Jack Marriott's Stockton
14th July - 25th August 2008
Jack Marriott, of Carlton, near Stockton, gave his vast collection of photographs, to Stockton Borough Council 5 years ago.
Mr Marriott ran his own photographic business and took thousands of photographs of local engineering workshops, shipyards and businesses over the years. He also took landscape shots and his favourites are those showing Stockton's old High Street.
Born in Sheffield, Mr Marriott grew up in Stockton and attended the secondary school before becoming a photographer. He employed three staff and had offices inside a dignified Victorian building at Varo Terrace. Famous engineering firms among his clients included Davey Ashmore McKee and Smith's Dock.
He enjoyed taking photographs for local authority year-books, which meant getting out and about to numerous locations, but his favourite photographs are of Stockton's old High Street.
"I always come back to those pictures. The Castlegate area was a very, very important place before it was ruined with the shopping centre. The most historic buildings were pulled down," he said in 2003.
These photographs by Jack Marriott capture a special time in Stockton's rich history, a time fondly remembered by many today. Look out for a future exhibition where Marriott's industrial photographs will be brought out for show; truly fascinating.
Atonement
Photographs by Pam Ainsley
18th July - 6th September 2008
The capturing of the filming of Atonement at Redcar, by Pam Ainsley (winner of the Professional Event Photographer of the Year 2006) has come Preson Hall Museum after exhibitions at Kirkleatham Museum in Redcar and further shows in Middlesbrough, Stockton and York. It is to be exhibited from the 18th July until the 6th September 2008.
It focuses on one scene from the film: the beaches of Dunkirk; the film's most challenging shot and gives us a look behind the scenes of a mammoth undertaking. On the 22nd August 2006, Redcar was transformed into Dunkirk: a desperate place under enemy fire with thousands of soldiers praying for rescue. It involved 1,000 extras and countless crew.
The photographs vary from individuals such as lead actor James McAvoy and expansive landscapes including the big wheel and damaged fairground band stand. The most moving photographs, however, are the ones taken when the sun was setting. Silhouetted horses nobly striding in the red and orange of the last light of day. Fully uniformed extras having a game of football on the beach. The World War Two guns darkening the foreground of the seascape.
