BEHIND THE CAMERA:
Yorkshire photographer Chris Etchells
In a series of picture specials, we celebrate the work of Yorkshire photographers – this week we feature newspaper photographer Chris Etchells from Gainsborough.
FROM A young age Chris Etchells had an interest in photography.
“My dad was a keen amateur photographer and always taking pictures,” recalled Chris, who now lives in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
“One day I borrowed his Pentax SLR and the passion was born.”
He started out as a trainee photographer in 1998 on the weekly Gainsborough Standard. They were still using black and white film and processing it themselves – something he looks back on with fondness. “(It’s) the whole process of developing the image, not knowing what you were going to get until the very end of the process.”
In 2014 Chris started working for The Star in Sheffield, as a freelance, before qualifying as a senior photographer. He started at The Yorkshire Post in 2018 as an Audio Visual Editor. He said: “I think it’s a real privilege to work for a newspaper. Documenting history and trying to capture those moments with a camera that will last forever.
“I still get a real thrill when I see my work in print. Some of my highlights over the years was photographing the Queen at the Royal Maundy service at Sheffield Cathedral in 2015. I’ve always had an interest in sports too. Especially trying to capture the emotion and intense moments sport can bring.
“It’s the people that really make the job. Meeting so many interesting and fascinating characters. They make the images.”
■ Follow Chris’s work on Twitter @chrisetchells or @YPinPictures
1. Artist Lorna May Wadsworth at the opening of an exhibition or her portraits. 2019.
2. Action from Dinnington Rugby Club, South Yorkshire. 2016.
3. The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth House with Tear by sculptor Richard Hudson.
4. Crowds watch two Lancaster bombers fly over Derwent Dam in Derbyshire. 2018
5. Rev Canon Keith Farrow lights 22 candles at Sheffield Cathedral to remember the victims of the Manchester terror attack.
6. The Queen distributing Maundy money with The Duke of Edinburgh at Sheffield Cathedral. April 2015.
7. Cleaning windows at Sheffield Hallam University Howard Building. September 2019
8. Will Ferraby, one of Sheffield’s last remaining knife makers.
9. Roger Twelvetrees at the Olde Bell Hotel on Barnby Moor preparing to take part in the historic rally run to Monte Carlo
10. Sarah Hobson at Sheffield Carnival in Norfolk Heritage Park. June 2018.