Welcome to the 500 faces of Hebden Bridge photographic project by Jason Elliott.

2010 is the year that the Packhorse Bridge in the centre of Hebden Bridge will be 500 years old. As this bridge that straddles Hebden Water is what has given the town its name, many people will be celebrating the event in one way or another (see www.hebden500.co.uk for more information) and this is my small offering.

The idea behind it has come from a wish to show the variety of "Hebden Bridgers"; something, in my opinion anyway, that gives it a vibrancy, creativity, innovative spirit, as well as a sense of tolerance and cohesion that much larger towns, and even some cities, aspire to.

The subjects are all members of Hebden Bridge society. This is to allow key people who are very involved in what goes on in the town to be included, even if they do not sleep in Hebden Bridge at night. It also acknowledges that there is a section of the population that work, eat, socialise in Manchester and Leeds, even if they do sleep here at night, and play no real part in local life.

The first photograph was taken of Richard Jones on August 24th 2008 and I hope to have photographed all 500 subjects by December 31st 2009 before the actual half millennium starts.

I am now over three quarters of the way through the project and heading into the final strait.

In time, I may change some of the images (and have done in one or two cases already), but the people included will almost certainly stay the same.

The collection will be exhibited in 2010 , initially during August in the Arts Festival shop in Albert Street, and interest has been shown in publishing the collection in printed form.

At the end of 2010, I will donate the collection to Hebden Royd Town Council to safeguard as a historical archive for the use of future generations so, hopefully, the great-great-great grandchildren of the subjects will get a glimpse of how "Hebden Bridgers" looked in the early twenty-first century.

If you would like to be featured, please email me on jason at jasonelliott.co.uk

Enter the 500 faces Gallery

Thanks for visiting.

Jason Elliott

NB. All images on this website are the copyright of Jason Elliott.
If you want to use them on your website, feel free, but a link back to this page or to www.jasonelliott.co.uk would be appreciated.