An exhibition by the internationally renowned photojournalist John Bulmer is currently on show at an art gallery nestled in the heart of rural Herefordshire.

Founded in 2016 by retired farmer Stephen Dale, who began his love affair with contemporary art whilst being treated for cancer decades previously, Canwood Gallery is set in rolling open countryside in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The setting will provide a stark contrast to the photographs in this latest exhibition which charts life in Britain's industrial north.

Famous for pioneering the use of colour photography in journalism in the 1960s, John Bulmer's The North exhibition documents life in the cities of northern England, capturing the bleak and the beautiful in equal measure.

The work of John Bulmer, who grew up in Herefordshire and is the great grandson of the Bulmers cider founder, will be shown alongside that of his wife Angela Conner, who was an apprentice to Barbara Hepworth, and whose sculpture Rocking Lady is on permanent loan to the gallery's sculpture park. Another outdoor sculpture by Angela Conner, Revelation, commissioned for Chatsworth House, has just been gifted to the gallery by the Duke of Devonshire.

Many of the photographs on show were originally commissioned for the Sunday Times magazine in 1965 following the launch of the first-ever colour supplement.

Until this point, ‘the North' as it was broadly labelled, had only ever been captured in black and white. The established feeling was that the industrial landscape of mills, chimneys and cobbles could only be conveyed in monochrome. John challenged this view, taking colour images that offered a unique combination of industrial landscape, domestic life and characterful people.

Speaking ahead of the exhibition opening, John said:

"It is a great honour to have my work exhibited here in my home county. I started my photography career here, working with a local press photographer, and I was introduced to the Canwood Gallery by my wife Angela, whose sculptures are displayed here."

"To be able to exhibit works of real cultural significance, such as John's seminal photographs of the north of England, here in Herefordshire is a real pride and joy for me," said Stephen. "Art has played such a pivotal role in my life and once I finally finished my farming career I have loved throwing all my energy into creating a place that can show truly remarkable works of art here in rural England. "

Both of John Bulmer's books The North and Wind of Change will be on sale at the exhibition which runs until June 29.