Make It Happen – YMCA & Helix Arts
Young people from Evenwood, a small village in County Durham, have been quietly reshaping how they see their community — through the lens of one of the oldest forms of photography.
Evenwood’s Hidden Treasures, a creative engagement project commissioned by Helix Arts and funded by the Co-op Foundation and YMCA, invited young people to explore their identity and connection to place through collaboration with the Evenwood History Group. Using pinhole photography, the participants set out to find echoes of the past in their everyday surroundings, creating a powerful blend of local history and creative self-expression.
It began with a simple question: “Do you recognise these places?” When members of the history group shared archival photographs of Evenwood, many of the young people didn’t. The images — of coal yards, terraces, village shops — felt distant or even unrecognisable. But they were taken right there in the village, often just streets away from where the young people lived. This disconnect sparked curiosity, and that curiosity turned into action.
Equipped with handmade pinhole cameras, the group set off to retrace the locations captured in the old photographs. Unlike smartphones or digital cameras, pinhole photography requires time, precision, and patience. Exposures last up to a minute. Images appear slowly, imperfectly, and with a dreamlike softness. This slowing down of the process became a key part of the experience.
As one participant said: “You understand where they came from — why they took those pictures, and how they actually took them.”
The project challenged expectations and habits. In contrast to the quick pace of social media, pinhole photography required the young people to observe carefully, discuss with others, and physically engage with their surroundings. Teachers and youth workers involved in the project noted how it helped reduce isolation, build confidence, and encourage meaningful interaction — not just with peers, but with their wider community and heritage.
“At first I thought it would be boring and not my thing,” one student admitted. “But it’s actually been really good. I feel more part of my town now.”
The images produced were far from basic. Many of the young people were shocked at the quality and atmosphere of their photos. “When I first saw my image developing, I was like ‘Wow.’ You’d think it came off a phone — it looks mint.”
To celebrate the work, the project culminated in the creation of a geocache trail around Evenwood. The young people placed their developed pinhole prints in small geocache boxes and mapped them across the village. Locals were invited to follow the trail, find the hidden boxes, and add their own sketches, doodles, or written reflections. In doing so, the project extended beyond documentation — it became an interactive, evolving collaboration between generations.
With additional support from Northern Heartlands, the trail will continue to grow, encouraging more young people to take part, get active outdoors, and engage with their community’s stories — past and present.
As a filmmaker, I had the opportunity to document this journey from beginning to end — not simply as an observer, but as someone deeply engaged with the stories unfolding in front of the camera. What struck me most wasn’t just the visual transformation captured through the pinhole images, but the more subtle emotional shifts that took place over the course of the project. The film doesn’t just show the process or the outcomes; it reveals a slow and powerful change in how these young people relate to their village, their past, and their own sense of identity.
Through quiet conversations, careful compositions, and shared moments in familiar spaces, I witnessed a kind of reawakening — a growing sense of ownership, curiosity, and pride. Places they once passed by without notice became sites of discovery and dialogue. Photographs became a bridge between generations. And creativity became a tool not just for expression, but for reconnection.
This project reminded me that creative work, especially when grounded in place and shared experience, can be transformative in ways that don’t always announce themselves loudly. Sometimes, it’s in the smallest gestures — the framing of a window, the rediscovery of a path, the smile after developing a print — that the deepest connections are made. For me, the film is a testament to that process. It shows how even the simplest creative acts can anchor us more firmly in our communities, deepen our understanding of ourselves, and help us feel — perhaps for the first time — that we belong.
🎥 You can explore more youth-focused creative documentaries at:
👉 alanfentiman.co.uk/vimeo-videos/young-people