RPS Jul/Aug/Sep 2025 by Think Publishing

Five young photographers to watch

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE RPS

Opening shot

‘AREN’T WE SO FORTUNATE TO WITNESS SUCH AMAZING MOMENTS?’

It is with great pleasure that we celebrate the work of five young photographers this issue. In what has become an annual feature for the RPS Journal, we showcase emerging talents from across the globe, this time ranging in age from 14 to 29 and working in genres from travel to art.

Among them is Chantal Pinzi, a documentary photographer whose portrait of two Indian skateboarders graces our cover. In Shred the Patriarchy, the Italy-born, Germany-based documentary photographer captures something that resonates across national and cultural boundaries. The series certainly won the hearts and minds of the selection panel for the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, coming top in the Sport category of the Professional competition.

“Skateboarding teaches you life,” says Pinzi, who is a skater herself. “It teaches you to fall, to rise and to keep going. And above all, when you’re on that board, you live freedom.”

Turn to page 274 to discover her work, alongside that of Hannah Altman, Sander Coers, Micaela Valdivia Medina and Raymond Zhang.

From emerging photographers to some of the world’s most renowned, the centenary of the Leica camera this year seems the perfect excuse for us to ask some of its devotees to share their experiences. Honorary Fellows Steve McCurry and Ralph Gibson, commercial photographer Amy Currell and conservationist Britta Jaschinski are among 10 image-makers who have used Leica cameras to make arresting pictures.

One of the most moving accounts, on page 231, comes from US photojournalist Lynn Johnson. Speaking to Ciaran Sneddon about her image ‘Katie’s new face’, she says, “This specific face was travelling from a donor to Katie Stubblefield, who destroyed her face during a suicide attempt. Katie suffered years of blindness, pain and waiting for a donor. Finally, she received the call to say a transplant donor was available.”

In an email to me Johnson later adds, “Aren’t we so fortunate to witness such amazing moments? Thank you for treating the family and image with respect. Katie has a ‘new face’ but continues to struggle.”

With these words, the power of images to affect the lives of photographers, their subjects and the viewer is startlingly clear.

KATHLEEN MORGAN Editor

From the series Shred the Patriarchy by Chantal Pinzi

Features

228

MEMBERS’ PHOTO CHALLENGE Light, the subject of our most recent Members’ Photo Challenge, is “photography’s first condition” according to selector Yuxing Chen. Or as musician Thelonious Monk once put it,“It’s always night or we wouldn’t need light”.

230 HISTORY

To celebrate the centenary of a historic marque, ten top photographers – including Steve McCurry HonFRPS, Ralph Gibson HonFRPS and Britta Jaschinski –choose a favourite image taken with a Leica camera.

244 BURSARY

After receving the 2024 Joan Wakelin Bursary, photographer Myah Asha Jeffers shares her project –a black-and-white study of economic and geological instability on the volcanic island of Montserrat.

252 BEST SHOTS

Martin Parr CBE HonFRPS has been closely observing British culture and society for more than half a century, producing countless images that clearly contradict the title of his autobiography, Utterly Lazy and Inattentive.

264

ART

For his project Eyes Dazzle as They Search for the Truth, Amin Yousefi – recipient of the RPS Award for Achievement in the Art of Photography – finds fresh details in archival images of the Iranian Revolution.

292

DISTINCTIONS

In his successful Documentary Associate submission, Raymond Hughes ARPS homes in on a community that competes to construct and set alight huge bonfire stacks for Northern Ireland’s annual Eleventh Night festivities.

Cover story

YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS Female skateboarders. Prisoners and their families. Train drivers in China. Fake family photo albums. And Jewish folklore artefacts. All subjects beautifully explored by the five young image-makers featured here.

274

Patron

HRH The Princess of Wales

President and Chair of Trustees

Simon Hill CPhot HonFRPS

Deputy Chair

Mathew Lodge LRPS

Honorary Treasurer Position vacant

Trustees

Carolyn Bloore ARPS, Sebah Chaudhry, Sophie Collins LRPS, Victoria Forrest, James Weeks LRPS, Position vacant

THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR, UK rps.org

frontofhouse@rps.org

+44 (0)117 316 4450

Incorporated by Royal Charter

Chief Executive Officer

Victoria Humphries

Directors

Finance and HR: Nikki McCoy

Membership and Marketing: Lucinda Stewart

Editorial Board

Simon Hill CPhot HonFRPS, Victoria Humphries, Kathleen Morgan, Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS, Lucinda Stewart, Billy-Jay Stoneman ARPS

Group Editor

Kathleen Morgan rpsjournal@thinkpublishing.co.uk 0141 375 0509

Contributing Editor

Rachel Segal Hamilton

Art Director John Pender

Managing Editor Andrew Littlefield

Advertising Sales

Melissa Shipman melissa.shipman@thinkpublishing.co.uk 0203 771 7195

Executive Director John Innes

The Journal of The Royal Photographic Society July-September 2025 Vol 165 / No 3 ISSN 1468-8670

Published on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society by Think, 65 Riding House Street, London W1W 7EH thinkpublishing.co.uk

THINK

Every reasonable endeavour has been made to find and contact the copyright owners of the works included in this publication. However, if you believe a copyright work has been included without your permission, please contact the publisher. Views of contributors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Royal Photographic Society or those of the publisher. All material correct at time of going to press.

GraemeGreen(page230)

A photographer and journalist for media outlets including the BBC, the Guardian and the Sunday Times, Green is also founder of conservation initiative the New Big 5 project.

CONTRIBUTORS

MyahAshaJeffers(page244)

Jeffers is a London-born, Barbadosraised, award-winning artist whose practice spans photography, theatre and film. She received the Guardian/ RPS Joan Wakelin Bursary in 2024.

EvaClifford(page264)

Clifford is a photographer who has written on photography and current affairs for sites and publications including huck and British Journal of Photography

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Available worldwide for £240 Register by 9 October 2025 Course starts 18 October 2025

‘Adidas shoe factory, Indonesia’

BY ALASTAIR WIPER

Hundreds of workers dressed in orange hats and pink uniforms are dotted across the floor of the Indonesian factory, heads bowed in concentration. The workers are producing the iconic adidas Superstars shoe, which retail at around £100 a pair on the UK market. You can almost hear the buzz of industry as you gaze at this hypnotic image by Denmark-based British photographer Alastair Wiper, who began his working life as a graphic designer.

Wiper was given access to the PWI factory at which 10,000 people work producing 75,000 pairs of shoes a day. Although the photographer imposes no ethical framework, the viewer can’t help but interrogate their own feelings about consumerism, society’s appetite for fast fashion, and how products are made.

The image features in the first showing of the RPS International Photography Exhibition 166, at Saatchi Gallery, London, this summer. It is from the series There is Nothing in Machinery, which explores the strange beauty of scientific and manufacturing sites, from “adidas shoe factories to the particle beams colliding at the core of the ATLAS detector at CERN,” says Wiper.

His images offer a rare insight into workplaces usually kept behind closed doors and reveal these infrastructures’ hidden beauty and incredible complexity.

The RPS International Photography Exhibition 166 is at Saatchi Gallery, London, 5 August to 18 September, then touring the UK. alastairphilipwiper.com rps.org/ipe166

In focus

218 A NEW ERA FOR THE SOCIETY

‘EMBRACE

224 REVISITING A CHILDHOOD HOME IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU’

As a BBC drama challenges assumptions about deafness, two deaf photographers discuss the obstacles they have faced in the industry

228

THE RPS MEMBERS’ PHOTO CHALLENGE

When Stephen Iliffe ARPS graduated from university with a degree in photography, he applied for 50 jobs in the industry. Iliffe, who was born deaf, didn’t get a single interview.

This was 1984 and “in those days, employers looked at what I couldn’t do, not what I could do”, he says. “Their excuse was I couldn’t use a telephone. Thanks to the Equalities Act, such behaviour today is illegal. And we have email, text and video calls as alternative ways to communicate.”

Today the photography world is, finally, becoming more inclusive. Lily Bertrand-Webb completed her photography degree in 2009 and also got a pile of rejections when she applied for work, until she secured an assistant role with artist Sam Taylor-Wood. She then worked at the London gallery of Dorothy Bohm HonFRPS before launching her career as an editorial and commercial photographer, shooting jobs for everyone from Nike to the Financial Times. Bertrand-Webb, who lost her hearing at 18 months old, has a cochlear implant that links via Bluetooth to her mobile phone, replacing acoustic hearing with electric, while also using lip reading to communicate.

“I was very lucky in the sense that I knew from a young age I wanted to be a photographer,” says Bertrand-Webb, who was championed by her creative and supportive family. “I realised photography doesn’t require sounds, so I used it as a tool to communicate with the hearing world.”

On set, assistants act as her “ears”, she says, and her agent handles calls. She used to try to hide her disability, but now proudly wears her hair up to show her cochlear implant.

Shifts in public attitudes to deafness have been achieved by activism and

Actor Harriet Walter by Lily Bertrand-Webb

“The deaf community remains almost invisible in the art photography canon – exhibitions, archives, collections, magazines, books”

advocacy. So after stepping back from his initial dreams of a career in photography, Iliffe went on to campaign for recognition of deaf people’s civil rights across education, employment and public spaces.

Such policy wins have gone hand-inhand with other societal and cultural changes. This year the first mainstream bilingual television series performed mainly with British Sign Language (BSL) was broadcast on the BBC to acclaim. Reunion starred Matthew Gurney and Anne-Marie Duff. Writer William Mager based the screenplay on his own lived experience, combined with the thrillers he’d watched growing up in the 1970s and 1980s.

“The BBC was on board from the beginning and fully committed to making it happen,” he says. “The production company, Warp Films, were keen to learn about sign language and working with deaf people, and I’m really proud of how the whole thing turned out, and the response we’ve had from deaf audiences in the UK and abroad.”

It’s in that changing context that Stephen Iliffe, now in his fifties, left his secure advocacy post and picked up the camera again. This year he earned his Associateship for Deaf Mosaic, a portrait project reflecting the incredible diversity among Britain’s deaf community and featuring athletes, actors, clerics, clinicians and even a Gladiator, Jodie Ounsley AKA Fury.

“The UK deaf community and photography share early Victorian roots,” he says. “Just as Louis Daguerre and Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 were making competing claims to be the inventor of photography, deaf schools and deaf societies began to emerge too.”

There have always been deaf photographers, Iliffe explains, citing by way of example Walton Burrell, who made more than 20,000 images of local Suffolk life including the Zeppelin raids during the First World War.

“And yet the deaf community remains almost invisible in the art photography canon – exhibitions,

archives, collections, magazines, books. Deaf Mosaic is all about challenging this exclusion.”

The 110 portraits have now been shown in 16 exhibitions, seen by millions of visitors, with one print exhibited by the National Portrait Gallery.

There is still a way to go, though, in breaking down barriers to deaf people’s representation in the image industry. “The key thing to remember is that deafness is not in itself a disability,” says Iliffe.

“It is society that disables us. My work positively encourages the photography sector to reflect this too.”

Bertrand-Webb’s advice for deaf photographers is to “embrace what is different about you and turn it into something positive, to help inspire others and make the world a more fair and equal place.”

Reunion is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. deaf-mosaic.com wlmager.com lilybertrandwebb.com

Left to right: ‘Ricardo Browne, fashion model’; ‘Jodie Ounsley, rugby player’; ‘Max Lawrence, motorcycle club leader’, all by Stephen Iliffe ARPS

Short cuts

MANX STAMPS

The Isle of Man Post Office has issued a special set of stamps featuring images by Leonard McCombe FRPS, one of the island’s best-known photographers. The stamps coincide with Leonard McCombe: Through the Lens of War, a Manx National Heritage exhibition on show until 5 October. iompost.com/mccombe

BIG BIRTHDAYS

Two of the UK’s leading photography organisations are marking anniversaries this year. Brighton-based Photoworks turns 30, while GRAIN in Birmingham is 10. Both are running special programmes of celebratory events, activities, commissions and publications. Visit photoworks.org.uk and grainphotographyhub.co.uk

SOUND AND VISION

After a £6m development, the Sound and Vision galleries open on 8 July at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. The new spaces showcase objects from the museum’s collections of photography, film, television, animation, videogames and sound technologies. scienceandmediamuseum. org.uk

‘WE

NEED TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE’

Leading the RPS into its next chapter is a new CEO with an appetite for adventure

In the Arctic you have to be ready for anything. The ice is always shifting. “You can pitch your tent with the door facing south, and in the morning it’ll be facing north,” says Victoria Humphries, new CEO of the RPS.

In 1997, Humphries and her mother answered an advertisement looking for women to join an expedition to the Arctic. Both were selected, making them the youngest and eldest members of the group, the first all-female North Pole expedition. It was an extraordinary, life-changing experience.

“Everyone thinks it’s white, but it’s blue and green and yellow … It’s just beautiful,” she recalls.

The lessons she learned there stayed with her. Key to adapting in any changing circumstances are openness and communication.

“It’s about listening to each other, understanding each other, trusting each other’s decisions, not micromanaging relationships,” she says over a video call. “That’s informed how I run a business.”

After studying politics at university, Humphries took up a place on a graduate scheme at M&S, then worked in recruitment before she made her journey to the Arctic. While away, she decided to move into education and trained as a primary school teacher before crossing over to the commercial side of the sector with digital resource library Teachit, where she rose to become MD.

During the Covid-19 pandemic she ran her own business, Anything is Possible, and consulted. She missed the energy of being part of a team, though, and jumped at the chance to lead RPS.

“We’ve got this incredible heritage,” she says of the Society. “We need to embrace the future but not ignore the past.” This means inclusively supporting photographers who want to continue making the work they’ve always made and those that want to experiment as technologies evolve.

“I’m passionate about education and there’s a real role for the RPS, whether it’s lifelong learning for hobbyists, professionals who want to improve, or the school-age generation. There are so many opportunities.”

With a BAFTA-winning cameraman husband, photography is a familiar world. A people person, Humphries thrives on interaction. When we speak, she is a few days into the role and buzzing from meeting colleagues, members and Trustees.

“Every stakeholder has a valid opinion,” she says. “I want to understand the context for all those opinions, thoughts and dreams, merge those ideas and come up with something that secures the future.”

Essential to that future security is the whole RPS community working towards a common goal. And Humphries, with her warmth, underpinned by a steely core of “North Pole resilience”, is ready for the challenge.

A stamp featuring the work of Leonard McCombe FRPS

Left to right: ‘McVities Penguin Polar Relay, 1997’; Victoria Humphries is the Society’s new CEO

What to see

EILEEN PERRIER: A THOUSAND SMALL STORIES

Autograph Gallery, London

Until 13 September

A retrospective of work by the London-based photographer whose images draw on the legacy of European and African studio portraiture to consider cultural identity, community and class. Perrier’s new project on the self-expression and experiences of teenage girls growing up in the social media spotlight will be on display, alongside intergenerational collaborations with her family and some of her best-known images from the 1990s to 2000s.

