by holdthefrontpage staff
A dramatic picture of the six-hour rescue of a five-year-old boy features in a new press photography exhibition.
Called 'Behind the Lens', it features photos spanning several decades by the Lichfield Mercury's multi-award winning snapper Allan Williamson and the Express and Star's Richard Harris along with freelancers Lee Morrall and Mark Theisinger.
Allan, whose photos are featured below, said: "For me, photography is one of the greatest inventions ever, because it allows us to capture, to freeze, a single moment in time and keep it forever.
"While our own memories can often fade and become confused with the passage of time, our photographs bring those memories back to life again.
"I have always enjoyed taking photographs since my first exploits with a Kodak 127 Brownie when I was a teenager. I went on to take a one-year course in press photography in 1972 and joined the Lichfield Mercury in 1973 as a junior photographer."
The exhibition runs until Friday at Museum of Cannock Chase.
Miners from the Littleton Colliery, in Cannock, as they come up after finishing their last ever shift due to the pit's closure in 1993. This photo was part of a portfolio which won Allan the Newspaper Society Photographer of the Year award.
Five-year-old Gavin Hall is finally lifted to safety after being trapped in an underground crevice on Cannock Chase for nearly six hours in 1987. Allan won the Courage Midland News Photographer of the Year Award and this photo was chosen for the book '999' by Michael Buerk.
Lightening illuminates the sky during a storm over Rugeley Power Station in 1993.
Allan said: "I had to wait for years to get the lightning picture but it was really exciting to see the flash across the dark sky and capture it on film. One of those pictures you might only get once in a lifetime which makes it very special."
Allan described capturing a dramatic rainbow as his 35-year photographic 'Everest' which he finally conquered at Lichfield Cathedral last year.
"Despite my very best efforts and constant watching of the skies in good rainbow weather conditions it proved frustrating and elusive," he said.
"I was always chasing rainbows but never quite in the right place at the right time then in 2007 I finally got the picture I had been waiting all those years for. The rainbow only lasted for a minute or so – it was such a special moment for me to capture that shot."
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