everyday lives, asking questions such as 'What is important to you? What makes where you live special?' This resulted in very individual responses as people sought to reflect their own lives. Kate then helped participants select the photos that really worked by identifying the messages within them, using storytelling and photo boards.

‘I don't know how the photos will turn out, these young women live very chaotic lifestyles... but I want you to know that it has been such a valuable experience, they got so much from it, really it doesn't matter if the photos aren't that great... Even the little ones enjoyed it, they were looking and looking.’