FELICITY HAMMOND –V3: MODEL, COLLAPSE

The Photographers’ Gallery, London

Until 21 September

2What happens when AI starts to eat itself? That’s the question posed by this conceptual installation. Felicity Hammond is developing the evolving artwork across three sites, feeding datasets generated by AI back into machine learning platforms and using painting and photographs to represent the errors and glitches that occur.

Catch a selection of the best UK exhibitions

From the series Ghana, 1995-1996, by

Eileen Perrier/Autograph, London

ANDY GOLDSWORTHY: FIFTY YEARS

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

Until 2 November

Working across photography and sculpture, Andy Goldsworthy creates transient installations using natural materials in unexpected ways, which he documents with a camera. In addition to 200 works on show, Goldsworthy will be creating a special site-specific commission for the Royal Scottish Academy.

PAZ ERRÁZURIZ: DARE TO LOOK

MK Gallery, Milton Keynes

Until 5 October

A major solo show for one of Latin America’s foremost documentarians. Paz Errázuriz taught herself to use a camera so that she could shed light on communities marginalised in Pinochet’s Chile, including trans people, activists and sex workers. The 170 image-strong exhibition is a comprehensive introduction to her work.

WORLD PRESS PHOTO EXHIBITION

MPB Gallery, London

Until 25 August

5Samar Abu Elouf’s portrait of nineyear-old Mahmoud Ajjour, seriously injured in an Israeli attack on Gaza City, was named Photograph of the Year in this year’s World Press Photo Contest. The portrait is being exhibited alongside other World Press Photo winners.

FIVE HEAD TURNERS TO WATCH

Federico Estol

PHOTOGRAPHER AND ACTIVIST

Uruguayan photographer

Estol has, for over eight years, worked collaboratively with shoe shiners in La Paz, Bolivia on a series combining images, collage and graphics.

With the support of a 2025 CatchLight Fellowship he has been able to provide further visual storytelling training for the shoe shiners. catchlight.io federicoestol.com

Capri McPherson-Noel

PHOTOGRAPHER

“As humans we gain energy from the sun, just as the flowers do,” McPherson-Noel says of her portrait ‘Sunkissed boy’. The London-based image-maker, who moved into photography from a career in television, is overall winner of the London Camera Exchange Photographer of the Year 2025. lcegroup.co.uk

Tyler Mitchell

PHOTOGRAPHER

Mitchell has worked with everyone from Beyoncé –who he photographed for the cover of Vogue when he was just 23 years old – to clients such as Nike. The 2021 recipient of the RPS Award for Editorial, Advertising and Fashion Photography has now been named Photographer of the Year at the 2025 CPW Vision Awards. cpw.org

Lindokuhle Sobekwa

PHOTOGRAPHER

Finding a family portrait with his sister’s likeness removed, South African photographer Sobekwa began to investigate her ten-year disappearance, culminating in his 2024 book I Carry Her Photo with Me. He is a recipient of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025. thephotographersgallery. org.uk

‘Georgia hillside (redlining)’, 2021 by Tyler Mitchell

‘Sunkissed boy’ by Capri McPherson-Noel

From the series Héroes del Brillo by Federico Estol

Tanya Traboulsi PHOTOGRAPHER

Beirut, Recurring Dream blends new photographs of the city with visual materials from Traboulsi’s family archive, exploring her dual LebaneseAustrian heritage. Highlighting the complexity of contemporary Beirut, the project has earned Traboulsi the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography. vam.ac.uk tanyatraboulsi.com

‘My mother at work’, Brackendowns, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2018 by Lindokuhle Sobekwa

From the series Beirut, Recurring Dream by Tanya Traboulsi

Bookshelf

THE ANTHROPOCENE ILLUSION

Zed Nelson HonFRPS

Guest Editions (£45)

In the past 40 years the number of animals living in the wild has halved, with just 3% of land globally categorised as ‘ecologically intact’ and more than half the human population now living in cities.

The Anthropocene is the first geological era where human activity is the dominant force shaping life on Earth. But even as we cleave away from our organic origins, our appetite for a stage-managed version of nature is unceasing.

Zed Nelson HonFRPS takes us on a visual tour across four continents to places

where wildlife and nature have been transformed into spectacles staged for human entertainment. He looks at zoos, natural history museums, holiday resorts, theme parks, ski slopes, dog shows, national parks and aquariums. Places where nature is contained and conserved in gilded framed paintings or botanical garden greenhouses.

The book is filled with examples where nature appears in service to our needs and desires, from a mural of trees on the wall of a coal-fired power station in China to a ‘walk with lions’ tourist experience in South Africa. In zoos we see animals through glass, while in drivethrough safaris it is us who are enclosed behind the windows of vehicles.

WITH LOVE. FROM AN INVADER.

Yan Wang Preston

The Eriskay Collection (£38)

Known for its clusters of pink and red flowers, the Rhododendron is claimed as a symbol by many cultures, from Nepal to the US, India, China and South Korea.

Yan Wang Preston – recipient of the 2023 RPS Award for Environmental Responsibility – photographed the same Rhododendron shrub in Lancashire over a year, observing its place in a changing ecosystem and considering its context. The results are published, along with critical essays and botanical illustrations, in the intriguingly titled With Love. From An Invader. –Rhododendrons, Empire, China and Me.

The effect is the same. Nature is transformed from something in which we are ourselves entangled to something separate from us, something to be dominated or curated.

What underlines this is a ‘biophilic’ yearning. We may have flocked to cities but everywhere there are odes to

our organic origins, a connection that might lead us into a different way of living. Little wonder Nelson has been named Sony World Photographer of the Year for The Anthropocene Illusion. It is a sharp and urgent study into humanity’s relationship with nature. Rachel Segal Hamilton

‘Out of Africa champagne picnic experience, Maasai Mara luxury safari, Kenya’ by Zed Nelson HonFRPS/Institute

Below

From With Love. From an Invader. by Yan Wang Preston

BLACK CHRONICLES: PHOTOGRAPHY, RACE AND DIFFERENCE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN

Renée Mussai (Ed)

Thames and Hudson (£50)

Just over a decade since Autograph ABP’s landmark exhibition of the same name, this book brings together the London-based institution’s remarkable research into 19th-century photographic portraits of Black Britons. These include reproductions of original plate negatives, vintage cartes de visite and rarely-seen cabinet cards held in private collections. Also featured are essays by theorists and curators including Stuart Hall and Mark Sealy OBE HonFRPS.

DRESSED

TO IMPRESS: THE ANONYMOUS PROJECT

Lee Shulman

Prestel (£40)

The latest publication from The Anonymous Project focuses on fashion.

The mid-century was a time when you could tell someone’s generation from the clothes they wore. Here we see dapper suited elderly gents contrasted with young women in swimwear, or kids in party frocks. The initiative came about by chance after Lee Shulman purchased a random box of Kodachrome slides. The ongoing appeal of these amateur photographs is a testament to how the lens of history gives everyday snaps increasing allure as the time they depict retreats further behind us.

Page turners

Photographs 1960-2024

Ralph Gibson HonFRPS

Taschen (£60)

As Leica celebrates its 100th birthday, we have this retrospective from one of the camera’s leading exponents. Ralph Gibson HonFRPS started out assisting Dorothea Lange and went on to photograph stars of fashion and music across six decades. See page 230.

Everyday Wonder

Sophie Howarth

Hoxton Mini Press (£14.95)

The rise in everyday photography is sometimes seen as a disconnection from reality – a filtering of the world through screens. Combining images with poems, this book from photographer and School of Life co-founder Sophie Howarth reveals the extraordinary hidden in ‘ordinary’ moments.

Below

Fragments of Fietas

David Goldblatt HonFRPS

MACK (£35)

RPS Honorary Fellow

David Goldblatt chronicled Fietas, a south western Johannesburg suburb with a population of mainly Indian communities, from 1948 to 2016. Published for the first time, the series reveals a place shaped by apartheid and its legacies, documented with Goldblatt’s signature sensitivity and depth.

From Dressed to Impress: The Anonymous Project by Lee Shulman

From the series 5p by Alice Oliver, taken from the book Everyday Wonder

‘Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe, the African choir, London, 1891’ by London Stereoscopic Company

Clockwise from right ‘Bird’; ‘My mother’s camellias’; ‘Nancy in ink, chapter 1, page 1, the secret of the old clock’; all by Nancy Richards

My place

by Nancy Richards Farese

The US artist visits her abandoned childhood home for a visual memoir

At the heart of Nancy Richards Farese’s work is a paradox. “I love the [American] south,” says the photographer and artist. “I’m proud to be from the south, but it also has this charged legacy.”

Born in a segregated small town in rural Georgia, she grew up in a kind, moral, Christian household, she says, “and yet we were living with the heritage of architected racism that informed the place where we were living.”

I Still Speak Southern in My Head is a ‘visual memoir’ focused on the first 10 years of her life, from 1961-71, a period of intense social change in the United States driven by the civil rights movement and second-wave feminism. The project began during a Covid-19 lockdown.

“I randomly started stitching on a photo that I had of my Grandma Richards,” says Richards Farese, who now lives in San Francisco. This prompted her to delve into her personal history.

When the opportunity arose to travel again she jumped on a plane back to her childhood home, a light-filled two-bedroom, mid-century modern house her parents had built, with large, east-facing windows.

Still owned by her family but unoccupied, the building has barely changed, complete with original carpets and a yellow Formica kitchen installed in the 1950s. Here, Richards Farese photographed the “haunting” decades-empty spaces of her early life in which “the past seems very much

alive”, wondering how to reconcile the warmth of her recollections with the brutal injustices of the era.

In the book she combines her images with pictures from the family archive, rephotographed and embroidered or with buttons, beads and words added, to construct a richly textured layering of identity.

Through a connection to the south, Richards Farese points to a wider quandary. “How did we hold those contradictions at that time?” she asks. “And how do we hold the contradictions of the life we live now?”

I Still Speak Southern in My Head by Nancy Richards Farese is published by Workshop Arts, £62. wrkshp.art nancyfarese.com

Farese

AMERICAN SOUTH

Five questions

Chance is at the root of a dynamic five-decade career for Paolo Roversi

Paolo Roversi has sparked creatively off designers since he started out in the 1970s. Five decades on, he has established a painterly style that elevates fashion photography to a fine art. As a retrospective of his work is published, Roversi reflects on a career that came about by chance.

1 What made you decide to become a fashion photographer?

I never decided to become a fashion photographer. It just happened. When I arrived in Paris in 1973 I didn’t know anything about fashion. I was completely ignorant. I made friends with some people who

were working in fashion and, little by little, they introduced me to the world of fashion.

What was it about fashion that drew you in?

I began working as a photography assistant and got to know all the magazines, stylists and designers. At that moment the fashion magazines were working with photography very creatively. It was possible to make work with imagination, with fantasy and beauty.

Beyond fashion, where do you look for inspiration? Everywhere. Everything is inspiring to me. I go to the cinema – I like the movies very

much – but also literature is inspiring. Music is inspiring. Walking around the streets is inspiring. You see so many different attitudes and so many different people.

4 What makes you proud?

Some days I feel proud, some days I think I have lost all my life doing pictures. But when I’m feeling proud, I think what is better than doing all these pictures? If I had to start over again with a different job, I would like to have been a writer. I have always written since I was young.

What’s next for fashion photography and for you?

We need to resolve how we will deal with artificial intelligence. I find artificial intelligence scary. I believe it is the enemy of imagination and of freedom – the opposite of creativity. As for me, I am still working in my studio making projects.

Paolo Roversi by Sylvie Lécallier is published by Thames and Hudson, £50. thamesandhudson.com

Left

Molly Bair, Chanel haute couture P/E 2015, Vogue Italia, Paris, 2015 by Paolo Roversi

Above

Luca Biggs, Alexander McQueen A/H 2021-2022, Paris, 2021 by Paolo Roversi

1 ELUSIVE SUBJECT

“Butterflies are fiendishly difficult to photograph when they are flying. Fast, erratic flight means they are almost impossible to follow let alone keep in focus. They also have very good eyesight and usually fly away when you get close. I tried positioning myself near a clump of flowers and shooting when they flew in to feed on nectar, but the results were pretty hopeless and my high shutter speed simply froze them in mid-flight, which took away all their dynamism and energy.”

3 PERFECT SETTINGS

2 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

“One day, on a woodland walk in spring, I noticed two speckled wood butterflies flying close together, round and round, so focused on what they were doing I could walk right up to them. I saw the same activity in different places several times on that walk. In spring the males stake out a sunny patch and chase off any rival males. I began thinking about how to photograph this behaviour. I wanted a feeling of movement so decided to use a long exposure plus a secondcurtain flash – a flash right at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning.”

“The wood is on a hill on the outskirts of Bristol, UK. It’s an old deciduous wood with large oak, ash and beech trees, and is well-used by people so is crisscrossed with paths which create the sunny spots where speckled wood butterflies hang out. In May 2023 I started visiting the wood armed with my Canon 5D Mark III with a Laowa 24mm probe lens and Canon Speedlite EX II flash unit. I set the probe lens focus to 10cm and the aperture to f22. The exposure time was ¼ second at ISO 320.”

5 WHY IT WORKS

GLORIOUS WEATHER

“Butterflies seem to vanish as soon as clouds cover the sun. At first I patrolled all the pathways looking for butterfly action but it was better just to find a male basking in the sun and wait – to be in the right place at the start of a chase. I needed a bit of luck. On the fourth day a chase started and instead of the butterflies spiralling up into the tree tops out of range, they stayed about 1.5m above the ground for about five minutes so I had many opportunities to shoot.”

“Looking at all the shots at home on the computer only one stood out – the ‘face-off’. I was ecstatic – so many things had come right. The background was an interesting swirling mass of greenery created by the long exposure as the probe lens wobbled trying to keep the butterflies in frame. I thought one would always be chasing the other but to my surprise the flash at the end of the exposure had frozen the two butterflies in a head-to-head confrontation.”

‘Butterfly face-off’ by John Waters, Winner, Animal Behaviour, British Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

HOW I DID THIS

John Waters has achieved the seemingly impossible with this magical image

He is an award-winning wildlife documentary cameraman with 60 films to his name. Now John Waters has won the Animal Behaviour category in the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 for his dramatic still image of a pair of sparring butterflies.

“To capture a moment in time that you have been trying hard to get is a terrific feeling,” says Waters, who is now semi-retired. “And in this case the result was better than I dared to expect.”

bwpawards.org/2025-winners johnwaters.tv

THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

The

Members’ Photo Challenge

this issue explores the theme of light, with six images selected by Yuxing Chen

Light is every photographer’s oxygen. Just ask Yuxing Chen, the selector of the Members’ Photo Challenge this issue.

