How Freedom Survives in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is now the only country where girls are barred from secondary school and higher education, where many women are forbidden to work outside the home, and in some regions cannot move without a male guardian. Public spaces that once sustained community and confidence have been closed to them. In this talk, photojournalist Kiana Hayeri […] ...

The Desert Found Me

A lyrical tribute to the UAE where silence becomes presence, Virginie Ellis invites the audience into Liwa, the ocean of dunes that became her muse. From a childhood spark inspired by Lawrence of Arabia to a Dubai rebirth, she crafts visual haiku of light, space, and sacred stillness. The talk reveals the desert’s hidden fullness, […] ...

Narrative Storytelling and Getting Your Work Seen

Photographer Ilvy Njiokiktjien shares a clear method for creating visual stories that connect with audiences. She explains how to identify subjects with genuine depth, earn trust with the people she photographs, and shape narratives that feel honest and compelling. Alongside the craft, she sets out practical pathways to visibility, from pitching to editors and curators […] ...

Russia at Dusk

Russia at Dusk by Dmitry Ersler explores contemporary life in provincial Russia through an evocative series made predominantly in the evening. As rapid development reshapes cities and villages worldwide, Ersler turns to places where time appears to pause, and where the Russian village retains an authentic character. His photographs document daily routines, concerns, and dreams […] ...

Focus. Frame. Fulfill

Focus, Frame, Fulfil is Shoayb Khattab’s journey into the mindset of finding focus, choosing a niche, and building a purpose led career in photography. Trained in architecture, he moved from designing spaces to photographing some of the world’s most iconic buildings, collaborating with firms such as Foster + Partners and BIG. The talk explores how […] ...

The Snow Illusion

Smita Sharma reveals a landscape that looks like the Arctic yet bakes under desert sun. Kishangarh Dumping Yard, a vast white expanse near Jaipur, appears to be snow but is marble ash from India’s largest marble industry. Its deceptive beauty draws influencers, local tourists, and pre-wedding shoots, while beneath the surface lie toxicity, dust exposure, […] ...

Being There: A Life of Travel Photography

Richard I’Anson invites audiences into a lifelong practice of travel photography driven by wanderlust, curiosity, and discipline. His photographs are distinguished by elegant compositions, rich detail, and a confident command of colour and light. This visual journey traces the breadth of his career and his instinct for seizing fleeting moments that honour and celebrate his […] ...

Between Reality and Imagination: The Wilderness Within

Cath Simard invites the audience into the space between what is seen and what is felt. Drawing on expeditions through Patagonia, Peru, the Canadian Rockies and beyond, she unveils the craft behind her surreal composite artworks. Through an intimate breakdown of how multiple field captures become a single final image, she shows how transparency, intention […] ...

Between Memory and Light

Between Memory and Light invites the audience into an immersive visual journey guided by Egyptian artist Romany Hafez. He explores how light, silence, and heritage merge to form a distinctive black and white language where human presence softens and architecture seems to breathe. Blending fine art photography with cultural preservation, Hafez traces the influence of […] ...

After the Aral Sea

After the Aral Sea presents Anush Babajanyan’s study of a landscape once synonymous with ecological collapse, now reframed through stories of resilience, adaptation, and quiet renewal. Along the former shoreline in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, families herd camels across salt plains, scientists trial salt resistant plants, and fishermen return to the revived waters of the Northern […] ...

How to Build Trust in Difficult Places

Every National Geographic photographer needs more than sharp eyes. They need the ability to truly see with an original perspective and a distinctive voice. Over three decades ago, the Director of Photography at National Geographic recognised Tomasz Tomaszewski’s capacity to work where cameras are often unwelcome and people may not appreciate or even permit being […] ...

The Scars of the War

“Help us live with dignity, not just survive” opens a 14 August 2025 report from the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. In this talk, photojournalist María Ximena Borrazás Cataldo examines sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and repression, drawing on the United Nations Secretary General’s sixteenth report […] ...