Herefordshire photographer's archive shows life through the lens

Derek Evans specialised in capturing emotions as he snapped life around Herefordshire

Thousands of images taken throughout a photographer's lifetime have gone on display after they were left to an archive in his will.

Derek Evans, from Herefordshire, took about 200,000 photographs during a 50-year career.

He bequeathed them to Herefordshire Archives whose staff have painstakingly digitised 6,000 of the photos in a three-year project.

A project spokesman said the work was a "treasure trove" of social history.

The Life Through A Lens project consists of thousands of images documenting Mr Evans's activities from the 1950s to the 1980s that will go on display across Herefordshire from Saturday until April.

Specialising in capturing a slice of everyday life, his photographs range from showing the intricate emotions of children and animals to depicting Herefordshire's rural life and visiting circus.

Much of Mr Evans's work features local school children

Many of the images depict rural life in Herefordshire

His collection also features images of protest, including a photograph of a local pub landlord who protested against the proposed merging of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, as did Sally the bulldog.

The photographer also took pictures of protest

In the course of his work, Mr Evans was also able to get closer than many other photographers to the scene of the Aberfan Disaster, which killed 144 people including 116 children in 1966, thanks to his mining father.

He covered the Queen's Coronation for National Geographic in 1953 and was well-known in Europe, with some of his images archived at The Belgium Photo Museum in Antwerp.

Mr Evans's studio "became a treasure trove of the county's social history" and his photographs depicted the "affection for the county" he maintained throughout his career, a project spokesman said.

Mr Evans evidently did not follow the old advice of "never work with children or animals"