The recipient of the IPE 165 Award, Chen has chosen six standout images from a raft of impressive submissions from RPS members themed around ‘light’.

Explaining what drew her to these images, she says, “Light is photography’s first condition, its silent collaborator. It’s always there, guiding the eye, shaping the world. In these images, light is not just illumination but encounter – it brushes against surfaces, slips through windows and pools in corners.

“A frame touched by amber sun becomes a memory suspended. A lake’s shimmer unknots itself into abstraction. Shadows cross a wall like slow, unspoken thoughts.

“Each photograph here lets light tell its own story, sometimes factual, sometimes imagined. It records the material world with precision, yet also suggests what lies beneath or beyond it. This is light as witness and as whisper, fact and feeling all at once.”

‘On Oare Hill’ by Richard Draper ARPS

‘The morning fish catch’ by Wing Ngai Chan ARPS

‘Primrose’ by Jennifer Good

‘Light’s river’ by Javier Marcelo Cabrera

The selector

Yuxing Chen

Yuxing Chen is a Chinese artist and researcher based in the UK. Her photographic practice is centered around the creation and discussion of the decolonisation of difference, the exoticism of Orientalism, and the gaze it brings. She received her MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of the Arts London. Chen has shown her work extensively and won international recognition including the IPE 165 Award.

Enter the next Members’ Photo Challenge, themed ‘black-and-white’, by 27 July for the chance to be published in the October-December issue. rps.org/photo-challenge

‘Flight home’ by Jonathan Stokes

From the series Do You Want One? by Emma Boittiaux

MEMORY MADE VISIBLE’

As the Leica camera celebrates 100 years, 10 photographers share a favourite image taken using the historic marque

WORDS: GRAEME GREEN

With almost three quarters of the world’s population now using a mobile phone capable of taking high-quality images, it is sometimes hard to remember just how big, heavy and cumbersome cameras used to be.

Ernst Leitz’s decision 100 years ago to launch the Leica I, which became the first truly successful 35mm camera, was a major step in revolutionising camera technology and photography. His German optics company was previously known primarily for producing microscopes.

An earlier version of the camera, Oskar Barnack’s ingenious prototype Ur-Leica, had been worked on between 1913 and 1914. After development delays due to World War I, Leitz judged there to be enough of a potential market to present the Leica I at the Leipzig Spring Fair trade event in Germany in 1925. The compact, sleek, portable, hand-held camera made photography far more accessible, while maintaining excellent image quality. In the first year, 870 of the cameras were sold.

As Leica (a contraction of Leitz Camera) steadily released new models, its cameras were used by some of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, W Eugene Smith, Ernst Haas, Ilse Bing, Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand.

“This image preserves a sacred moment during surgery felt by everyone in the room”

LYNN JOHNSON

lynnjohnsonphoto.com

‘Katie’s new face’, Cleveland, Ohio USA, 2017

“This image of a face, solo and disconnected, laying on a surgical table, shocks both mind and spirit. Who does this belong to? Why is it there? Where is this face going and is it aware of its journey? Photographs challenge us to ask such questions. This specific face was travelling from a donor to Katie Stubblefield, who destroyed her face during a suicide attempt – she used her brother’s shotgun. Katie suffered years of blindness and pain and waited years for a donor. Finally, she received the call from the Cleveland Clinic Hospital to say a transplant donor was available. The transplant team, led by doctors Papay and Gastman, supported by dozens of medical personnel, gathered in adjoining operating rooms – one for the donor, the other for Katie. From surgical harvest to painstaking reconnection, the procedure took 37 hours. This image preserves a sacred moment during surgery felt by everyone in the room. The face of the young female donor waits, in between bodies, to be placed on Katie, giving her another identity. Her family will be faced with a new external daughter and sister. Advancements in medicine and technology one couldn’t have imagined even a few years ago made this moment possible. Katie is blind so she’ll never see herself as other than who she is in her mind. Her mission is now a dream to help others in their battle with depression and suicide. The image was made with a Leica M11 and a 50mm Summilux-M lens. The quiet of the camera was essential to being respectful in this room and in this moment.”

The size and weight of the cameras, making them light and discreet, as well as their toughness and durability, resulted in their popularity with photographers who wanted to be quick on their feet and ‘invisible’ – including war photographers, street photographers and photojournalists.

Two RPS Honorary Fellows – the late Sebastião Salgado, who was a master of black-and-white photography, and renowned fashion photographer and portraitist Annie Leibovitz – have shot with Leica cameras. Author Ernest Hemingway was also known to use a Leica.

“Leica cameras are inextricably associated with a ‘golden age’ of artistic photojournalism,” says Martin Barnes, senior curator of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

“The cameras’ high quality of design and optics were not compromised by their groundbreaking portability. Images made with Leica cameras also implied the daring and agile lifestyle of the photographer –a global traveller and eyewitness of significant places, people and events.

“Leica has earned a position in photographic history as a vital tool that prompted a dynamic new form of photography. The small cameras liberated the photographer from the tripod and the fixed positions of the studio, and sent

them out into the multiple perspectives offered by the street and the world at large. The cinemalike proportions of the classic 35mm film and framing created a distinctive aesthetic.”

Leica has continued to innovate and move with the times. It has produced digital and mirrorless cameras, partnered with Apple for the lenses on iPhones and with Huawei for its phones’ camera systems and lenses, as well as producing special editions with photographers, artists and companies such as Hermès.

A century on from Leitz’s bold move, Leica continues to be known among photographers for its craftsmanship and image quality, its minimalist, portable, durable and ergonomic but stylish designs, and its role in producing some of history’s most important images.

“Today the brand uses its heritage to promote a reputation for superb product quality and to associate with more intangible connotations of a style-conscious and adventurous lifestyle,” says Barnes.

In these pages, 10 renowned photographers –including Steve McCurry HonFRPS, Britta Jaschinski, Amy Currell and Ralph Gibson HonFRPS – discuss some of their defining images and the impact that Leica has had on their work.

“The small cameras liberated the photographer from the tripod and the fixed positions of the studio, and sent them out into the world at large”

YUTO YAMADA yuto-yamada.com

‘Framed by autumn’s leaves’, Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanashi, Japan, 2022 “Mount Fuji is a symbol of Japan. It has been an object of art and faith since time immemorial. It changes its appearance depending on the season, time of day and your location, and it has a variety of expressions. It’s simply stunning. On a clear autumn morning I went to photograph the foliage and Mount Fuji. I was looking for new angles and ways to capture creative photos no one had ever seen before. Then I found Mount Fuji framed in a hole between the foliage of trees, so I took this picture with my favourite equipment for landscape photography – the Leica SL2 and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–70 f/2.8 ASPH lens. The delicate autumn leaves and colour gradation are beautifully captured in this image.”

ROHIT VOHRA rvohra.com

‘Tree of life’, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India, 2017

“This photograph was captured during the Pushkar Camel Fair, India’s largest camel and livestock fair. It’s always crowded with traders and pilgrims from all over the country. It was a sunny morning and amid the chaos I came across this group of children. Their happiness was pure, as they were suspended from the branches of a tree. I stood there, just watching them, so unaware of the chaos around them. Their joy wasn’t tied to possessions. It was just a tree, the sky and each other. I instinctively raised my Leica M10 with a 35mm lens, drawn to the raw joy in front of me. With the Leica I could just move around unnoticed, capturing that beautiful moment where everything aligned perfectly. Photography for me isn’t just about capturing light – it’s about holding on to fleeting moments of life, of innocence, of raw human connection.”

AMY CURRELL

amycurrell.com

‘Aurora’, Stratford, London, UK, 2023

“The photo forms part of a body of still life work. I sought to blend the timeless beauty of flowers with the ethereal colours of the aurora borealis, which are blended onto the flowers using lighting techniques, different exposures and colours layered over one another. Shot in my Stratford studio, the white dahlias and roses were suspended within a specially made rig to create the illusion that they were floating. The final image is a composite of 14 different photographs that captured multiple focal plains and light exposures. It was shot on the Leica S3, which, as medium format, gave the images an unparalleled level of detail. The 120mm lens allowed for an incredibly macro perspective on the flowers. As a commercial photographer all my commissioned work has a strong and distinctive use of colour. I was inspired to create a personal, non-commercial body of work that reflected the sense of colour, precision and performance that is the core of my style as an artist. The idea was also to go back to where I draw so much of my inspiration – florals and nature.”

JASPER DOEST jasperdoest.com

‘Feathered carpool’, Curaçao, 2021 “I held on in the back seat as our car weaved through the winding roads of Curaçao, with my cousin, the veterinarian Odette Doest, at the wheel and two remarkable companions riding up-front. Bob, a rescued Caribbean flamingo turned wildlife ambassador, stood calmly in the passenger seat. Perched on the headrest was Crocky, a yellow-headed parrot that Odette had received for her ninth birthday – the bird who’d sparked her lifelong dedication to caring for wild animals. We were on our way to a local school to teach children about empathy and the importance of sharing space with other species. Bob, injured and unable to return to the wild, serves as a bridge between worlds, reminding us of the empathy it takes to share space with other species. Together, he and Odette work to inspire a new generation to care. Photographing from the back seat, I relied on the Leica SL2. Its exceptional image quality and intuitive handling allowed me to respond instinctively, capturing a fleeting scene that speaks to connection, compassion and the quiet beauty of interspecies kinship.”

ALIXE LAY alixelay.com

‘Kew’, Kew Gardens, Richmond, England, 2020

“This is a self-portrait taken at Kew Gardens. I’ve always loved Palm House in Kew Gardens, as the humidity of this glasshouse reminds me so much of home. I grew up in the heart of the tropics, in Malaysia, where the air is warm and heavy and the greenery is lush. Stepping into this glasshouse will always plunge me into nostalgia and reconnect me with my roots. I always gravitate towards strong colours and deep contrasts in my images, as these are elements that make images feel immersive and transportative. It was shot on the Leica Q. For me, the camera’s biggest draw is its size, versatility and impressive image quality when I’m out and about on an off-duty day.”

BRITTA JASCHINSKI brittaphotography.com

‘Dusting for new evidence’, London, UK, 2023

“My photographs of items seized at airports and borders across the globe are a quest to understand why some humans continue to demand wildlife products, even if this causes immense suffering and, in some cases, pushes species to the brink of extinction. Seeing what is smuggled in the name of power and greed often makes me feel ashamed to be a human. At the end of 2023, I was able to go behind the scenes with the Heathrow Airport-based Border Force CITES team to document a crime scene investigator from London’s Metropolitan Police lifting fingerprints off ivory. Identifying fingerprints helps law enforcement teams track down smugglers working for the major cartels running the illegal ivory trade. About 20,000 African elephants continue to be killed each year for their ivory. It’s been an honour to shine a light on the good work being done to strengthen cases against the smuggling criminals and I am thrilled that my photograph is the Winner (single image) in the Photojournalism category of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 competition, currently displayed in London’s Natural History Museum. The show travels across the globe and is seen by tens of thousands of people, which makes all the hard work put into photoshoots so worthwhile. This image was taken on a Leica SL2 with a 24-90mm f2.8-4 lens.”

RALPH GIBSON HonFRPS ralphgibson.com

‘Brian Clarke – afternoon of the artist’, 2010

“This photograph of my lifelong friend Sir Brian Clarke with his sketchbook open is perhaps the most complex photograph I have ever made. It remains high on my list as an example of personal expression of an artist I love and very much admire. I learned photography in the darkroom in the late 1950s. In those days it was about carefully measuring powder chemicals, and precisely pouring them into water and stirring until one had a gallon of developer. The films and lenses were slow and offered little latitude in exposure. There was a lot to learn. In 1961 I bought my first Leica, an M2 with a 50mm Summicron lens. Fifty-five years later Leica approached me regarding the endorsement of the new digital Monochrom – my name was engraved on a limited edition black-and-white camera. I was initially not interested, until I took my first frame with the camera and loved the results. The technical learning curve was not too steep. I did the only thing I knew about digital. I turned the shutter speed dial to ‘A’ and have not loaded a roll of film since 2012.”

OZIER MUHAMMAD oziermuhammad.com

‘Barack Obama’, New Hampshire, United States, 2008

“In this photo, US senator Barack Obama was conferring with his campaign manager David Axelrod on a speech he was going to give in a civic centre auditorium in the college town of Dartmouth. They were in the campaign bus outside the venue. I joined the Obama campaign in October 2007 as part of the travelling press corps. The editors at the New York Times asked me to appeal to the Obama team to allow me special behind-the-scenes access to him for a couple of days. I had to appeal to the campaign staff to have one-on-one time with Obama. That took more than a week. If I hadn’t been representing the New York Times I most likely would have been denied the request. I had two full days with Obama and his team away from the gaggle of my press counterparts. Obama’s campaign team were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I started using Leica in 1978 when I landed my first newspaper job at the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina. It was an M5. From 1978, until I retired in 2014, Leica equipment was always part of my gear. I took a digital Leica M8 with a 24mm lens on the Obama assignment.”

STEVE MCCURRY HonFRPS stevemccurry.com

‘Boys run with hoops’, Baobab Avenue, Morondava, Madagascar, 2019

“I’ve always looked forward to visiting Madagascar, particularly for the lemurs and the baobab trees. It was an incredible experience to see the gigantic African baobabs up-close. The region where the trees are located is a bit remote. They’re often referred to as the Tree of Life because of their age and ability to store water in times of drought. Nearby, there was a village where children played all sorts of games around the trees. I visited several times at sunrise and sunset, spending hours exploring and scouting the surrounding villages. I photographed with my Leica SL.”

COLIN PRIOR FRPS colinprior.co.uk

‘The Trango Towers’, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan, 2015

“I captured this photograph of the Trango Towers in Pakistan on one of the six expeditions I made to the Karakoram Mountains for a book published in 2021. For me, the Karakoram Mountains were much more than a destination – they were a state of imagination. Appearing Tolkienesque in character, the hard gneiss and granite rocks rise in massive towers, cathedrals and domes, filling the viewer with an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. I shot the image with a Leica S2 (006), which had a CCD sensor (no live view) and produced images with superb micro-contrasts. The lens mounted was the Leica APO-Elmar-S 180 mm f/3.5. I shot two images side by side, which I subsequently stitched together to create this 2:1 panorama.”

EXCLUSION ZONE

Three decades after a volcano devastated Montserrat, its people are contemplating an uncertain future, finds Joan Wakelin Bursary recipient Myah Asha Jeffers

WORDS AND IMAGES: MYAH ASHA JEFFERS

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the volcanic eruptions that devastated the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. In July 1995 the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted for the first time in centuries, leaving 80% of the self-governing British overseas territory uninhabitable. The area known as the ‘Exclusion Zone’ is now deserted and overgrown.

