Chance Encounters in The Valley of Lights

May 18, 2023

Chance Encounters in the Valley of Lights tells the story of an unsolved extraterrestrial case from 1980s Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Photographer Rik Moran combines original imagery with never-before-seen archival material to investigate the possible alien abduction of PC Alan Godfrey. In illuminating one of small-town England’s most unlikely protagonists, Chance Encounters unearths another other-worldly mystery along the way.

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mnngful Originals

mnngful Members

Nicola Lewis-Dixon
UK
,
Preston

Multidisciplinary artist based in Preston, who comes from a predominately photographic background and has just completed a photography MA at UCLan. Lewis-Dixon’s work is autobiographical and considers the social construct of women’s lived experience and shifting identity in today's society. Lewis-Dixon’s approach is research lead, highly expressive and conceptual in her visual output. Lewis-Dixon’s work explores and tests multiple methodological processes such as documentary, experimental, alternative darkroom processes, embroidery and most recently multi-sensory installations requiring video and soundscape. In her most recent work, Nicola takes us on her own healing journey, reclaiming her body following cervical cancer and hysterectomy. Both projects ‘Goosebumps’ and ‘Healing with Nature’ are ongoing as they are used therapeutically to rediscover her own broken alienated body and heal.

Alex Micu
UK
,
London

London-based, Romanian-born photographer working in the documentary and reportage space. With an honest, raw and often timid approach, Alex creates images for both editorial and commercial clients. His work was published in Evening Standard, Portrait of Humanity, Rankin's 2020, Cheese Magazine and Postall.

Karin van de Wiel
NL
,
Amsterdam

Photographer and journalist focsued on topics of people in relation to place In the absence of bodies, the implied human presence questions the notion of otherness and belonging.

Marc Wilson
UK
,
Bath

Documentary photographer working on long-term documentary projects, such as his previous work, completed in 2014, ‘The Last Stand’ and his current work, ‘A wounded landscape’. Marc tells stories through his photography, focusing at times on the landscape itself, and the objects found on and within it, and sometimes combining landscape, documentary, portrait and still life, along with audio recordings of interviews and sounds, to portray the mass sprawling web of the histories and stories he is retelling.

Rik Moran
US
,

Jan Enkelmann
UK
,
London

Documentary, street and travel photographer He is dividing his time between commercial work and personal projects. Most of Jan’s photography work is concerned with observations of people in public spaces.

Joanne Coats
UK
,
Dales

Documentary photographer based in the North of England. She is interested in modes of production, rurality, and class inequality. Her practice is as much about process, participation and working with communities as photography. Coates’ key themes are Northern culture in rural places and working-class life. In 2020 she was commissioned as Artist in Residence at Berwick Visual Arts. In 2021 she was commissioned as an artist working on the Tees-Swale project looking at social justice and the rural, she was also a winner of the Jerwood /Photoworks award. Joanne’s work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally in venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Reveal-T Photography Festival, Cork Photo Festival and Somerset House. In 2012 during her Foundation year she was awarded a Metro Imaging Portfolio Prize, a Magnum Portfolio Review and The Ideastap innovators award. Upon graduation, she was awarded Magenta Flash Forward Top 30 emerging talent in the UK, 2016. Joanne was one of the artists working in Hull, for the UK City of Culture in 2017. She was one of the 209 female photographers to photograph MPs for the centenary of the vote. She is a member of Women Photograph. A co-founder of Form Collective.

Pengkuei Ben Huang
CA
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Toronto

Documentarty photographer based in Toronto, Canada. His early interest in history and geopolitics inspired him to undertake international politics studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California in the US. Upon discovering photography as his passion, he relocated to San Francisco and earned his BFA at Academy of Art University. He was selected as one of the finalists for The Scotiabank Prize in 2007 at Magnum Workshop Toronto under the mentorship of the renowned photographer Larry Towell. Since then he has taken an interest in utilizing photography as a medium to form a visual narrative that explores the relationship between humans and their surrounding environments.

Shervine Nafissi
CH
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Lausanne

Self-taught photographer with a passion for sports and politics. Based in Lausanne (CH). Swiss of Iranian origin. In his thirties. Young father. Also Doctor in law.

Stewart Weir
UK
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"I began my journey into the world of photography aged 15 when I received a Pentax ME Super camera from my father for Christmas. I was hooked but drifted away from photography after leaving school. I returned to photography in 1993 after being uninspired by having a ‘normal’ job. I'm self taught and have an attitude of ‘just do it’ regardless of people saying you can't. Over my career I've shot most genres of photography from sport to documentary, portraits, weddings, travel, news, magazine and conflict. I've produced several long term stories ranging from 2 to 10 years."

Francesca Cao
IT
,
Milano

Francesca Cao has been published and exposed in Europe and United States. In her personal work constantly looks for new ways of telling stories to stimulate the aesthetic reflection on photography, and emotionally move the viewer. Her first book Temporary Life is published by Postcart in 2020.

Nathan Benkemoun
FR
,
Montreuil

Nathan Benkemoun (1983) is a French photographer born in Nice and based in Montreuil (France). In his work, he tries to illustrate how people interact with environment such as nature, cities or open spaces. He also works in making concrete some common human feelings and sensations.

Jim Mortram
UK
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Social Documentary Photographer and the creator of these photo stories: Small Town Inertia.

Bojan Fürst
CA
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St. John's

I am a photographer, writer, radio maker and geographer based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada with a passion for documentary work of all kind because "The things of this world exist, they are; you can't refuse them."

David Lintern
UK
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Kingussie

Photojournalist and writer working across the outdoor and environmental sectors, with over a decade of experience creating stories for organisations and magazines including National Trust for Scotland, Visit Cairngorms, John Muir Trust, BBC, the Guardian, Slow Ways as well as most of the UK outdoor press. I’m particularly interested in the links between place and people, and between natural and cultural history. David also works privately as a photo tutor and guide across the Highlands, and the author of The Big Rounds.

Stories worth seeing

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Thanks to passionate storytellers, we learn about matters that otherwise stay neglected. Stories that matter, but have not been covered enough are captured and told by passion-driven photographers and journalists.

They create because they care about the world they live in and tell us about matters beyond our eyesight.Their work is often driven by pure enthusiasm, fuelled by own beliefs and dreams for a better world. That's why such independent work is worth special attention.

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