A history of my practice: a journey from the post-industrial to the personal

Dr John Darwell was an invited speaker at the University of Central Lancashire's annual fieldwork photography symposium, part of the Great Northern Creative Festival, in 2017 focussing on documentary photography. A fantastic line up of speakers gave their perspectives on the vast and changing landscape of documentary concerns and practices. As well as John Darwell, speakers included Dr David Bate, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Al Baker, Christopher Bethell, Evelina Simkute, Daniel Tierney, Thomas Dukes (Curator of the Open Eye Photography Gallery) and photographer/author David Bate. Blackpool Sixth photography teacher Sabina Wray said of John Darwell’s lecture “His critically acclaimed series photographing nuclear power around the world has been exhibited worldwide. Hiroshima and Chernobyl were particularly poignant, he approached his discussion with humour and captivated us with his work”