The eruptions catalysed a mass exodus, depopulating the island from 14,000 to just over 4,000 people and rendering it one of the world’s least populous countries. Those who stayed migrated north while Brades, once countryside, became Montserrat’s acting capital.

The sense of what could have been permeates the island. Montserratians – including Alvin Ryan, director of the Disaster Management Coordination Agency – are proud of its heyday. The holder of the proverbial and literal keys to the Exclusion Zone, Ryan speaks wistfully about a country once on the precipice of independence, priding itself on its economic sustainability – exporting agricultural produce to neighbouring islands – and a robust musical and cultural identity.

As we drive into the boundaries of the Exclusion Zone, Ryan radios the Montserrat Volcano Observatory to announce our arrival – “Two souls, one vehicle” –emphasising just how secure this area truly is.

‘Soufrière Hills, Exclusion Zone, Montserrat, 2024’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

‘Alvin Ryan in front of the supermarket he was in during the first volcanic eruption in July 1995’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

“In July 1995 the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted for the first time in centuries, leaving 80% of the territory uninhabitable”

Once inside, Ryan reminisces about his past life, from boiling eggs in the volcanic hot springs as a child, to believing in the myth of a beautiful mermaid living at the peak of the mountain, unaware then that it was an active volcano.

There’s an implicit kinship with folk who hail from the same village in the old Montserrat or “town” as it’s affectionately called. This is what binds them – shared fond memories of belonging, flickered with grief.

While we admire the scope of Soufrière Hills, Ryan’s radio crackles with the voice of the island’s governor Sarah Tucker imploring us to leave the zone immediately, due to volcanic activity. We jog back to the truck.

“I always park my truck facing the exit in case I have to leave quickly,” says Ryan, crystallising the realities of life in the shadow of an active volcano.

Despite this risk, a recently introduced government incentive is offering returning nationals duty-free concessions on materials to rebuild or fix abandoned homes in Caulk Hill, an area peripheral to the Exclusion Zone. This incentive is part of a wider governmental drive towards capital development and eco-tourism, including a new seaport to accommodate bigger cruise ships and superyachts.

Even with this potential to boost economic activity on the island, Alford Dyett, a young architect who splits his time between London and Montserrat, has his doubts. “At some point there’s not going to be enough people to sustain this country and we’re getting very close,” he says. “The people won’t say it, the British government won’t say it … A lack of population might be a reason why we have [low] crime and a great sense of community … But within this tranquillity we have no economy. We have a population crisis.”

‘Shanna Johnson and Sheviyona Thomas take a break from the Miss Montserrat pageant opening ceremony at Carnival City, Little Bay’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

It is a Catch-22. Foreign investment can boost job opportunities which are currently scarce, with many young people feeling compelled to leave the island after secondary school graduation. It can also, though, intensify fear of potential economic exploitation. Those remaining in Montserrat often juggle multiple jobs to survive. This is the case for Nia St Claire, the reigning Miss Montserrat pageant queen, who has several customer service jobs to stay afloat.

The Exclusion Zone is incredibly fertile due to potent volcanic nutrients in the soil, but locals are unable to utilise it for farming. As a result, fresh produce is scarce. Those not growing their own produce are dependent on processed foods. “There are major health issues on the island like high rates of cancer and diabetes because of these processed foods,” says Hon John Osborne, Montserrat’s minister of agriculture.

In a bid to positively contribute to the food economy, groups of men defy boundaries by camping off grid for days or weeks to illegally hunt in the Exclusion Zone. With limited access for rescue vehicles and the prospect of being mauled by wild pigs, these hunters are risking their lives to catch and sell their bounty. Beyond this, it seems to be a peaceful protest – a noble persistence to roam a land they feel is rightfully theirs.

“Sometimes I spend more than two weeks out in the bush,” says one of the island’s hunters, who has agreed to speak anonymously. “I love it. It’s beautiful. And people pay big money for hogs – alive or dead.”

The hunters are an anomaly, since many Montserratians have never returned to their villages after having to evacuate. “I’ve never been back,” says Carmelita Kirwan, a mother of 13. “I don’t go past Caulk Hill.”

“At some point there’s not going to be enough people to sustain this country and we’re getting very close”

‘Young masqueraders prepare for their performance at the opening ceremony of Montserrat Carnival in Carnival City, Little Bay’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

‘A cruise ship docks near Little Bay as a small fishing boat heads out for the day’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

“I am Montserrat’s history, and my children are too. They will carry it on ... someday we will turn to some brightness”

Kirwan’s youngest, Joshua, a member of the local masquerade group, dreams of gaining an overseas basketball scholarship. Her third youngest, Kenville, is a popular musician on the island.

When Kirwan and I first meet she insists she is “here” –“I always have been. I’m here.” Her emphasis on the word betrays a desire to be witnessed so her existence is not overlooked or forgotten.

“I am Montserrat’s history, and my children are too,” she says. “I stay here, and I give Montserrat 13 children. They will carry it on. [I hope] that someday we will turn to some brightness.”

The island is grappling with this need to be remembered –a desire to move beyond a past shaped by natural disaster and British colonial rule.

The quotidian is demanding, yet it is remarkable how people have forged a new identity in the past 30 years. There is much to be proud of. It is more than resilience – it is fortitude. It is no wonder that wild hunting, easy communing on patios and bars, elegant pageantry and everyday family life add up to both a way of living and a quiet persistence of sorts. Montserratians are determined to remain on a land that has shaped its people, irrespective of how much of it they are able to inhabit.

The Guardian/RPS Joan Wakelin Bursary offers support each year for the production of a photo essay on an overseas social documentary issue. The 2025 bursary closing date is 14 July. rps.org/bursaries myahjeffers.com

‘Zeekee and his dog pause before descending into the valleys of the Silver Hills’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

‘Allyaha entertains her little cousin outside their home in Davy Hill’ from the series Exclusion Zone by Myah Asha Jeffers

‘THE CRITICISM HASN’T STOPPED TO THIS DAY’

He has shot millions of images that delight, irritate and distil the essence of British life. As Martin Parr CBE HonFRPS publishes his autobiography, he wonders what all the fuss is about

WORDS: TEDDY JAMIESON IMAGES: MARTIN PARR CBE HonFRPS

Previous spread

Clacton, England, 2017

This is probably my best shot so far on a theme that I’m always interested in, which is catching people on the beach when it’s raining. Obviously the rain had just started there and everyone is panicking and it just works. All the different elements are juxtaposed in just the right position.

Below

DIFC Gulf Art Fair, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2007

That was at the art fair in Dubai. I spotted this shirt and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a great shirt.’ And I literally followed it around and bang whack wallop. People often think I set that picture up, but it really did happen and I can hardly believe it. Often you can create beauty out of chaos. That’s one of the things photographers have to do. We have the jumble of the world right in front of us. We have to try to make sense of it all.

Right

Pyongyang, North Korea, 1997

One of the most remarkable places I’ve been to is North Korea. I got a week there and although we weren’t allowed out on our own we got taken to places, so opportunities to photograph came along. I just loved the idea of this block of kids queuing up to go and see something. I’m not sure what it was, but I just thought it worked well in the photograph.

He doesn’t know exactly how many photographs he has taken over the years, but Martin Parr CBE HonFRPS does reckon it’s a pretty high number.

“It must be millions,” he suggests as he sits in the eponymous Martin Parr Foundation building in Bristol. “We have an archive here which is three quarters of a million 10x8 prints. So, even though I’m shooting digitally we still print out the pictures. The ones I’m interested in anyway.” Millions. Millions of photographs of holidaymakers sheltering from the rain, of dogs in sunglasses, of kids eating ice cream, sticky dribbles running down their faces. Of deck chairs and seagulls and supermarkets (sometimes with fashion models all dolled up inside them) and musclemen and cuddly toys and cars and cigarettes (so many cigarettes). And tourists taking selfies, and the whole strange silly, sweet, sorrowful detritus of contemporary life. His work both embraces the excess of overconsumption and throws it back in our faces in a way that simultaneously critiques and celebrates.

Parr may be the most British photographer on the planet and yet when he goes abroad he still finds places that appear, well, very Parrian. At times you could be forgiven for thinking the world now looks like a Martin Parr photo.

“I guess it does,” Parr says himself. But there’s a reason for that, he adds. “Gentrification is taking place everywhere, everywhere is getting richer and it’s putting severe pressure on the planet and the idea that we may hit net zero seems more and more unlikely.”

That in a nutshell is the lens through which Martin Parr sees the world – a mixture of comedy and despair.

“The world is funny. It’s not the only thing I feel, but that’s why I have humour in my work”

“Yes, the world is funny. It’s not the only thing I feel, but that’s why I have humour in my work. When I look at it, it does strike me as being funny and people are funny as well. I’m funny. I can see myself doing all these things that I’m out there critiquing.”

Parr is now 72. Since he began working in the 1970s he has published more than 145 books, staged 80 exhibitions around the world, taken, as we have already established, “millions” of images and become something of a marque in the world of photography. Indeed, Parr is as much an adjective as a surname these days.

Venice, Italy, 2015

This is something else that has disappeared – the selfie stick. Ten, 15 years ago selfie sticks were ubiquitous. St Mark’s Square is an interesting barometer of what people are interested in buying and the selfie stick has disappeared there. You have to find the tokens that represent these trends. I was very happy to hone in on the selfie stick and of course the smartphone, which I’ve photographed extensively. In fact it’s been the biggest dramatic change in our social life in the last 30, 40, 50 years, well, during my time as a photographer. I’ve now got an iPhone 15 which is very good quality, so these days I will take pictures on it, especially when the lighting is bad because iPhones really come into their own as very good cameras when the light is low. The quality is fantastic. I’m amazed, really, by how good they are.

The man behind the name is in good form today, fitting me into a busy schedule. He is not one for slowing down. In 2021 he was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer. He is in remission, but it has meant he now has to walk with a Rollator because “after 10 minutes I get a backache”.

That has not stopped him. “I can still work,” he says. “I don’t have to have a Rollator all the time. I go off that and start photographing and then come back onto it.”

Still maybe at his back he can now hear time’s winged chariot rushing closer. There is a sense that he is organising his legacy now. Earlier this year a documentary, I Am Martin Parr (2024), was released in cinemas and this September his autobiography will be published. “They seem to think there’s a demand for such a thing,” he says. “It’s not up to me to say.”

Written in conjunction with Wendy Jones, it’s called Utterly Lazy and Inattentive, a title taken from a French school report he received when he was a kid. “My mother tore it up, so I had to Sellotape it together,” he says of the report.

He thinks it works quite well as a title. Of course, now he can enjoy the irony. Lazy and inattentive are the last things you could accuse him of in a photographic career that stretches back some five decades.

Parr was born and brought up in suburban Surrey and in some ways you get the sense he has been trying to escape it ever since. His grandfather, George, who lived in Yorkshire, had been a keen photographer and an RPS member, and from his early teens Parr knew he wanted to be a photographer too. More than that, he was also seeking a sense of belonging.

And so after graduating from Manchester Polytechnic, where he met his wife Susie, he went to live in Hebden Bridge in 1975. Susie taught in the local Sunday School and Parr took photographs of the people he lived among. “I was trying to photograph a sense of community,” he says.

He was still working in black-and-white at the time. He has, he says, a great affection for his black-and-white era which lasted for the best part of 15 years. Really, though, he came into his own when he started photographing in colour.

He had grown up admiring the work of English photographer Tony Ray-Jones but by the 1970s Parr was becoming increasingly aware of American colour photographers like Stephen Shore and William Eggleston whom, he noted, were beginning to get exhibitions. “It told me that it was the right thing to do to shoot in colour,” he says. “Previous to that it was always thought to be the domain of snapshot photography and commercial photography.”

The decision to shift to colour was timely in another way. It coincided with the rising tide of Thatcherism and consumerism and if Parr had been looking for a sense of community before, now he was bringing a more acerbic eye to his work.

“Black-and-white was a celebration of life and colour was more of a critique,” he suggests. “That’s a generalisation, but it still basically covers it.”

The Melbourne Cup, Melbourne, Australia, 2008 I like horse races. I try to go to the most important races around the world and this is obviously the Melbourne Cup, the biggest race meeting in Australia. It’s actually a bank holiday in Australia, such is the importance of the cup. The sculpture of the horse – I was just looking around waiting for the right person to come in front of it. The main thing here is getting the relationship between the guy and the horse, making sure that’s right and that works in the picture. Everything else is just an add-on bonus.

“Black-and-white was a celebration of life and colour was more of a critique. That’s a generalisation, but it still basically covers it”

Not that everyone agreed. Parr’s breakthrough project was The Last Resort, photographs of New Brighton taken between 1983 and 1985. He was living nearby at the time.

“I knew this would be a good location for me to work in colour,” he says. “I got a medium format Plaubel camera that had just been introduced – a wide-angle version of it – and started shooting away.”

The series would prove controversial.

“When it was shown first in Liverpool no one really got too excited about it,” Parr points out, a defence he has made many times before, “but the moment it went to the Serpentine in London, that’s when the criticism started to pile in, which hasn’t stopped to this very day.”

Parr was accused of exploiting his subjects. It is an accusation that followed him around for years. Was he in effect laughing at the people he took photographs of?

Leeds Castle, Kent, England, 1986-89

I call this ‘The reluctant wallet’. I am not very keen on crafts, especially big chunky pots, so I just thought it was quite funny to catch the wallet coming out at the craft fair. Not something I’ll be doing myself. I didn’t ask that couple permission. I just went straight up and shot it. I can’t remember now if they talked to me afterwards. But that’s the motivation. To get in there and do it. If you see it, you must shoot it.

De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, England, 1979

I really like the De La Warr Pavilion. It’s a classic Art Deco building. I had a friend I was staying with in Hastings and I found out they did this outdoor dancing in the summer so I came down especially from Manchester, which was where I was living then, and photographed it. And luckily enough got a nice shot. It could have been the 1940s. It’s timeless. There’s a bit of nostalgia inevitably involved in black-andwhite. That’s something I gave up quite easily when I took to colour.

Below

Abandoned Morris Minors, Arigna, County Roscommon, Ireland, 1980

This is from a series called Abandoned Morris Minors in the West of Ireland. We had a Morris Minor and my wife got a job in Ireland so we took the car over with us. We just had it done up, and one of the things you are aware of is how difficult it is finding spare parts for old cars. We couldn’t believe that all around us were these parked Morris Minors in bogs, in forests, in the sea, everywhere. So, I decided I would make a series of pictures. Just the surreal nature of seeing all these cars in nature. I have always been a collector in real life – anything from Saddam Hussein watches to space dog ephemera. But photography is a form of collecting as well.

