Freeze-frame view of city life

Getting just the right mix is an art form Nigel Swallow, 36, of Pelham Square, Brighton, has mastered.

His photographs of life in the city are snapped up by people all over the world.

Mr Swallow, who creates the Brighton and Hove calendar, is among 30 people exhibiting in the city's first Photo Fringe at his new North Laine Photography Gallery in Kensington Gardens, Brighton.

As well as his own work, the exhibition includes 400 pictures by amateur photographers who entered a competition to capture the essence of Brighton and Hove on film.

A shortlist of four has been drawn up and all those who entered can vote on who should win the £1,500 prize money.

A wall of about 250 pictures is called The People's Gallery and visitors can vote for their favourite for inclusion in two calendars next year.

The Photo Fringe will run alongside the Brighton Photo Biennial from Thursday.

While the event has a reputation as an international showcases, the Photo Fringe has a more local focus.

It was thought up by photographer Lisa Creagh, 31, who moved to Brighton from London two years ago.

She said: "When I moved to Brighton I found it very hard to get exposure in venues here. The contemporary art scene was very limited and I found I was only exhibiting my work in London."

Initial meetings to discuss a photography festival began in June with just four photographers. Within a month, 25 people were attending the meetings. Now 60 have signed up.

Mr Swallow's project epitomises the Fringe ideals.

Struggling photographers are encouraged to donate 10 per cent of their sales to the venue.

Mr Swallow describes himself as "a street photographer" who spends hours waiting for just the right moment and opportunity to take a picture.

But he said: "Every photographer takes a different perspective of Brighton and Hove and I want to reflect that."

Another involved with the Fringe is Julia Winckler, 35, of Peacehaven, whose project forms part of a five-woman exhibition called Elsewhere.

Miss Winckler, who recently completed the editorial photography degree at Brighton University, has used photographs to tell the remarkable wartime stories of her grandmother and great aunt.

Living in Berlin throughout the Second World War, her grandmother Viktoria Otto became caught up in the hysteria of Nazi Germany, struggling to understand the rise in antisemitism sweeping through her homeland.

At the same time, her sister, living as a refugee in England, was arrested on suspicion of being a German spy.

With 200,000 other German speakers, she was held in an internment camp for two years until 1942.

Funded by a £4,500 grant from the Canada Council For Arts, Miss Winckler retraced the steps of both woman to tell their stories through pictures.

She said: "When I told my grandmother what I wanted to do, her first reaction was 'I'm an old woman, there is nothing interesting about me.'

"But it is the personal stories which interest me so much. Exploring these historical events through the eyes of the people who were there, we can learn so much."

The Elsewhere exhibition is at the Gala Gallery in Gloucester Road, Brighton and will run from Thursday until November 13.

The other Brighton women who have contributed to the showcase are Jo Malseed, 41, Nerea Martinez de Lesea, 28, and Suz Harmann.

Another artist with work in the Photo Fringe is Josh Pulman, 40, of Brighton.

He has taken inspiration for his work from people he met at the Brighton Deaf Centre and his pictures show sign language which he has captured on a digital scanner.

He said: "Hands and faces are the most expressive parts of the body. I wanted to capture the movement and expressiveness of the hands.

"In some of my pictures you will see what appears to be four or five hands. In fact it is just one, its movement emphasised by multiple exposure."

His work will be exhibited at The Brighton Deaf Centre in Carlton Hill, Kemp Town, for a week from Thursday.

For details of all the exhibitions, go to the web site at www.photofringe.org