THE birth of a first child is the start of a lot of new things but a photography project is probably not the first that comes to mind.

Eli Regan wanted to capture a sense of how places – and the people in them – change at night for an exhibition.

The Padgate resident had already started to collect some images she had taken in Manchester and London when she joined forces with friends Estelle Cadwallader and Hazel Hughes to capture Warrington at night.

And the first spark of inspiration that Hazel had was when Estelle went into labour with her youngest, Florence, three years ago.

Hazel was with her at Warrington Hospital and got snapping.

The former Lymm High School student said: “It was a long induction of labour so I photographed it across two nights.

“The first night involved a lot of pacing the corridors and waiting. We used the time to take silhouetted photos of Estelle’s pregnant belly with ambient light, as well as a lovely portrait of her in front of the mother and baby sculpture that stands just outside croft wing.

“The second night was fast paced and all-action. The images are a series of storytelling, documentary photographs which include midwives and doctors doing their jobs, finishing off with the routine post-birth tea and toast, which is so welcome and typical of NHS births.”

Shortly after that the duo worked on the ‘Tick-Tock Jim’ series, documenting the job of a clock-repairer who works in the small hours.

As the project evolved Eli, Estelle and Hazel ended up with around 600 images which have been whittled down to about 80 for the Night Edge exhibition.

Hazel, 38, added: “Making this work definitely exposed us to people and experiences we wouldn’t usually encounter. Standing in Tick Tock Jim’s living room as his wall-to-wall clocks struck midnight was an hypnotic experience.

“And being allowed to capture the work of first responders and hospital staff felt like a privilege. I was inspired by the team spirit and energy.”

Some of photos were more personal though – like Estelle’s nod to Mr Smith’s and her clubbing days when the former Great Sankey High School student danced on the former site of the club which was destroyed in a fire in 2015.

The mum-of-three said: “I danced for old times and for everyone who loved Mr Smith’s with a torch in my hand while the camera captured it in a long exposure of 25 seconds, without caring what passing cars on Bridge Foot thought!”

Hazel usually went out between 7pm and 1am and said she definitely felt a transformation as the sun went down.

She added: “During the project, I felt increasing awareness of the amount of activity, colour and vibrancy there is during the night in Warrington.

“As a mother of two young kids, it’s very rare for me to be wandering the streets in the middle of the night.

“But as we began to roam the town centre, there was an uncanny familiarity about it; remembering my teenage years, when the sights and smells of Bridge Street at 11pm were as familiar as my morning school-run is now.

“With all the bad press that young people get these days, it was uplifting to be welcomed so warmly by the kids who inhabit the town at night. They were polite, friendly, and keen to be involved.”

Eli, who attended Priestley College and also writes about photography as a trained journalist, said: “At night, street lighting, partial darkness and moon light transform otherwise every day, dull surroundings into exciting and otherworldly places full of atmosphere and dynamism.

“There’s a great quote by Van Gogh which we have used throughout the exhibition: ‘I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day’.

“I hope people come away with this notion too. I’m fascinated by the notion of the ‘flaneur’ – walking and noticing but being lost in the night. The night is endlessly alluring, random, melancholic.”

Estelle, who has a background teaching in further education, said: “I love that chance element of photography and the way that when I’m photographing together with Hazel and Eli creative things always happen.

“We often headed out with only a vague plan of what we hoped to capture but we’d spark each other’s creative energy off and something brilliant would always happen. There was always a real buzz.

“I feel really proud of the exhibition and good to give some much deserved lime light to the people that we focused on.

“The fantastic NHS and firefighter night shift workers, the young people of Warrington Youth Club and eccentrically brilliant Tick Tock Jim whose house is an Aladdin’s cave of ticking treasures that needed documenting.”

Hazel added: “A transformation takes place as the sun sets. Of course we are all familiar with this, but I guess we rarely stop to notice just how immersive it is. Smells, sounds, sights, even the feel of the air is somehow different.

“Since graduating in fine art in 2003, I’ve tried to keep a toe in the world of art, with occasional exhibitions alongside my regular work as a lifestyle photographer.

“This is the largest collection I’ve had on display so far, and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved.”

n Night Edge is at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery until September 15

DAVID MORGAN