Opposite

Election party aboard the SS Great Britain, Bristol, England, 1988

I was working on a project about the middle classes in Bristol and Bath. It was a celebratory party for the Conservatives and I thought it was really funny that they went onto SS Great Britain. Ironically I haven’t been back there since, until last weekend when I went to the SS Great Britain to have a look around. It hasn’t changed much.

If so, you’d have to say Parr did not discriminate on class grounds. His pictures of the middle and upper classes can be just as acerbic.

Parr feels it could be his subject matter that irritates. “People got cross about it for some reason,” he says. “People don’t get cross when they see pictures of war and famine. If they see someone in a supermarket they get cross.”

There was also some pushback when he was nominated to join the Magnum collective in the early 1990s.

“I’m very happy to be in Magnum,” he says now. “It’s no secret that it was very difficult for me to get in. I just made it by one vote, but once you’re in, you’re in. You’re in for as long as you want to stay in.”

It’s possible, too, that Parr’s humour was regarded as suspect, as unserious. But he is attuned to the comedy of life. He doesn’t stand back to bear witness. He plunges in.

Parr’s work gets up close and personal, all the more so after he bought a macro lens and a ring flash in the 1990s. The result are photographs that you could describe as being quite ‘noisy’, I suggest.

“That’s part of the thing,” Parr agrees. “How do you photograph noise and make it work? That’s the problem you have to solve in photography.”

But now, a quarter of the way through the 21st century, it is maybe finally possible to take a step back and see Parr’s work in the round. In doing so you realise that the plastic today he has been capturing all these years is starting to move into the past.

Even though he is far from finished as a photographer, the Parrworld he has recorded is beginning to recede in time. Who, for example, still smokes nowadays?

“I can’t remember the last time I saw someone with a pipe,” he observes. “When I first started, pipes were all over the place. Things become commercialised. The quirkiness of this country is slowly disappearing, but there’s still plenty of it around. Birdwatchers, agricultural fairs, lots of things going on that I am still very happy to photograph.”

He is planning on filling some of the gaps in his British archive. He has never done an airshow before, he tells me, and he is looking forward to putting that right.

Otherwise, he is involved in the Martin Parr Foundation which seeks to give a platform for documentary photographers making work about Britain and Ireland. And of course he is still shooting when he can.

After all these years, is it now easy to see what he is looking for when he picks up his camera?

“Not really, no,” he says. “You have a hunch when you’re onto something. But you just don’t shoot that moment, you have to shoot before and after. You have to keep up momentum.

“If I said, ‘I’m just going to take great pictures,’ you’d never start.”

Utterly Lazy and Inattentive: Martin Parr in Words and Pictures by Martin Parr HonFRPS and Wendy Jones is published by Particular Books/Penguin Press on 4 September 2025. The film I Am Martin Parr is now streaming. martinparr.com

DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES

Above and opposite: from the series Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth, 2022 by Amin Yousefi

A fascination with events before his birth – and those who documented them – led Amin Yousefi to revisit Iran’s past. Meet the recipient of the RPS Award for Achievement in the Art of Photography (under 30yrs)

WORDS: EVA CLIFFORD IMAGES: AMIN YOUSEFI

In downtown Tehran, thousands have descended on the streets in protest. Somewhere in the crowd, a shutter clicks –and a moment is preserved forever on 35mm film.

It was the day after Christmas, 1978. When American photojournalist David Burnett arrived in Tehran he found himself, in his words, “in a place that was slowly falling apart”. Within hours he was on the street, in the middle of a gun battle. “I could tell this story would not soon go away,” he wrote afterwards.

Burnett’s instinct proved right – he was, in fact, in the midst of a revolution. The protests, which had been simmering for months, were fuelled by widespread discontent with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s regime. Economic hardship,

endemic corruption and the Shah’s close ties to the US, along with his Westernisation policies, had alienated many Iranians. What began as scattered protests in 1978 soon snowballed into a powerful yet ideologically diverse movement uniting secular nationalists, leftists and Islamic revolutionaries – all demanding the end of the monarchy.

Burnett was among a handful of photographers documenting the turbulent months leading to the toppling of the Shah’s government in February 1979.

Signalling both the end of the Pahlavi monarchy and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian Revolution, as it became known, was a major turning point not just for

Above and opposite: from the series Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth, 2022 by Amin Yousefi

Iran but for the geopolitical landscape of the entire region, with lasting consequences that continue to reverberate.

The images Burnett and others took during this period serve as an enduring visual record, capturing both the intensity of the crowds and the violent clashes with security forces. At first glance the subjects seem unaware of the photographer’s presence. On closer inspection, you see them – faces staring out from the sea of bodies, their gazes directed at the camera. These are details so subtle they could easily be overlooked if it wasn’t for another photographer –40 years on – deliberately searching for faces in the crowd.

Amin Yousefi, recipient of the RPS Award for Achievement in the Art of Photography (under 30yrs), had an almost

accidental route into photography. Born 1996 in Abadan in Khuzestan province, Iran’s most oil-rich region, his hometown played a major role in the Iranian revolution, and was a key battleground during the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988. Once hosting the world’s largest oil refinery, the city was heavily shelled during the war and thousands of people across Khuzestan province were displaced as a result.

It was the legacy of these events, all before he was born, that became the subject of Yousefi’s early work. Despite studying maths and physics at high school with plans to pursue engineering, his interest in photography was sparked after taking an art course and experimenting with his uncle’s film camera.

For Yousefi, the freedom in creativity offered a welcome escape from the rigid, rule-based world of science and led him to study photography at the University of Isfahan, in central Iran. His first major project – Life, Death and Other Similar Things (2019) – is, in many ways, a classic documentary series. There are portraits alongside quiet, understated street scenes providing an intimate view of Khuzestan, its landscapes and its people. Here is “a region blessed and cursed by its wealth of oil and natural gas,” he writes in his artist statement, “pillaged in an eight-year war with neighboring Iraq and crushed under the weight of the sanctions and an ineffective management.”

His approach to the medium changed, however, during his degree, when he was introduced to photography theory and began reading the likes of Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag and Liz Wells.

“In our BA programme, we had a student-led session each week on philosophy and photography,” Yousefi says. “Everyone was reading something and then sharing it … I think it was around then that I started looking at photography differently.”

The real shift came during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, Yousefi was working at Ag Image Archives, a collection of Iranian photobooks and photography archives run by Ag Galerie – the gallery that now represents him. He had also been assisting a curator, Homayoun Sirizi, who was working with images of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. His practice encompasses installations, performances and video projects that intricately weave together humour and keen observations of everyday life, reflecting upon Iran’s dynamic social and political landscape. Both these experiences opened Yousefi’s eyes to the broader possibilities of photography.

Above and opposite: from the series Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth, 2022 by Amin Yousefi

“I became interested in the potential that the archive has: that you can work on it as a kind of study or examine it, or [that it can] become a part of your practice,” he says.

In 2022, Yousefi moved to the UK to study for a Masters (MA) in documentary photography at the University of Westminster, London. Arriving in the city, he felt like a tourist and when the tutor assigned a project, he struggled to find something meaningful.

“I couldn’t find those issues that documentary photographers usually find,” he says. “So, I was looking back and thought it would be good to work on archival material.”

Yousefi’s project, Eyes Dazzle As They Search for the Truth, 2022, originated while he was working with Ag Image Archives. He had come across a small 10x15cm photo. In it, a group – “students, young people” – had gathered in the street.

“I was really curious to see what was happening inside the photograph,” he explains. “It was just a single print with no context, so I was using a loupe magnifier to see the faces and also the details of some signs the students were holding.”

As the original photographer had captured the group from behind, there were not many faces in the frame. On closer inspection, though, Yousefi noticed some students had turned around and were looking directly at the photographer.

“It was really interesting for me,” he recalls. “It was like, all of these people are gathering here, and there are a few of them curious and staring at the photographer. Then I found out that this was not a protest, it was just a gathering of students from different schools … But it was stuck in my mind, and I thought, ‘What if I examine this issue with more important, larger events?’”

These ideas coincided almost exactly with his move to the UK for his MA. So, it was unsurprising that Yousefi circled back to the archive and the Iranian Revolution, which he considers the most significant event in the Middle East in the past century. In London, Yousefi began collecting photobooks from the revolution by various photographers. Among these were David Burnett’s 44 Days: Iran and the Remaking of the World, Michel Setboun’s Days of Revolution and Kaveh Kazemi’s Revolutionaries: The First Decade. Using the loupe magnifier he began studying the images, one by one, like a detective hunting for clues. As before with the images of the students, faces began to

emerge into view. Staring back across a 40-year divide, it was those looking directly at the camera that intrigued him.

“How could the sound of a 35mm camera shutter attract the attention of a protestor in a crowd?” Yousefi wondered. Now he is convinced – these people were looking for a reason.

“The photographer is [rarely] in the centre of the event,” Yousefi explains. “They’re usually in the corner, on top of a building, or at a distance, using a telephoto or wide-angle lens. There are so many people, and while it’s not impossible, it’s very difficult to look at the photographer [without] participating in the act of revolution.”

Above and opposite: from the series Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth, 2022 by Amin Yousefi

He adds that because of the distance and the situation, the protester was unlikely to know when the photographer would release the shutter. That meant they would have had to have effectively frozen themselves for a moment in the middle of the crowd, to make sure the photographer captured them.

For Yousefi, this speaks to a broader truth about the power of images. While working on the project he had been reading Ariella Azoulay’s The Civil Contract of Photography, which shifted his thinking about the role of the spectator.

“The person inside the photograph plays just as important a role as the photographer,” Yousefi says, paraphrasing Azoulay. “But in most cases the photographer is seen as the

single hero of the image. We rarely prize the person inside the photograph, but for me that relationship – the fact the image exists because the person is there – gives them agency, making them active participants in shaping the photograph.”

To make the images, Yousefi rephotographed the originals through the loupe using his mobile phone. “I find that using a loupe adds another layer to the photograph,” he explains. “For me, the image I was creating was a process of layers. The person inside the original photograph, looking at the photographer through her eyes, through the lens of the photographer in 1979, then through the lens of the loupe, and finally through the lens of my phone.”

By isolating these singular moments, Eyes Dazzle challenges traditional representations of revolution – which are often framed as mass movements – and instead invites us to engage with the personal motivations of each participant. Looking into the eyes of the revolutionaries it is unclear for a moment who is the spectator and who is the observer.

Inevitably, this introduces another layer: the viewer’s own readings of the image. The project also complicates the role of the camera in shaping our understanding of history, suggesting that images are not fixed – they evolve, multiply and carry meanings beyond the photographer’s original intent. As writer David Campany says in an article on Yousefi’s work for Foam magazine: “Photographs contain multitudes beyond intention, beyond what the photographer might have knowingly desired to include … any and every photograph will hold more than we bargained for.”

Rephotography can be a contentious area, especially within the documentary context. When asked how he navigates the ethical complexities of rephotographing others’ work and how he perceives his relationship to the original images and their creators, Yousefi says: “The first thing is that I completely give the credit of the photograph to the photographers that I’m using the photograph [of].”

He also makes clear he does not regard his work as appropriation, but rather, adding another layer to the original images.

“For me, it is showing the potentiality that the photograph has, in this case, the specific images of the revolution, which I think go beyond the document of revolution. There are hidden potentials that can come up. That’s why I really focus on the photographic side of these images, rather than the historical and political side.”

Above and opposite: from the series Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth, 2022 by Amin Yousefi

AMIN YOUSEFI / IMAGE FROM 44 DAYS: IRAN AND THE REMAKING OF THE WORLD BY DAVID BURNETT

Indeed, there is another aspect of rephotographing that Campany underscores in his essay, one which captures the careful, methodical process of Yousefi’s practice, a stark contrast to the often-fleeting attention we give images today.

“Against the notion of appropriation and theft, there is an equal and opposite notion of homage,” writes Campany. “Of paying close attention. Of respect. Of communion. Rephotographing also makes us look slower and closer, accepting what cannot be known but must be thought, nonetheless. It keeps the door open.”

In 2024 Yousefi had the opportunity to meet Michel Setboun, the French photographer regarded as one of the most important documentarians of the 1979 Iranian Revolution – and one of the photographers whose work he used as a basis for his Eyes Dazzle project.

“Sometimes you think [because I used these images] maybe the photographer is not comfortable with that, but his reaction was amazing,” says Yousefi. “He said that although he’d taken the original photographs, he believes the images truly belong to Iranians, as they represent our history – and that he was happy that my images have become a raw material for my project to add another layer to the concept of the photography and also the revolution.”

Yet despite the photos being of the revolution, Yousefi rejects the idea of his work as a political message or commentary on recent events in Iran. “It is very important for me to not respond to those events immediately in the artistic practice, because they are so fresh,” he says. “For me, it takes years, I think, to process those things.”

aminyousefi.com

DAVID BURNETT

From the series Shred the Patriarchy by Chantal Pinzi, Italy, Winner, Professional competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2025

THE CONTENDERS

We celebrate five young photographers making an impact on the world stage

WORDS:

CIARAN SNEDDON

Above and opposite: from the series Shred the Patriarchy by Chantal Pinzi, Italy, Winner, Professional competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2025

Chantal Pinzi Aged 28

“Sport speaks a language everyone can understand”

Acts of rebellion come in all shapes and sizes – sit-ins, strikes, rallies, social media campaigns. Big or small, these displays of defiance can generate genuine change.

For photographer Chantal Pinzi, the most interesting portrayal of rebellion comes on four wheels.

“I’m part of the skate community myself and I’ve directly experienced the deep personal impact skateboarding can have,” explains Pinzi, winner of the Sport category in the Professional Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025. “Getting on a board isn’t just about sport or tricks, it’s about learning resilience, determination and how to never give up, no matter what.

“Skateboarding teaches you life. It teaches you to fall, to rise and to keep going. And above all, when you’re on that board, you live freedom.

“Unlike many other sports that grew thanks to institutional support and

family encouragement, skateboarding rose up in spite of rejection. Skaters were chased away, harassed, discriminated against by adults and law enforcement. But from that hostile environment something powerful was born, a strong sense of community.

“Skateboarding doesn’t care who you are, only that you show up, fall, try again and keep pushing forward. That kind of inclusivity is powerful and it’s shaping a new generation that sees skateboarding not just as a sport but as a platform for freedom and equality.”

In Shred the Patriarchy (2024), Germany-based Pinzi documents female skateboarders who use this sport as a way to reclaim space, earn respect and imagine themselves as something different. Combining her backgrounds in activism and skateboarding, Pinzi identified that these skaters could express complex messages in uplifting, colourful style.

“Sport speaks a language everyone can understand, but it also exposes the structures of inequality, exclusion and control that shape our world,” she adds. “Sport tackles injustice while offering a path to empowerment. But in many countries, women still face significant barriers to participation.

