Preston photographer reunites 'alternative kids' in photographs 46 years on for Harris exhibition

In the autumn of 1980, Sam Hill photographed young people in Preston town centre for his final year photography project at art college, where he was studying graphic design.

John Davies, his photography lecturer, liked the pictures so much that he organised an exhibition at The Grundy House Gallery in Blackpool in February 1981.

During 2026, 46 years later, through social media, Sam has managed to track down more than 40 of the people from the original photographs and take their pictures again.

The result is a new exhibition which opens at The Harris today.

Sam explains: “I had a clear concept of what I wanted to achieve in 1980, to show young people in a good way, not violent or anti-social, as with many of the images of punks and youth culture around that time.

“These ‘kids’ were getting out of school uniform or work clothes, students just going around Preston town centre with their friends on a Saturday.

“I first had the idea around 2012, could I find some of the people in the 1980 pictures and photograph them again, then show the pictures together?

“Some of the prints had been lost but I still had all the negatives.

“A great idea, but we were living in Cornwall, a long way from Preston.

“Family, my design work and my wife’s business took most of our time. Life takes over and... perhaps one day?

“Then in November 2025 I retired from design. Early 2026, already had contact with a few people from the 1980 photographs, they helped identify others in the original pictures and so it went.

“We posted pictures on the Preston Punks Facebook group, found even more people.

“There were many who were hard to find and a few not found. Also there are some who are no longer with us.

“Over the summer of 2026 I started taking the new photographs.

“I’ve lived with the 1980 pictures for 46 years, some have hung on our walls, it’s as if I know the people in them, they’re fixed in time.

“I leave home to take a new photograph with a copy of a 1980 picture on my phone for reference, a picture of a teenager.

“Then, like time travel to the future, I meet someone in a café, now in their early sixties.

“How will it go? Will there be difficult conversation... we should stay away from politics... I met this person on the street for a few minutes 46 years ago, I don’t even remember the encounter, but I know them so well from the photograph I still have.

“I left all the 2026 photo shoots feeling enriched, conversation flowed about family, what we had done with our lives, happy and sad.

“People were reunited with old friends, had lost touch, drifted apart, now back together again for a photograph. It was emotional at times.

“After the last 2026 photo shoot I realise the exhibition is not mine.

“It belongs to the people in the photographs, The Alternative Kids.”

Alternative Kids 1980 – We Met Again 2026 opens in Gallery Two at The Harris, Preston, today and runs until January 10, 2027.

Admission is free.