Catcher Media are presenting a photographic exhibition ‘Herefordshire Life Through a Lens: Stories from the Hop Yards’ at The Courtyard, Hereford, which started on February 21st and will run until April 2nd.

The first in a series of exhibitions, made possible by National Lottery Players, comes from the hop-yards of the county. Bringing the work of local photographer, Derek Evans, out of the archives and into the community, this exhibition features both archive and contemporary images from Hereford College of Arts BA students and staff. The photographic archive from which it comes from has been housed, unseen, at Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre (HARC) for nearly a decade. Catcher Media were first introduced to Derek Evans’ work by Keith James, Derek’s former business partner, when working on their previous heritage project Chewing The Cud about the old livestock market.

Rick Goldsmith Creative Director of Catcher Media said: “Like many others we were duly entranced by Derek’s photographs, and when we heard that there was a studio archive of over 200,000 negatives and 700 exhibition prints. It seemed like a good idea to try and figure out a way of making this work accessible to Herefordshire people, as it spoke of their recent past with such affection and technical prowess. The funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled us to achieve this.”

Project volunteers have been working with Herefordshire Council’s Archive Services to digitise the negatives, meaning that many of the images on display will not have been seen outside of the studio darkroom until now.

The exhibition runs until April 2nd at The Courtyard. For more information on The Courtyard’s Visual Arts programme contact the Box Office on 01432 340555.