“That’s why in my work, I choose to focus on sports where women are often excluded due to oppressive social norms. In these contexts, stepping into a skatepark is a radical and political act. When a woman enters these maledominated spaces, she’s not just playing, she’s resisting.

“Sport allows women to reclaim public space, challenge expectations and rewrite their roles in a society that tries to dictate who they should be – not just for themselves, but for women everywhere. That’s why I use sport. Because it reveals, it questions and, most of all, it empowers.” worldphoto.org

Micaela Valdivia Medina Aged 23

‘‘In a way, the prison sentence becomes collective”

The inspiration for a project that would see Micaela Valdivia Medina gain international recognition began with the kidnap, abuse and murder of a relative. Upon learning of what had happened to Ana at the hands of the Peruvian army, the Peru-born photographer was driven to create a project in her memory.

“She never got to tell her story, so I felt compelled to,” says Medina, named Student Photographer of the Year in the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards.

“I’ve always been interested in gender studies, territorial identity and violence, both photographically and socially,” she adds. “But Ana’s story made me reflect deeply on the idea of secrecy

and invisibility, which became the project’s first spark.

“It wasn’t until 2023, after moving from Peru to Chile, that things truly took shape. I met people involved in organisations working inside and outside prisons, and they became the bridge to this body of work.”

The result – The Last Day We Saw the Mountains and the Sea –explores female prisons and their inhabitants. It’s a touching, sensitive project, albeit one with barbed wire at its periphery. This sharp restraint is brought into the frame in one particular image which shows a bra tangled in the wiry spikes.

“That photograph fully embodies the project’s theme,” Medina says. “It captures how these women are tied

to each other and to a place that is both inaccessible and unknown. That’s exactly what I wanted to convey.

“The women I met live in constant resistance against isolation, violence and punishments imposed by the prison system. Behind each image lies a story of survival and strength, of lives pushing through despite the system’s brutality.”

Medina was interested in looking beyond the prison walls, too. She found that rather than just punishing those convicted of committing a crime, the prisons were having a sincere and concrete effect on others as well.

“What surprised me most was how the sentence imposed by the prison system extends far beyond the individual,” says Medina.

Above and opposite: from the series The Last Day We Saw the Mountains and the Sea by Micaela Valdivia Medina, Peru, Student Photographer of the Year, Sony World Photography Awards 2025

“It punishes their loved ones too. Regardless of whether someone has committed a crime, the distance of the prison, strict food and clothing regulations, weekly visit limitations and a lack of communication all turn the punishment into a shared experience. The families are penalised too. In a way, the prison sentence becomes collective.”

The project has been the biggest success yet for the young photographer and a catalyst for ongoing work, including plans to run photography workshops within prisons.

“I want to keep photographing the ‘other’ side of prisons, focusing on the families of incarcerated women and what happens outside those walls.

“These images capture parts of the prison system that are rarely photographed, rarely studied. I believe the stories of family members are just as vital as those of the incarcerated women. They deserve the space to be told.” worldphoto.org

Raymond Zhang Aged 14

‘‘Photography should be a tool, not the end goal”

At the age of just 14 years old, Raymond Zhang has already found a way to convert his childhood passions into interesting and engaging subjects for his photographic practice. It was five years ago, on his ninth birthday, that he received his first camera.

“From that moment on I became obsessed with viewing the world through my lens,” he says. “Everything around me suddenly felt more vivid –full of beauty, depth and meaning. Photography quickly became a way for me to connect with and explore the world.”

Above and opposite page: by Raymond Zhang, Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2024

The Chinese photographer credits bird photography for helping him understand the power of image-making.

“When I used my lens to capture the stunning beauty of birds’ feathers, I realised images can speak louder than words. They can evoke emotion and inspire action. Bird photography made me aware images can have a voice –and that voice can encourage people to care. Now, I use my camera to reflect a broader range of social issues.”

All of which took him to the trains.

Zhang was named Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2024 for a series that looked at the lives of train drivers at the Sandaoling Coal Mine in northwest China.

Above and opposite: by Raymond Zhang, Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2024

“I’ve always been fascinated by steam trains and I came across the Sandaoling Coal Mine on a travel website,” Zhang explains. “There wasn’t much information about it, but one sentence caught my eye –it said that this coal mine was the only place in China where steam trains were still operating.

“After digging deeper, I learned that the mine is located in the Gobi Desert, surrounded by barren land and little vegetation. I became curious about the lives of the train drivers who live and work in such a harsh environment, and I knew I had to go there and find out.

“Surprisingly, the atmosphere was relaxing. The train drivers hardly complained about their jobs. Even though many of them had worked there for over 40 years, I could see inner peace in their eyes. They would sit around chatting,

reminiscing and laughing together. Their connection to their work and to each other was moving.”

The coal mine has since closed – its demise was already on the cards during Zhang’s visit. “What would happen to them next?’ he asks. “That question lingered in every conversation. Through this photo series, I hoped to show that these individuals have poured their lives into this place, leaving behind indelible marks in the heart of the earth. Their stories deserve to be remembered.

“Photography should be a tool, not the end goal. My aim is to use photography to uncover and highlight social issues. I want to create images that are impactful, that open people’s eyes and hearts. I hope my photographs can serve as magnifying glasses for the hidden or overlooked realities in our world.” tpoty.com

Sander Coers Aged 27

“AI expands on the tradition of photography as a mix of truth and invention”

If there is a buzzword to be found in the vast majority of industries and artforms this year, it is surely AI. This blossoming, ever-expanding technology – which for many seemed to erupt from Science Fiction into everyday life almost overnight – has a jagged edge. It is seen simultaneously as the future, as dangerous, as worldchanging, world-ending, the best of human invention, the worst of human temptation.

Out on the precipice, though, where AI meets good old-fashioned creativity, there are some remarkable things being done. Sander Coers, a Rotterdambased young artist, has been combining past and present through several of his series, including POST.

“I began by scanning a bunch of my grandparents’ photographs,” explains Coers, who was among 19 winners of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation’s Foam Talent 2024.

“I then used an AI tool and fed it these images so it could learn the kind of look we have in our family archive. Think of it as teaching the AI our family’s visual language. I’d provide it details like the colour tones, lighting and overall feel of those old photos.

“Once it had a handle on that, I began asking it to generate new images that matched those characteristics. The result was a set of photographs that looked at home in our family album, even if they were completely imagined.”

Above and opposite: from the series POST by Sander Coers, a winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation’s Foam Talent 2024

In some ways it is the flaws of the AI bot that make POST so interesting. It might have got the visual palette correct, but it made false assumptions about historical reality. For example, Coers’ Indonesian-born grandfather is seen frolicking in an Alpine meadow –something that never happened.

Coers says he is fascinated by how the AI-generated images pose questions on masculinity and memory.

“Working on the project has been a very introspective experience for me,” he explains. “It’s been both challenging and comforting to revisit my family’s history – even the parts that are incomplete or a bit mysterious. It has made me reflect on how memories are not always about what really happened but more about what we remember, imagine and construct over time. Overall, it’s been a personal journey in understanding how we all carry our own versions of the past.”

Coers acknowledges that there is a great deal of negative opinion out there about AI’s creeping influence on the creative arts. “I totally get it,” he says. “People often worry that AI might compromise or replace real creativity. For me, though, AI is just another tool in the creative process. I’m not letting the AI do all the work – I’m using it to explore ideas about memory and nostalgia that have always fascinated me.

“Photography has always been a mix of truth and invention, and AI just expands on that tradition. The focus remains on the stories behind the images and on connecting personal memory with collective history. It’s about exploring what makes an image feel real, even if part of that ‘reality’ is generated by a machine.”

POST is on display as part of the Foam Talent 2024 exhibition at The Cube, Frankfurt/Eschborn until 16 August

‘Yad (you)’ from the series We Will Return to You by Hannah Altman

Hannah Altman Aged 29

“I treated each photograph as a kind of living folktale”

Boston-based photographer

Hannah Altman, a Jewish-American artist originally from New Jersey, has long been fascinated by how folklore and memory can be portrayed in a visual medium.

“I’m drawn to them because they explore a mode of storytelling that isn’t linear or fixed,” she says. “Folklore carries heavy emotional memories of a culture. Fear, ritual, longing – the values that get passed down not always through formal study, but through stories told at the table, objects handled over time, rituals repeated and reinterpreted.

“In Jewish practice especially, memory is both sacred and active.

It is something one performs, not something one merely possesses. Photography gives me a way to trace and visualise those echoes, to hold on to the ephemeral, and to imagine new possibilities of narrative.”

This approach is on full show in We Will Return to You, a monograph published earlier this year. Describing ‘Yad (you)’ – an individual image from the collection –Altman explains, “It’s a portrait of a woman, head tilted back … and a yad, the Judaica object used as a Torah pointer when reading holy text, poking into the soft and vulnerable area underneath the chin.

‘Baba Yaga’ from the series We Will Return to You by Hannah Altman ‘Embody’ from the series We Will Return to You by Hannah Altman

“Here, the long finger of the yad appears menacing but also delicate. It transforms from a reading tool into a symbolic gesture – treating the woman’s body (specifically the line of her throat) as a kind of holy text, something to be read, interpreted, remembered. It evokes the idea that memory, tradition and story are not only preserved in books but carried in the body itself.”

The project took five years – just half the duration of another of Altman’s projects which after a decade is still a work-in-progress.

Indoor Voices began in 2015 as an exploration of multi-generational womanhood. Usually positioned within a domestic or other indoor setting, Altman and her mother stage often stilted or deliberately composed tableaux of their relationship, both real and imagined.

“It naturally evolved into a long-term project,” explains Altman. “It began very simply, with a few quiet portraits and a desire to photograph my mother in a way that felt intimate but expansive. I was 19 when we began the project, and it has spanned over all my twenties.

“Over time it became clear that the work was unfolding in layers I couldn’t have anticipated. Continuing it has become a conscious choice. The long duration allows the project to hold both change and continuity in us aging, our relationship, in my questions as a photographer, and in the shifting ways I think about care, memory and collaboration. I feel very differently about motherhood and image-making now versus at age 19.”

We Will Return To You by Hannah Altman is published by Saint Lucy Books. saintlucybooks.com/shop

‘Foundation’ from the series We Will Return To You by Hannah Altman ‘Armful’ from the series We Will Return To You by Hannah Altman

‘My weight in salt’ from the series We Will Return To You by Hannah Altman

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GAME PLAN

Need advice on mapping out your photographic journey? Andy Golding ASICI FRPS can help you nail those project proposals

There is a power in preparing proposals for your photography projects. Just ask Andy Golding ASICI FRPS. In his online workshop Photography and Writing: Proposals to Projects, Golding teaches the skills needed to create effective proposals to benefit your images, whether for a passion project or for professional or personal development.

“Writing a strong proposal or statement of intent can help you plan, provide guidance on your project’s potential and inform you of the practicalities of producing photographs,” says the Society’s education chair. “They also act as constant reminders of your photography’s purpose and audience.”

GO TO

rps.org/whatson for the latest updates

With advice on how to present a statement of intent confidently and ways to analyse your work to improve it, the techniques you’ll learn in this workshop – running 6-8pm between 11-18 September – are varied and comprehensive.

“The skills you’ll develop will help better frame your ideas and inform the intentions and concepts underpinning your work,” explains Golding. “You’ll learn how a well-written proposal can guide your vision throughout a project, which is invaluable when bringing your work to life.”

Photography and Writing: Proposals to Projects, 11-18 September, £55 for RPS members. rps.org/events-listing

THEATRE OF LIGHT AT NIGHT

GETTING STARTED IN UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

Wed 16 Jul, 6-8pm

In this webinar by award-winning photographer Maria Munn LRPS, discover the equipment and techniques needed to make a splash with your underwater photographs. £26 for RPS members. Online, via Zoom.

SEO AND ONLINE MARKETING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Thu 14 Aug, 11am-1pm

Website designer Allie Astell discusses practical ways to make the most of your digital marketing strategy – from making your website more search engine friendly to leveraging Google Analytics and social media. £40 for RPS members. Online, via Zoom.

PRACTICAL FLOWER PHOTOGRAPHY –SUSSEX PRAIRIES

Thu 21 Aug-Thu 4 Sep, 6.30-7.30pm

Combining an online introductory session, a day out at Sussex Prairie Garden and an online review of your best shots, this workshop led by Polina Plotnikova FRPS will help your flower photography skills flourish. £130 for RPS members. Sussex Prairie Garden, Henfield, West Sussex.

5 THE SPIDER BOOK – AN ALTERNATIVE PHOTO ALBUM Fri 26 Sep, 10.30am-12.30pm

Join Lynne Connolly, senior lecturer in photography at the University of Chester, to create your own spider photobook – an album type whose structure was created by paper engineer and artist Heidi Kyle. £26 for RPS members. Online, via Zoom.

‘Project to proposal’ photomontage by Andy Golding ASICI FRPS

‘Outstanding beauty’ by Polina Plotnikova FRPS

DISTINCTIONS

A pyrotechnical Documentary Associate Distinction submission earns warm praise from RPS assessors

From the successful Associate submission by Raymond Hughes ARPS

WHAT ARE RPS

DISTINCTIONS?

Distinctions are prestigious qualifications assessed on three levels that encourage you to refine your skills, experiment with styles and techniques and push your creative boundaries

LICENTIATE (LRPS)

Applicants must show photographic competence in approach and techniques

ASSOCIATE (ARPS)

Requires a body of work of a high standard, and a written statement of intent

FELLOWSHIP (FRPS)

Requires a body of work of distinctive ability and excellence, plus a written statement of intent

TOWERING AMBITION

Northern Ireland’s Eleventh Night bonfires inspire a successful Documentary Associate by Raymond Hughes ARPS, writes Jonathan McIntosh

Summer bonfires have been a tradition in Northern Ireland for centuries, with many Unionist communities spending weeks building pyres before setting the towering constructions alight on 11 July, the Eleventh Night.

The bonfires kickstart the 12 July celebrations that commemorate the victory of Protestant King William III over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Today they symbolise beacons that relayed the victory of King William of Orange at the Boyne. While the bonfires can cause some tension, particularly if built close to Nationalist areas, they are also seen as a deeprooted form of cultural expression.

Chairman of Merville Newtownabbey Photographic Club for the last 18 years, Raymond Hughes ARPS became a Society member in 2010. Since then, he has joined – and for a decade led the Society’s Ireland branch of – the Audio Visual Group, achieved his Audio Visual ARPS in 2015 and became part of the Documentary Group. His digital format Associate Documentary submission, which led to Distinctions success in October 2024, signals a shift in direction.

“My photography shows how people interact with their environments, which is what I enjoy about the work of Martin Parr CBE HonFRPS and Sir Don McCullin CBE HonFRPS,” says Hughes.

