The Dark Peak Photo Festival will return to Glossop from 20–23 February 2026, bringing contemporary photography to venues, shop windows and public spaces across the town.
Now in its third year, the festival will once again transform Glossop High Street into a large-scale window exhibition, alongside events and exhibitions in indoor venues. Previous festivals have attracted over 3000 visitors.
There will be a Headliner Exhibition at the Old Town Hall event space above Glossop Market Hall, both newly renovated.
Dark Peak Photo has also secured a small grant from Derbyshire Makes, enabling a programme of photography workshops to take place over the festival weekend on Saturday and Sunday. The workshops will include one on ethical travel and outdoor photography and practical sessions on street, portrait and phone camera photography, as well as pin-hole camera and creating cyanotypes. Booking for the workshops opens on 19 January, and is via the website at https://www.darkpeakphoto.co.uk/workshops
Alongside this we have launched an open call for photographers to take part in the festival’s Window Exhibition. The theme for 2026 is “Identity”, inviting photographers to explore personal, social, cultural or creative aspects of who they are and how they see the world.
Identity may be interpreted in many ways, from place, landscape and community to personal experience or photographic practice itself — including how someone identifies through their approach to photography, such as landscape, documentary, experimental or abstract work. Submissions are open to amateur and professional photographers, with all photographic formats welcome except AI-generated imagery. Selected photographs will be professionally printed and displayed in shop windows across Glossop for the duration of the festival. Applications are free, with a £20 participation fee payable only by selected artists, contributing towards printing, exhibition and promotional costs.
Submissions to the Open Call can be made at https://www.curatorspace.com/opportunities/detail/dark-peak-photo-festival–open-call/10146
Full details of the festival and these booking links are on the main festival website:
www.darkpeakphoto.co.uk
