A FORMER Argus photographer is staging an exhibition focusing on the diversity of faith groups in Brighton and Hove.

Tony Tree, who joined the paper in the late 1970s and spent 20 years covering the patch, opened Faith at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, Dorset Gardens, Brighton, on Friday.

It features more than 100 monochrome prints which document different faith groups in the city.

Speaking of how he came to take the photographs, the 72-year-old said: “In 1998 Brighton and Hove was in the running for achieving city status and I joined in the campaign The Place to Be, celebrating the beginning of a new century. As part of it, I aimed to compile a visual record to strip away some of the prejudices that often surround the practice of religion and faith today.

“My Faith 2000 exhibition opened at different venues around the city as well as in Dieppe. A hundred black and white photographs from the 2,000 or so I’d taken of the many different religious communities in Brighton and Hove, depicting celebrations and customs rarely seen by the community. I like to think I’m not an intrusive photographer but show people as they are.”

Among the images include the annual druid ceremony Lunghnasadh, which is held in the South Downs.

Held in August, it marks the beginning of the corn harvest and dates back thousands of years. Members form a circle around a sheaf of corn, bowl of flour, water, a loaf of bread and a knife.

Other shots include a Rastafarian meditating in his Brighton flat and a nun tending to her garden in Cambridge Road, Hove.

He added: “My hope is many will benefit from the privileged insight into the lives of others. Those who have taken part in the project will benefit from the positive and public presentation of their culture and it will enhance people’s awareness of other cultures.”

Discussing his time at The Argus, he said: “There was such a diversity of people and events to photograph, every day a different assignment, people and location.

“The Argus gave me the working experiences to assess a situation speedily, make a decision on the image to be taken and work with the minimum of fuss and no large and bulky equipment to complicate the situation.”

The exhibition will run until June 3.