“I’d long been considering a different Distinction. When I saw communities erecting Eleventh Night bonfires on the news in 2016 this project sparked to life.”

The communities behind today’s beacons take centre stage in the work of Hughes – but his focus is on children’s excitement over the bonfires rather than any political or religious affiliations.

“I’d always been used to seeing children building bonfires in their summer holidays,” he explains, “but over the years adults have become more involved in the creation of these impressive structures.”

When Hughes first began photographing the bonfires, little did he know his interest would lead him to witness the tallest one in the world, which stood at over 220ft in a Larne estate.

“Bonfires are contentious because they are seen as sectarian and can damage nearby facilities and homes,” says Hughes. ““But to those that build them, they’re vivid expressions of identity and community.”

Although bonfires are legal in Northern Ireland, they are regulated by powers exercised by public bodies including local authorities, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS). Safety in the construction and burning of bonfires can be a

concern – the NIFRS attended 34 bonfire-related incidents between 6pm on 11 July and 2am on 12 July 2023.

Hughes’s documentary project has introduced him to many adults across Northern Ireland who have viewed his images of their bonfires as they try to outdo their efforts of previous years. The joy children find in this tradition, though, is what continues to draw his focus.

“Despite adults making Eleventh Night bonfire construction increasingly competitive, I’ve realised it remains a summer adventure for children,” says Hughes. “The first image I took for this project is of a group of kids tending a fire under umbrellas – the central boy’s expression is priceless. This photo remains in the final portfolio.”

Selecting images for his Associate submission proved tricky for Hughes.

“My audio-visual instincts saw me wanting to add more,” he says, “but following an advisory day I replaced images to balance and strengthen the portfolio’s intent before submission in July 2024. I would strongly recommend an advisory day for anyone undertaking a Distinction.”

Below and opposite From the successful Associate submission by Raymond Hughes ARPS

Why this submission works

Simon R Leach FRPS Chair of the Documentary Distinctions panel

Raymond Hughes is to be congratulated for this successful submission and the project he’s undertaken to achieve it.

The statement of intent is clear and well-crafted in introducing the imagery and Raymond’s chosen narrative. The images are

carefully selected and presented to create a body of work which engages the viewer.

Raymond’s understanding and vision are clearly demonstrated. There’s a sense this isn’t just about a tradition of children overtaken by adults, but also about those individuals that will carry this tradition forward for generations.

The body of work hangs cohesively across a variety of locations and times, providing the viewer with summer sun and summer downpours, characters and scale, proximity to residence, barriers and well-known businesses. Perhaps most importantly there’s happiness, boredom, camaraderie and bravado.

An Associate Distinction very justly awarded.

“I wanted through these images to portray the community involvement in the building of the bonfires”

Statement of intent

July bonfires have been a tradition in Northern Ireland for generations, culminating in the lighting of the fires on 11 July. In the past this was an activity for children during the long summer school holiday, but in recent decades the erecting of these pyres has become a competition between groups of adults each trying to outdo the other in the various housing estates. Their size and siting are in many cases controversial. I wanted through these images to portray the community involvement in the building of the bonfires. I hope they show it is still a summer adventure for the children despite the takeover by adults who see it as a demonstration of their identity.

Right, below and opposite

From the successful Associate submission by Raymond Hughes ARPS

Distinctions successes

Congratulations to these RPS members

FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH

July 2024

● Alison Price

LICENTIATE

November 2024

● Philip Brady

LICENTIATE

March 2025

● John Barben

● Ian Gardiner

● Fintan Healy

● Zwe Hein

● Mark Randall

● David J Robinson

● Peter Sawtell

● Ling Yin (Fritz) Wong

ASSOCIATE NATURAL HISTORY

March 2025

● Richard Broomfield

● Mark Wardle

ASSOCIATE APPLIED

April 2025

● Andrew Houghton

● Stephen Iliffe

ASSOCIATE DOCUMENTARY

April 2025

● Roy Brown

FELLOWSHIP DOCUMENTARY

April 2025

● Yizhen Zhang

LICENTIATE

May 2025

● Jim Boud

● Chris Bowman

● Christopher Dawson

● Mark Dunn

● Chue Eain Khant

● Andrew Martin

● Munier Hossain

● Chris Phillips

● Gordon Rhind

● Steve Stone

ASSOCIATE CONTEMPORARY

May 2025

● Minke Groenewoud Beerda

● Simon Maddison

ASSOCIATE PHOTOBOOKS

May 2025

● Janice Bowen

● Adrian James

FELLOWSHIP CONTEMPORARY

May 2025

● Andrew Crawford

● Michael Hawkridge

● Anastasia Potekhina

● Andy Smith

Obituaries

Sebastião Salgado HonFRPS (1944-2025)

When he was interviewed for the RPS Journal in 2017, Sebastião Salgado HonFRPS, who has died aged 81, said, “I don’t have any pretension that I changed something in the world, but I am sure I participated in a change.”

This was a typically modest statement from a photographer who explored complex issues around work, the human condition and landscape and nature.

Lip Seng Tan FRPS (1942-2025)

Lip Seng Tan FRPS, who has died aged 82 years, was the RPS’s representative for Singapore.

FELLOWSHIP PHOTOBOOKS

May 2025

● Madeleine Lenagh

● Beat Suter

● Jon Wrigley

FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH

May 2025

● Tat Keung Tam

LICENTIATE EXEMPTION

● Gabe Brace

● Charlotte Lord

● Susanne Tempus

● Brian Walsh

● Sydney Wilton

ASSOCIATE EXEMPTION

● Neil David Barclay

● Tobias Beach-wyld

● George William Laurence Betts

● Emma Davies

● Marc Zane Hubbard

● Qian Li

● Zhuoheng Li

● Xuesheng Ma

● Pauline Elizabeth Mooney

● Sit Ka Pan

● Chloe Sastry

● John Slater

● Russell Smith

● David Swinburne

● James Stuart Wise

● Sarah Young

His projects were often monumental in their scale and ranged from child labour, work and migration to indigenous cultures, the Amazon and the Antarctic. His exhibitions and books were rooted in his political activism and resonated with politicians and the public.

Salgado was born in Brazil, studying in São Paulo and Paris before moving to London. He worked as an economist, giving him an understanding of and insight into the subjects he would focus his camera on.

Upon his discovery of photography he left his job, turned freelance and moved to Paris. He joined the Sygma Agency, then Gamma in 1975 and Magnum in 1979. He set up his own agency, Amazonas Images, in 1994.

Rather than simply documenting – which it did superbly – Selgado’s photography raised awareness and found power and beauty in challenging subject matter. In the late 1990s he returned to Brazil to reforest 17,000 acres of ranch land, rebuilding its ecosystem.

He was optimistic about the future of the planet and its wildlife but for the future of humankind he told the Journal “I don’t have a big hope … the Earth cannot give to us what we are taking from it”.

He was the first recipient of the RPS Centenary Medal in 1993 and received numerous other awards for his photography and environmental work.

Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

Tan was born in Singapore and took up photography when he was twelve years old. His career was as a medical photographer at the National University of Singapore. Photography was also his main outside interest, and his creative journey evolved from mastering darkroom techniques in the 1950s, to pioneering colour-derivation montages in the 1970s, to a later embrace of digital media.

He joined the RPS in 1963 and gained his Associate in 1964, followed by a Fellowship in 1970. Tan became the RPS’s overseas service representative for Singapore in 1986 until 2010 and was active in promoting its Distinctions to local photographers.

In 1998, he was awarded the RPS’s Fenton Medal for services to the Society and enrolled as an Honorary Life Member – the first Chinese recipient of this honour.

He was a member of the PSA from 1967 and received his APSA in 1994. He also gained a FIAP gold medal.

Locally, Tan was awarded with the Singapore Cultural Medallion in 1985 for outstanding contributions to photography. His photography has been collected by several museums and he was one of the photographers featured by Singapore Post for the Singapore National Day 2008 stamp issue.

In 2009 he showcased his life’s work in a solo exhibition of 400 prints titled Painting with Light & Shadow – A 50 Year Chronicle at Ngee Ann Cultural Centre, accompanied by a book documenting his remarkable five-decade journey.

Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

Stanley Matchett MBE FRPS (1932-2025)

The most famous photograph by Stanley Matchett MBE FRPS was of

From the successful Associate Applied submission by Andrew Houghton ARPS

Father Edward Daly waving a white handkerchief in front of a fatally wounded teenager being carried past British paratroopers. Taken in Derry on 30 January 1972, it became the defining image of Bloody Sunday.

But Matchett, who has died aged 92 years, also photographed the Beatles, royal weddings, political gatherings and celebrities. He worked for much of his career at the Belfast Telegraph and later the Daily Mirror. He won the Northern Ireland Sports Photographer of the Year award three times and was named Press Photographer of the Year in the Rothmans Press Awards for Northern Ireland. His 1986 winning image ‘Water jump’ appeared on the cover of the Photographic Journal. He was awarded an MBE for services to photography in 2003.

Matchett joined the RPS in 1978, gaining his Associate in 1979 and Fellowship in 1983, both in the Visual Journalism category.

His Fellowship portfolio, featured in the RPS Journal in March 1984, showed his ability to capture a picture across sports, news and the ‘Troubles’. He regularly spoke about his work to the Visual Journalism Group, ran workshops and exhibited.

John Miskelly FRPS adds, “Stanley was one of the nicest, most helpful photographers I’ve had the privilege to know, with a huge amount of talent.

He always attended RPS Northern Ireland events, often taking promotional images for us. I was honoured to call him my friend and remember the fun Gerry Coe and I had at his 90th birthday party, hosted in Neil Shawcross’s studio. He will be sadly missed.”

Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

John H Chillingworth HonFRPS (1928-2025)

John H Chillingworth HonFRPS, who has died aged 97, was lauded as “one of the makers of photographic

history”. He was one of the youngest photographers on Picture Post magazine and later created his own picture stories as a freelancer.

Chillingworth entered Fleet Street aged 16 years, making tea and trimming prints at Picture Post. He progressed to the darkroom at the height of World War Two. Returning to the magazine after three years as an army conscript, its editor Tom Hopkinson took a chance and offered him a role as a photographer. Chillingworth worked for Picture Post from 1949 to 1956, producing more than 400 photos that are now part of the magazine’s archive held by the Getty Archive.

As with many of his contemporaries on Picture Post, Chillingworth had an empathy for his subjects which came across in his pictures. One commentator noted, “He has that rare gift of being able to convey a complex narrative through one seemingly simple image.”

After a cycling accident in the late 1970s he reconsidered his career and moved into writing, with articles often accompanied by his own photography. He also acted in a consultancy role on the Picture Post archive.

A member of the RPS from 1956, Chillingworth was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2008. A monograph of his work was published by Dewi Lewis in 2013.

Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

Ken Ness FRPS (1945-2025)

Ken Ness FRPS was born in Dunbar in 1945. After leaving school he went to the London College of Printing where he began his love affair with photography – and with Pat, who was to become his wife.

Pat had returned to the UK to study geography and archeology, and met Ness who lived in a trendy flat in central London with, among others, Marianne Faithfull.

Matt Butson, vice president of the Getty Images Archive, describes Chillingworth as “one of the great unsung heroes of the golden age of photojournalism.

“Much like a number of his better-known peers at the magazine such as Kurt Hutton and Bert Hardy, John was adept at creating images that worked as ‘narratives’ and with few exceptions, he would compose the image in the viewfinder. It is astonishing when viewing his contact strips to see what a high percentage of his images are perfectly framed.”

After leaving Picture Post, Chillingworth went freelance, continuing to make photographs and creating stories. He moved into advertising photography and corporate work for clients such as British Steel and ICI, who were attracted to his documentary skills. His photography was peoplefocused, naturalistic and unconfrontational.

After a shortish career with Metal Box as a research chemist, Ness opened a professional printing business and moved to Darley Bridge, Derbyshire, where he and Pat were involved in the early days of Photoshop. The couple had a son, Jonathan, who lives with his family in Aberdeen.

On retiring, Ness returned north of the border to St Cyrus. After joining the RPS he quickly gained his Licentiate, then in 2015 was awarded his Associate before achieving his Fellowship in 2023.

Ness was heavily involved in the RPS Digital Imaging Group, and became webmaster for RPS Scotland in 2019, a post he held until he died. He worked tirelessly and selflessly on our web presence, the Facebook pages, the monthly competition and many other committee activities. He will be missed for all of that, but also as a good friend, talker and listener.

Steven Whittaker ARPS

Sebastião Salgado HonFRPS at the launch of his exhibition Amazônia at the Science Museum, London, October 2021

Reports of meetings of the Board of Trustees

28 March 2025

Present: Simon Hill (Chair), Carolyn Bloore, Sebah Chaudhry, Sophie Collins, Victoria Forrest, Melissa Magnuson, James Weeks Attending: Dan Jones (CEO), Nikki McCoy (Director, Finance and Human Resources), Lucinda Stewart (Director, Membership and Marketing)

The meeting was held online. This was a scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees. Dan Jones reported strong financial and operational performance for 2025 Q1. Membership numbers and income were ahead of target. Education and Distinctions activity and

performance were reviewed. The sale of RPS House, Bristol, has progressed with a memorandum of sale, and the Board approved the planned relocation to administrative offices close to Paintworks. The proceeds from the sale will replenish the financial reserves and, together with further improvements to operating expenditure, support the Society’s investment in its digital infrastructure, helping ensure longterm efficiencies and sustainability.

The Finance Committee minutes from February and March were received, with the financial performance consistent with the CEO’s report. Looking ahead, the Board will prioritise work on the Strategic Plan 2026-2030. The responsibility to lead this process will fall to the incoming CEO, with a formal proposal to be discussed at a future meeting. James Weeks reported on progress with the recruitment of a new CEO. No changes were made to the Risk Register, although a further review is planned alongside the strategic planning process.

Committee minutes from the Members, Education and Science committees, together with papers from the Nominations Committee and the PAGB Executive, were received and reviewed. A special meeting of the Representatives Committee, called by Melissa Magnuson to discuss governance matters, had its minutes circulated separately.

The Board noted there will be two Appointed Trustee vacancies: one following the resignation of Andrew Clifforth and another that will arise at the AGM in September when Sophie Collins reaches the end of her tenure. A further vacancy, for an Elected Trustee, may be created depending on the outcome of the forthcoming EGM.

As an interim measure, the Board approved the co-option of Mathew Lodge to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Andrew and to serve until the close of the AGM.

With Mathew’s co-option, the Board returns to full strength.

The Board discussed preparations for the EGM, including oversight of communications and FAQs, which will be updated following feedback from the Town Hall meeting.

The Town Hall was well attended and produced valuable ideas for future consideration. These included the reinstatement of the office of President Elect (in place of Deputy Chair); separating the roles of Chair and President; and holding regular forums for member engagement. Sophie Collins will prepare briefing papers on these proposals.

