Images venture reveals the ‘faces of Blackwood’

Support high quality, unbiased, native journalism…that issues

From simply £1 a month you may assist fund our work – and use our web site with out adverts. Become a member at present

The tales of a group are sometimes written within the faces of the individuals who name it dwelling – and one photographer in Blackwood is getting down to show simply that.

Roger Donovan started his images profession straight out of college in 1973 as a 17-year-old freelancer with the now defunct Caerphilly Leader newspaper.

He stated: “I was freelancing part-time, covering fetes and events, as I was actually training to be an accountant with the Coal Board- but that wasn’t really for me.

“I then managed to get a staff job with another weekly paper called The News, which was part of the South Wales Argus group. The staff I worked with on The Leader also moved over as The Argus had taken over part of the company that published The Leader.

“I stayed there for 12 years – which is way too long from a career point of view – but I really enjoyed what I was doing.”

From there, Roger’s profession took him to among the UK’s main regional titles. He spent six years on the Western Mail and Echo, the place he turned chief photographer, earlier than shifting to Aberdeen to work on the Press and Journal. Three years later he relocated to Edinburgh, and ultimately returned to freelancing, founding the images company Mediaphotos together with his spouse Trish.

While Roger took the images, Trish dealt with the operations – coordinating bookings and guaranteeing photographs reached nationwide information desks throughout the UK.

Their work featured in most nationwide newspapers and world businesses together with PA and AP, with their footage showing around the globe.

But the trade started to vary after the September 11 assaults, he stated, as financial pressures compelled newspapers to chop again on freelance budgets. The household returned to Cardiff and continued their enterprise focussing on PR and company images, earlier than the couple determined to retire through the pandemic and transfer again to Blackwood.

All photographs copyright Roger Donovan.

Despite stepping again from industrial work, Roger has remained lively behind the digital camera – together with kindly serving to Caerphilly Observer during local protests over the proposed closure of Blackwood Miners’ Institute.

His return home inspired his first personal project, Hometown Revisited, documenting familiar locations and moments from daily life. That work sparked a realisation, he said.

“When we moved back, my wife and I found ourselves revisiting places we had gone to years and years ago.

“I was reading lots about Blackwood struggling and I thought, is it really that bad? That’s when I thought about doing something about the people of Blackwood – business owners and the people you see regularly – and trying to document it.

“It’s probably more for people in the future to see what Blackwood is like now.”

Roger has already shared some of the portraits on local Facebook groups, where they have received an enthusiastic response. While the project could eventually evolve into a book or exhibition, for now he is focused on steadily adding to the collection and sharing it online.

He also welcomes suggestions for people to feature. Anyone interested can contact him via www.rogerdonovanphotography.co.uk 

---

---