EAST Lancashire photography fans are all smiles after three of the region's top amateur clubs joined forces to stage a unique display of previously unseen snaps.

The free Lights, Camera, Reflection exhibition at The Whitaker Museum, in Rawtenstall, harks back to a different age of camerawork as it showcases images dating back almost 100 years.

The museum, in Whitaker Park, off Haslingden Road, has drawn on its huge haul of archive pictures to chronicle some of Rossendale's earliest photographers.

And the Valley's three photographic clubs - Bacup Camera Club, Irwell Vale Photographic Society and The Whitworth Photographic Club - are lending a hand to bring the exhibition to a modern audience.

Carl Bell, managing director of The Whitaker Group, the arts consortium which took over the running of the museum from Rossendale Council in 2013, said the photos provided a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of residents in the borough.

He said: "90 per cent of an iceberg is underwater - unfortunately this is possibly somewhere near the same percentage of material which languishes hidden from public view in the average museum store.

"In an effort to solve this titanic problem, we're bringing some of our unseen photographic archive to the surface for a new exhibition. It will chart the development of photography in the Rossendale Valley."

The exhibition, launched last week, will run until April 12.

He said: "The clubs will be bringing the exhibition right up-to-date and show the continued interest that there is in photography as an art form and pastime in Rossendale.

"Alongside the exhibition that will run throughout Easter, there will holiday activities for children based around photography- peer into a camera lucida, discover a camera obscura, and take a look at how images were made before the digital age."