Exhibition of photos taken from window of Brighton barbers

Michael Hutson works at Clippers in Sydney Street in Brighton’s North Laine.

Now his work, part of an exhibition called Through A Barber Shop Window, is on show in the shop as part of the Photo Fringe Festival, which runs until Sunday, October 25.

Michael said: “I’ve been interested in photography for a really long time.

“I went to Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and got a degree in fine art photography.

“I left college and fell out of love with photography, but part of me still wanted to do a project. One day I just looked out the window and thought ‘it’s obvious’.

“I see all these beautiful and interesting people walking past, so I thought I’d start photographing all these characters.”

Having been a barber at Clippers for 25 years, Michael has been able to capture how the streets and people of Brighton have changed over time.

He said: “Brighton always has characters but the characters change. Through the years there have always been these characters walking around. It hasn’t really changed – but is always changing, it’s very weird.

“Fashions change but students still look the same, just with different hairstyles and things like that but there are still some crazy dresses.

“There’s a picture of an angel that I’ve got and you wouldn’t know if it was photographed in the Seventies or in the Millennium.”

Since displaying his work, Michael has been flattered by the reaction of his customers.

He said: “A lot of my customers like them and they’re quite surprised to learn that I’ve taken them as well.

“They look at some of the characters and they recognise people and then they want a photograph of them walking past.

“People also pop in to have a look as part of the festival and that’s quite nice.”

Michael is hoping to start a crowdfunding campaign so he can publish his work in a book.

He said: “I’ve had so much good feedback and people telling me to get all the images together in a book so hopefully it happens.”