9 April 2025

Present: Simon Hill (Chair), Carolyn Bloore, Sebah Chaudhry, Sophie Collins, Victoria Forrest, Mathew Lodge, Melissa Magnuson, James Weeks Attending: Dan Jones (CEO), Nikki McCoy (Director, Finance and Human Resources)

The meeting was held online. This was a special meeting of the Board to confirm the appointment of the CEO.

Simon Hill opened the meeting and confirmed its validity and quorum. James Weeks led the Board through a discussion of the final shortlisted candidates before the Board approved the appointment of Victoria Humphries as Chief Executive Officer.

Terms of employment and remuneration were agreed, subject to negotiation with the recruitment

agency and acceptance by Victoria. An offer letter was issued on 10 April 2025 and accepted. All references were received and were satisfactory. The contract of employment was signed by Simon on behalf of the Board on 14 April 2025, with Victoria’s employment effective from 19 May 2025.

The Board discussed handover arrangements between Victoria and the outgoing CEO Dan Jones. Simon and Dan will liaise directly with Victoria to ensure a smooth transition.

Trustees were reminded they will need to set the new CEO’s objectives. These are expected to ensure continuity from the targets of the outgoing CEO, including achieving cash neutrality and increasing membership growth, while establishing new goals aligned with the development of the Strategic Plan 2026-2030.

30 May 2025

Present: Simon Hill (Chair), Sebah Chaudhry, Sophie Collins, Mathew Lodge, James Weeks

Apologies: Carolyn Bloore, Victoria Forrest

Attending: Victoria Humphries (CEO), Lucinda Stewart (Director, Membership and Marketing)

The meeting was held in person at RPS House. This was a scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Having given apologies, Carolyn Bloore and Victoria Forrest were able to join online for some of the meeting. Simon Hill, as Chair, welcomed the newly-appointed CEO Victoria Humphries to her first Board meeting and Mathew Lodge as a co-opted Trustee. The Board recorded the resignation of Melissa Magnuson.

In response to advice received from the Nominations Committee, Simon sought volunteers for the role of Deputy Chair. Two volunteers came forward and Mathew was elected to the role. He will serve until the close of the AGM in September. In his capacity as Acting Chair of the Finance Committee, Mathew provided an update on the recruitment of an Honorary Treasurer. The Board discussed how improvements could be made to recruitment and onboarding of new Trustees. A sub-group of the Board will present proposals to a future meeting.

There was discussion on the member proposals that flowed from the Town Hall meeting and the EGM, supported by several papers prepared by Sophie Collins. The Board supported, in principle, the reintroduction of the President Elect position and agreed to consider options as to how this proposal might be enabled.

The Board did not support the decoupling of the President and Chair roles. The Board considered the creation of a new ‘engagement framework’ that would provide a discussion forum for members, the executive team and the Board of Trustees. Proposals for this framework will be explored in consultation with the wider RPS community.

Mathew presented a paper discussing the implications and opportunities of AI for photography and, more specifically, for the Distinctions process. Simon explained the current position and described the guidance provided to Distinctions applicants. Mathew will liaise with the Education Committee and others to develop a more wideranging position statement for review by the Board, potentially

‘John Dorney, writer and actor’ by Flavia FraserCannon, exhibited in March 2025 at the RPS London Region Members’ Exhibition, Espacio Gallery, E2

to include more guidance for members working towards a Distinction assessment.

Mathew reported on the financial performance in April and May, with additional operational and marketing context provided by Lucinda Stewart. The Board considered how recent performance and the sale of RPS House would influence the subsequent financial position, the ambition to achieve a neutral operating budget, the reserves level, investment potential, and anticipated funding provision for essential digital infrastructure projects.

Meeting reports were provided by James Weeks (the Members Committee), Victoria Forrest (the Representatives Committee), and Carolyn Bloore (PAGB). The Board reviewed the Actions Register and Risk Register. Following an update on the sale of RPS House, the Board passed a resolution reaffirming its approval for Simon, as Chair of Trustees, to sign and seal the contract of sale on behalf of the RPS.

Victoria (CEO) outlined her intended process and timetable for developing the Strategic Plan 2026-2030. The Board supported the proposal and welcomed the intention to consult with the Members Committee, the Representative Committee and the Finance Committee.

Trustees oversight will ensure the strategy will fulfil a Board ambition to improve and enhance opportunities for greater member engagement while ensuring the RPS becomes a more significant national voice in photography.

Simon Hill CPhot HonFRPS President and Chair of Trustees

Report of the Extraordinary General Meeting 2025

24 April 2025

On 28 November 2024, the Board of Trustees proposed a motion to amend bylaws 2024:9.4 and 2024:11.3 and to re-elect Simon Hill HonFRPS as President and Chair of Trustees for a further term of two years. The motion had the unanimous support of the Board of Trustees and the RPS Nominations Committee, and was supported by 20 members of the RPS Members Committee. Following a review of the proposed amendments, advisers to the Privy Council had confirmed that the Board could move to an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and seek member support for the motion. As the motion required a change to the bylaws, support of a twothirds majority of members voting was needed. An FAQ document was issued by the Board in support of the process.

On 5 March 2025, as required under bylaw 2024:28.8 that gives members the opportunity to provide written submissions and debate the motion, a Town Hall meeting was held online, after which an updated FAQ document was issued by the Board.

On 24 April 2025, an EGM was held online, with 174 members attending. The sole business of the EGM was to vote on the motion as a resolution. Under provision of bylaw 2024:28.7, to ensure maximum opportunity for engagement of members, electronic voting was approved by the Board. Mathew Lodge LRPS (co-opted Trustee) and Dan Jones (CEO) facilitated the vote and each was required to verify the result.

There were 369 votes cast – 309 members voted in support of the motion and 60 voted against. With 83.74% voting in support, the required twothirds majority was exceeded and the motion was passed. Subsequent to the EGM, the signed and sealed resolution was forwarded to the Privy Council.

Simon Hill CPhot HonFRPS President and Chair of Trustees

VOICEBOX

The Society embraces a new era even as it bids farewell to one of the greats

On 23 May the world of photography mourned the death of Sebastião Salgado HonFRPS, one of the greatest photographers of modern times. In 1993 he was the first recipient of the RPS Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship, awarded in recognition of his sustained and significant contribution to the art of photography.

Throughout his career Salgado used his powerful and evocative black-andwhite images as a compelling voice for environmental and social awareness. He documented not only the beauty and fragility of the natural world but also the complex relationship between humanity and the environment. His photography transcends aesthetics, functioning as visual testimony that provokes reflection, empathy and ultimately action.

What makes Salgado’s body of work particularly effective as a voice for environmental advocacy is that it is not defined by any strict definition of genre. It simultaneously embraces documentary, photojournalism, landscape and natural history. His legacy relies on the moral and

emotional weight of his photography. His carefully composed images, rich in tonal depth, carry an almost biblical gravitas.

Nor does Salgado separate environmental from social issues. His earlier projects, such as WorkersandMigrations, portray the human cost of economic exploitation and displacement, subtly foreshadowing the environmental collapse that is so often a consequence of these systems. In whatever ways we view Salgado’s work, we see his vision and we hear his voice – his work becomes a legacy to all humanity.

As the RPS moves from the building we have occupied for the past five years, the Board of Trustees and executive team are drafting the strategic plan for the next five. However that strategy takes shape, it will inevitably include two significant ambitions. Firstly, just as Salgado used photography as his voice for social and environmental awareness, the RPS must find its voice to advocate for photography and photographers in a rapidly changing creative and cultural landscape. With the relentless advance of AI, perhaps never in the history of photography has finding our voice been more important.

Secondly, as we continue to imagine a more effective framework for Distinctions –the milestones that punctuate the creative journey for so many of our members – we might take another lesson from Salgado and consider a new way of thinking about our Fellowship. Beyond the restrictive confines of a single genre, the Fellowship could be thought of as a curated ‘body of work’ that represents and celebrates the voice of the photographer, contributing to a broader social or creative discourse and creating a legacy personal to the image-maker.

With the recent turbulence of governance behind us – and perhaps inspired by the life and work of our first Centenary Medallist – it is the Board’s objective to chart a new era for the RPS. Our ambition is to have a significant and respected voice in photography and to provide ever greater encouragement and recognition for our members.

SIMON HILL CPhot HonFRPS President,TheRoyalPhotographicSociety

Distinctions assessment panel member Jayne Odell FRPS admires ‘Southern right whales, Valdés Peninsula, Argentina, 2004’ by Sebastião Salgado HonFRPS

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

An atmospheric photogravure of the Empire Theatre illuminates Paul Martin’s skill at nighttime photography, writes Sarah French

With a monolithic statue at its centre, the title of this photogravure might seem allegorical to contemporary viewers. Perhaps a representation of London’s wealth and power at the end of the 19th century.

To its creator Paul Martin, though, this was unlikely the case. The theatre in the background was the Empire, whose illuminated façade lit up Leicester Square on a wet, wintry evening.

VISIT

Martin’s ability to produce images at night astonished visitors to the Royal Photographic Society’s 1896 exhibition. Initially presented as lantern slides, many viewers believed them fake. With a mid-range aperture and exposure times of up to 30 minutes, though, the

gaslights of surrounding streets and buildings perfectly exposed Martin’s dry plates in his small, handheld camera.

Martin opted for a blue tone to enhance the nighttime atmosphere. This was expertly reproduced in print by the esteemed copper engraver Walter L Colls, who included it in the portfolio Pictorial Photographs. A Record of the Photographic Salon of 1896.

Despite winning the Society’s highest medal for this series, Martin felt his subject matters were never truly appreciated by the RPS. A grand cathedral or an ancient ruin was more revered as an architectural subject than, say, a variety theatre or a contemporary

replica statue of William Shakespeare. A little research, though, reveals this location was quite fitting.

If we visit the statue today we see Shakespeare pointing to a scroll which reads: ‘There is no darkness but ignorance.’ Looking back, throughout 1896, the Empire Theatre was dazzling audiences with another photographic breakthrough – the Cinématographe. It was the UK’s premiere venue for Auguste and Louis Lumière’s motion pictures, where spectators cheered a passing train and mused over the awe-inspiring possibilities for photography. Sarah French is curatorial fellow in photography at the V&A, London

‘The Empire by night’, 1896, by Paul Martin. Photogravure by Walter L Colls

The RPS Collection is at the V&A Photography Centre, London vam.ac.uk

THE JOURNEY

A little piece of Scotland in the American south is celebrated in a new series and book by Robbie Lawrence

Think of the Highland Games and you would assume it all takes place in Scotland, but this photograph of young Highland dancers was actually shot in the American south.

It is taken from Long Walk Home by Edinburgh-born, London-based photographer Robbie Lawrence. The book offers a diasporic lens on the historic sporting contests which take place across Scotland – and indeed north America –every summer.

Lawrence travelled to the southern state of North Carolina in 2023 to capture the biggest Scottish gathering beyond the nation’s borders. Many Scots were forcibly migrated to America following the Highland Clearances in the 18th century and their descendants wear this heritage as a badge of pride. “There’s a hyperbolic view of Scottishness there,” says Lawrence.

On his second morning in the place, an unexpected storm sent the Highland

dancers and their parents into a tented area seeking shelter. Photographed through tarpaulin, these figures are dislocated from time and place, giving the picture a poetic feel. “It got me thinking about this idea of the ‘expected’ image,” remembers Lawrence.

Prior to this project he had been reluctant to photograph his homeland for fear of perpetuating cliches or stereotypes. Here the decontexualisation is a deliberate ploy to “challenge

and confuse the viewer a little about what they are seeing”, he says. Yet looking back, he is struck by how Scottish the proceedings felt – from the mountainous landscape to the dreich weather.

As he later learned, millions of years ago this land was contiguous with Scotland, splitting over time with Earth’s tectonic movements.

Long Walk Home by Robbie Lawrence is published by Stanley/Barker, £75. stanleybarker.co.uk

From Long Walk Home by Robbie Lawrence

Osaka I Hiroshima I Kyoto I Kanazawa

Takayama I Nagano I Mount Fuji I Tokyo

Beijing I Xian I Yangtze River Cruise Guilin I Yangshuo I Shanghai

16 DAY FULLY INCLUSIVETOUR FROM £4,260PP

INSPIRING INDIA

Delhi I Jaipur I Pushkar I Udaipur

Bundi I Ranthambore I Agra I Delhi

KRUGERTO CAPEEXPLORED

Johannesburg I Panorama Route

Greater Kruger National Park I Gqeberha Knysna I Oudtshoorn I Cape Town

Siem Reap I Phnom Penh I Saigon Hoi An I Hue I Hanoi I Halong Bay

PANORAMIC PERU

Lima I Cusco I Sacred Valley I Machu Picchu I Puno I Colca I Arequipa

RPS Jul/Aug/Sep 2025

Five young photographers to watch

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE RPS

Opening shot

Contents

Features

228

230 HISTORY

244 BURSARY

252

BEST SHOTS

DISTINCTIONS

Cover story

THINK

CONTRIBUTORS

AN ONLINE OPEN UNIVERSITY COURSE

‘Adidas shoe factory, Indonesia’

In focus

‘EMBRACE

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU’

Short cuts

NEED TO EMBRACE THE FUTURE’

What to see

FIVE HEAD TURNERS TO WATCH

Federico Estol

Capri McPherson-Noel

Tyler Mitchell

Lindokuhle Sobekwa

Bookshelf

THE ANTHROPOCENE ILLUSION

BLACK CHRONICLES: PHOTOGRAPHY, RACE AND DIFFERENCE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN

DRESSED

Page turners

Fragments of Fietas

My place

Five questions

1

ELUSIVE SUBJECT

3

PERFECT SETTINGS

2

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

5

WHY IT WORKS

GLORIOUS WEATHER

HOW I DID THIS

THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

The selector

Yuxing Chen

MEMORY MADE VISIBLE’

EXCLUSION ZONE

Venice, Italy, 2015

Opposite

DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES

THE CONTENDERS

Chantal Pinzi Aged 28

Micaela Valdivia Medina Aged 23

Raymond Zhang Aged 14

Sander Coers Aged 27

Hannah Altman Aged 29

DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS AND CREATIVITY

Society

5 OF THE BEST SOCIETY EVENTS FAREWELL TO SALGADO

GAME PLAN

GO TO

THEATRE OF LIGHT AT NIGHT

DISTINCTIONS

DISTINCTIONS?

TOWERING AMBITION

Why this submission works

Statement of intent

Distinctions successes

Congratulations to these RPS members

Obituaries

Reports of meetings of the Board of Trustees

28 March 2025

9 April 2025

30 May 2025

Report of the Extraordinary General Meeting 2025

24 April 2025