More about Charlie's photograph for the Joy Division EP Atmosphere

A number of people have asked me how Joy Division came to choose my photograph for their record Atmosphere.  Well back in the day (1980) Granada TV based in Manchester had a remit to show an arts programme and at that time it was called Celebration.  While Daniel Meadows was working there as a programme researcher and occasional presenter he pitched the idea of making a film about photography.  This was split between Chris Killip and myself and in my case I was then making landscape images using a 5X4 plate camera.  We went out into the landscape around Hebden Bridge and I demonstrated the process while taking a photograph near Midgehole.  I talked about my aim being to capture an atmosphere. The members of the band happened to be watching the programme, picked up on my comment and felt that this image was the perfect one for their forthcoming record sleeve.  The cover was designed by Peter Saville and kept very simple in what has been described as a northern gothic style.  People have told me that they feel the photograph does really link itself to the music which I'm really pleased about.