Exhibition preview: Natural Beauty, Leeds City Museum, Leeds, until June 30 2013

Dubbed a natural history museum with a difference, fine art photographer Sara Porter’s lens on taxidermy, insects, eggs and skulls takes an unorthodox look at the 800,000 objects making up the largest collection under the ownership of the museums service in Leeds.

Many of them are on loan for the first time in years from their purpose-built store, the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre. And in the first part of the Derbyshire artist’s foray through the exotic and wild, seven categories include images of urban wildlife, wild Yorkshire, animals acting unusually and British plants and fungi.

Public response to the opening 24 hours of the show suggests this unusual angle on an acclaimed ancient collection will be one worth returning to during its six-month run. An accompanying wildlife photography competition is giving visitors the chance to feature in the second part of the exhibition.

• Open 10am-5pm (7pm Thursday, closed Monday). Admission free. Follow the museum on Twitter @LeedsMuseums. Follow the artist @SaraPorterPhoto.

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