Free Mines Coal Faces - Talk

Nick Hodgson FRPS (Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society) is a British documentary landscape photographer and the great-grandson of a freeminer. Although based in London, Nick's mother's family members have lived in the Forest since the 17th century. 

From 2019-23 he worked on a photography project called Free Mines Coal Faces. It features colour landscape pictures recording evidence of current and old coal freemines, together with black and white portraits of today's coal freemining community and their work both above and below ground. The project was exhibited at the Dean Heritage Centre in 2022, and coincided with the publication of an award-winning limited-edition book. 

In this one hour talk, Nick outlines his family's mining heritage before talking through a large selection of his images and how he took them. As well as slides, he will bring along prints of some of his pictures for the audience to take a look at. And although his book has now sold out at the Centre's Gift Shop, there will be a final few signed copies available to purchase on the day.

The talk will be followed by a screening of Deep Roots, Dark Earth: Freemining in the Forest of Dean, a short documentary on mining. Forestry England’s new short documentary, 'Deep Roots, Dark Earth', offers a rare glimpse into this tradition. The film follows Deputy Gaveller Dan Howell and freeminers Mike Howell and Phil Schwarz as they navigate the narrow, timber-lined tunnels of Wallsend Colliery, one of the last traditional mines still in operation.