Steve Gittner is a local customer of ours – an accomplished architect with a practice in Halifax, working on some stunning contemporary structures across the country.

He’s supported us from the early days and has a nice dog called Alan.

 

In the late 1970s, Photographer Fay Godwin explored the Calder Valley and surrounding area with her camera and captured the landscape at a turning point. Her photographs were both picturesque and brooding; showing the contrast between the wild moorlands and the post-industrial townscapes which in some way defines the area.

In 2017, Steve began retracing Godwin’s steps with a copy of ‘Remains of Elmet’ as reference, initially as a way of exploring the landscape he only partially knew and later as a bit of a completist obsession. By tracking down the locations, stepping into the frame and capturing the same original view which Godwin had forty years earlier, Steve’s photographs help to highlight the changes that have occurred as well as signalling the reliable constants which help to measure the evolution of the place.

The exhibition is primarily a celebration of the 40th anniversary of ‘Remains of Elmet’ and a fabulous opportunity to see a selection of the original photographs on show again. These are hung alongside Gittner’s re-visited’ series to allow the visitor to lean in a little, look at the captured landscape which normally backdrops their ‘everyday’ and remember as time passes that some things change and others remain.

His exhibition is now open at Hebden Bridge Town Hall and is well worth a visit.