Welcome to my project “Pubs Blues and Booze” the people and bands of the Dereham blues festival.

The Dereham blues festival only happens once a year over a long weekend in July, it all began in July 2013 and is organised by two of the Norfolk Blues Society's founding members Doreen and Stewart Aitken. Today it has become so much bigger and is run by a full committee of volunteers, and people come from all over the country to see the many bands that appear.

I myself am no way affiliated with the festival, I’m just local to the town and have always had a great time watching the many bands that have performed. So I thought why not make a photo project from the bands and people that attend. All the images are made candidly, the bands obviously knew they were being photographed while performing, unless there are some candid shots before or after a performance. Attendees were also photographed candidly and until now would have never seen their image as part of this project. The images were intended to be made over a three year period, obviously 2020 didn’t happen and with many restrictions still in place later that year the 2021 festival was also cancelled, this meant I had to wait two extra years before I could make my final images to give me enough pictures to finish the project.

If you’re interested in visiting the Dereham blues festival you can find all the information on their website here Dereham Blues Festival