Photography for mortals: April 2026

Those who don't live in the East Midlands may not understand this, but the area is a bit artificial. Unlike other urban conurbations, there is no central town. The west Midlands coalesces around Birmingham, while we have Newcastle forming Tyneside and the towns of Lancashire orbiting Manchester.

The East Midlands does not really have a heart, instead it has triple centres in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. In one way or another, I have had connections with all 3. My wife comes from Leicester and i worked there for 3 years. I live just outside Derby and worked there for 2 years. When we 1st moved from Manchester we rented a house in Nottingham for 6 months, and my wife still works there.

I therefore know them all pretty well. However, for some reason, while I enjoy Derby and Leicester, I have never felt comfortable in Nottingham, and generally avoid it. I am never really sure why, but I think unlike Derby and Leicester, Nottingham does not really have a city centre, just a spread of shops etc, smeared around the city. In Derby for example, everything you need to get to is pretty well within walking distance. With Nottingham you quickly find yourself in a maze of anonymous streets.

Also, when it comes to culture, Nottingham is severely lacking. Yes, it has some great theatres, but when it comes to art in comes a poor 3rd. For example, Derby has the Quad, and the Museum and art Gallery, with a great Joseph Wright collection and Leicester have the New Walk Museum. Finding similar collections in Nottingham is more difficult.

I was therefore surprised to hear that there was a small photographic exhibition in Nottingham in a museum I had not previously been aware off. The Bonington gallery is attached to Nottingham Trent University (or NTU) and it was showing a collection of photos taken by Baltimore-based photographer John Dean during his time as a visiting student to Nottingham Trent University in 1976.

It probably is not appreciated enough how important NTU has been in the history and development of UK photography. For example, I heartily recommend Dialogue with Photography by Paul Hill and Thomas Cooper, both NTU lectures. They were also responsible for the creation of the Format exhibition, ironically in Derby, one of UK's premier photographic exhibitions.

To be honest it 2026 has been a poor year for photographic exhibitions. I manged to screw up going to the Lee Miller exhibition at the Tate Modern, and have been desperately find an alternative, but there just does not seem to be much planned. Even the afore mentioned Format, was not running this year.

So, I decided to head into Nottingham. Finding the gallery was not a challenge, although it was hidden within the various buildings of the city centre campus. Getting in was the bigger challenge, in fact, it was closed. You see although I had checked the opening times, I had missed the fact that did not count on bank holidays.

I was sort of stunned. A museum that basically closes during it most accessible period (Mu wife later explained that it is largely staffs with students). What was I to do now?

There was only one thing to do...take photos...

Contemporay Views

First however I gave Nottingham another chance. I headed to Nottingham Contemporary gallery. One of the issues is that despite being Nottingham’s premier art venues the gallery building does not really stand out. I have walked past it numerous times, but never felt going in. It also has this weird system where, despite being free, you have to pre-register.

Saying that the staff are incredibly nice. There were two exhibitions on, Lines That World a River by Shahana Rajani and Cemetery of Martyrs by Dala Nasser. The 1st was a based around videos taken around the Indus valley and the change in the environment caused by the damming of the rivers in Pakistan. The 2nd were Cyanotypes of graves in the Lebanon region. Both were interesting in their own way, and I always find I get something from any exhibition, saying that they did not keep me involved for very long, so I used the cafe for a quick coffee (After a brief conversation with the Barista on the benefits of the Fuji Camera system). Unfortunately, I was also tempted by an excellent book on spaceflight photographs, maybe driven by the Artemis II mission.

Ay Up My Duck

So, onto the photography. Nottingham has a lot of lovely buildings, but they are often well hidden, or been interspersed my later modern dullness. You therefore have to work quite hard in Nottingham to find areas of interest. One thing Nottingham does have however is areas of Graffiti murals and I was determined to take images against those.

I started in the old market square. An area that is neither old, or a market. It used to have a great fountain which you could take images of City Hall against (It is no longer the City Hall), but this has been turned off for years, and now consists largely of pigeons. Still a great area for street photography.

Did someone say "Duck"?

I then headed towards the Broadmarsh...or where it used to be anyway. Nottingham used to have two shopping centres. This distribution was always a bit weird, and the Broadmarsh was always the poorer cousin of the Victoria centre and a few years ago it was decided to demolish it. However, being Nottingham, they then struggled to work out what to do with the area. This was not helped by a major financial crisis that basically bankrupted the city. So a plan was hatched to make it into a green area, which is a great idea, bhut slow in execution.

Under the tramway underpass however they have built a leisure area. As with all such areas, it has a sort of apocalypse vibe, and I certainly would not like to be there in the dark, but as it was, between the graffiti there were some lads playing basketball, so I got of a few shots.

I then headed to the castle. Nottingham makes a big thing of its connection with Robin Hood, but the castle lets the side down by being nothing like the movies. It is also a big tourist trap, and I did not linger

guide explaining why Nottingham castle looks nothing like the Hollywood movies

Finally I headed back to the tram stop to tray and take some images against the wall murals

So after a day photographing Nottingham, do I know appreciate it more? Nottingham has always been a great place for Street Photography. Unlike many UK cities with identikit high streets, it boasts a variety of shops and places to eat. My younger daughter often goes there for nights out and for the young I understand the attraction.

However that diversity also creates tension between the have and have nots, which again is a sign of Nottinghams relative decline. This means I an never really comfortable walking around, alone, with a camera.

I get the same vibe in London. That feeling of not being welcome and out of place. That tension however is what drives great photography. Nice places are photographically deserts. If you can put your paranoia in check and be brave such places offer great opportunities

So, I am glad I did it and it was great to have a day with no pressures just taking photos.

Pity about the exhibition though...