Hobby snapper documents life in lockdown around Buxton with vintage film camera

Tom Taylor’s photographs - taken on a vintage Chinon CE-5 film camera - show eerie scenes around the town during the pandemic.

One shot shows people queuing two metres apart in the Springs Shopping Centre while others capture deserted parks and a desolate view up Terrace Road.

However Tom, 29, keen to show ‘the best in people has come out during this very strange time’ also took a portrait of Buxton postman Liam Tibbles in his Pikachu onesie.

Liam, smiling with sunglasses on in Tom’s photograph, had become quite famous in the town as he wandered around delivering mail in the Pokemon costume.

Tom, a support worker for adults with learning disabilities, said: “Liam seems like one of these guys who has always got a smile on his face.

“Lockdown is very hard and people like Liam make it better - I can imagine he put a lot of smiles on kids faces when he was on his postie round.

“I’d seen videos of him going around on social media and thought it would be nice to get a picture of him - something positive for people to see.”

Tom, whose August wedding with fiance Lorna Inness, 31, was cancelled due to Covid-19, told how he used the classic Chinon camera because they gave his images a ‘nostalgic’ look.

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