2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the first photography workshop in the UK - The Photographers Place - located in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was led by American Ralph Gibson (seated second from left), Thomas Joshua Cooper and the originator, Paul Hill. In April 1976 Paul and his late wife Angela opened their home in the Peak District, bought some ex-military bunk beds and chairs, and big pots and pans for the kitchen and created The Place.
Paul heard that American Ralph Gibson was coming to the UK for a few weeks and his teaching colleague at Trent Poly, Nottingham, Thomas Joshua Cooper, also from the US, was free, so he asked them to lead as they both had workshop experience. The first participants who arrived that Easter weekend were an eclectic mixture of photographers, lecturers, students, and curators eager to eat, slept and talk photography for 3 days. Paul would be the ring master and serve the meals and process their films for those who wanted quick feedback.
"This informal, relaxed but concentrated formula emphasised sharing and positivity, as well as candour and commitment from all concerned - teachers and 'students'," recalled Paul. "Photographers wanted to see what made their heroes and heroines tick." He was course leader of the Creative Photography course at Trent Poly at the time and soon realised he couldn’t do both, so left the poly in 1978. He was now able to build up The Place and extend the workshop movement and his teaching methods beyond Derbyshire.
The 'master classes' were the most successful although he and Angela did run some Beginners and Intermediate sessions.
Photographers like Fay Godwin, Paul Graham, Gina Glover, Mike Ware, Roger Taylor, Sheila Rock, Pat Booth, Joyce Edwards (see BPH blog) and other future 'stars' came as 'students' to learn from the likes of Charles Harbutt, Lewis Baltz, Paul Caponigro, Cole Weston, John Blakemore, Raymond Moore, David Mellor, Val Williams, Mari Mahr, Aaron Siskind, Jo Spence et al.
"But it was never a 'them and us' situation," Paul remarked. "Everyone joined in to make each session a more holistic experience too."
Amongst early attendees were Janet Hall, Virginia Khuri and Sam Tanner who went on in1987 to form London Independent Photography, which still thrives today. Over 20 years the couple also hosted workshops for the Arts Council, the Peak National Park, many universities and colleges, several corporations and specialist organisation, and even Mensa.
Paul is still running workshops (with Maria Falconer FRPS) as can be seen on his new website that also contains new projects and historic and rare articles and publications from 1969 to 2025.
Image: 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the first photography workshop in the UK - The Photographers Place - located in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was led by American Ralph Gibson (seated second from left), Thomas Joshua Cooper and the originator, Paul Hill (seated third from right with wife, Angela).
https://hillonphotography.co.uk/
