Bragg Photos

I have had a strong interest in English traditional events in recent years, and it became very natural for me to start attending more events and documenting them. It’s a really enjoyable way to both experience the event, and practice my events photography, and especially low-light photography.

Many events are available to attend for free, and take place in the street. On Guy Fawkes Night, there are a number of towns across England that have their traditional Guy Fawkes celebration as a street march, public bonfire, or other fire-based tradition.

In 2025, I stepped up my documenting of Guy Fawkes Night, and attended four separate events. My aim eventually is to put a photo book together. The most exciting of these events was a repeat of 2024, in attending the Ottery St Mary (Devon) Tar Barrels celebration. If you’ve not heard of this before, it involves a flaming tar barrel being carried (or run) through the streets on shoulders, through crowds and passing it on to their fellow tar-barrellers like an over-sized baton.

Here are a few photos from Ottery St Mary:

The other Guy Fawkes events I went to were at Hastings (Sussex), Cranleigh (Surrey) and Rye (Sussex), all of which involved a street procession and a bonfire. The Rye event also included a mechanical fire-breathing dragon!!

Hope you enjoy a small selection of my photos of these events: