Abbie Trayler Smith

United Kingdom

Abbie Trayler-Smith’s work draws on an emotional response and engagement with her subjects. She embraces the personal and is driven by a desire to get under the skin and straight to the heart of the issues that people strive to deal with.

Images from her long-term project The Big O, examining the issue of obesity in school-age children and young adults, have won awards in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery and World Press Photo and are held in public and private collections around the world.

Kiss it! her first photo-book is due to be published late 2023. It is an intimate photographic portrait of Shannon (now 26) who has fearlessly allowed Abbie into her life, with absolute candour, over many years. Through the document of her experiences, Abbie’s work aims to produce a more resonant view of what it actually means to be fat

Adam Hinton

United Kingdom

Studying photojournalism in the 80s enabled Adam Hinton to combine his two passions, photography and politics. He would take photos at the demonstrations he went to: anti-apartheid, anti-nuclear, the miners’ strike, the picket lines at Wapping, aiming to demonstrate how each action has a reaction, and that nothing is without cause or response. As time has gone by, he has moved away from the more traditional reportage image to work in a way he feels to be more fluid and spontaneous.

Adam’s work has been exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum and the Photographer’s Gallery. He has published two photo books: MS-13, (2015) a portrait of members of the gang La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) incarcerated at a maximum security prison in El Salvador and Shibuya (2012) images of commuters during the morning and evening rush hours in Tokyo's Shibuya station.

Alfredo Caliz

Spain

Alfredo Caliz has travelled widely, producing over 150 photo stories for El Pais Semenal, the largest Spanish weekend supplement. His work often explores patterns of human behaviour and sociability. It has been exhibited widely in venues including Metrosur, Galerie du Fleuve (Senegal) and Casa Elizalde (Barcelona) and La Fabrica (Madrid).

Alfredo’s first photo book Inshallah (2006) was produced over a period of 10 years over numerous visits to Morocco, exploring the tension between modernity and tradition in the country. In 2012 he published 40, a set of portraits of 40 year olds in Spain and The Diary of a Taxi Driver in Casablanca, both published by the independent publisher 2 Sardinas Ediciones. In 2015 he was included in a photo book project ‘Todas Direcciones’ where six photographers present their impressions of Spain, each travelling along one of the arterial roads coming out of Madrid and spreading across Spain.

Andrea Gjestvang

Norway

Andrea Gjestvang is based between Oslo and Berlin. In recent years her work has focused on northern parts of Europe where she has been exploring the intimate life and resilience of people living in remote, harsh and inaccessible environments. Her work expresses strong political views on social and anthropological issues relating to globalisation, identity and cultural uniqueness.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, Munchen Stadtmuseum and The National Photographic Museum of Colombia. She also teaches and curates.

In 2012 she published 'En dag i historian' / 'One Day in History' through Norwegian publisher Pax, a collection of collaborative portraits with some of the young survivors of the Utøya massacre the previous year.

Andrew Mcconnell

Ireland

Andrew McConnell was born in the north of Ireland and began his career as a press photographer working for a daily newspaper in Belfast during the closing stages of the Troubles and the transition to peace.

Today his works focuses on themes of displacement, post-conflict issues, and the environment. He has worked in-depth on issues such as the Syrian refugee crisis, e-waste in Ghana, the ongoing blockade of the Gaza strip and the conflict in eastern DR Congo, for which he won the Luis Valutena Humanitarian Photography Award. In 2009 he photographed people from the Sahrawi communities of Western Sahara, for which he was awarded 1st place in the portrait story category of the World Press Photo awards. A follow-up project on refugees in urban areas was carried out in 8 cities worldwide and resulted in exhibitions in London and New York.

From 2014 Andrew spent four years working on his first feature length documentary ‘GAZA’, which subsequently premiered at Sundance 2019 and was selected as Ireland's entry for the Oscars' Best International Feature Film category at 2020 Academy Awards.

Andrew Testa

United Kingdom

Andrew Testa began photographing in the early 1990s. Throughout the decade he documented growing environmental protests and animal rights movements. In 1999 he shifted his attention to the Balkans covering the war in Kosovo. At the end of 1999 he moved to Kosovo, which he used as a base to cover events throughout Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. After five years in the Balkans and a further five in the US, Andrew returned to the UK and has spent much of the last decade covering Brexit and its fallout across the UK and Ireland.

Andrew’s work has been exhibited all over the world – at Angkor Photo Festival (Siem Reap, 2005), Visa pour l’Image (Perpignan, France, 2006), Noorderlicht (2007), Arte Foto Festival (Ancona, Italy, 2008) and the Yangon Photo Festival (2012).

Ben Roberts

Spain

Originally from Birmingham UK, Ben Roberts lives and works in Madrid, Spain.

In 2009, Ben received the British Journal of Photography’s ‘Project Assistance Award’ for his series ‘Mas Se Perdio En Cuba’, a personal journey through the landscapes of Spain’s economic crisis. This culminated in a June 2011 solo show at the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff.

His 2012 photo book ‘Occupied Spaces’, published by HERE Press, was exhibited at the 2013 Paris Photo ‘Open Book’ exhibition curated by Martin Parr. The publication was a conceptual exploration of the Occupy St. Paul’s protest in central London. In response to media declarations that most of the protestors’ tents were empty, Roberts photographed the tent interiors devoid of people, allowing the traces of occupation to speak for themselves. The book was subsequently chosen for the 3rd volume of Phaidon’s ‘The Photobook - A History’, and for the 2014 Noordelicht Festival in Holland.

In November 2011 Ben was granted access to photograph Amazon’s huge fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The resulting series, ‘Amazon Unpacked’, contrasted the clinical spaces of the warehouse with a town still struggling to recover from the closure of the local coal mines in 1993. The photographs were later exhibited around the UK as part of a Hayward Gallery touring show called, ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’. Curated by Jeremy Deller, the exhibition was a survey of industrial Britain and it’s links with popular culture.

Ben was awarded a ‘Best in Book’ prize in the 2017 Creative Review Photography Annual for his series ‘Stepping Stone’ - a study of the landscapes of Lesbos and how they have been affected by the refugee crisis.

Ben is currently shooting a new body of work, photographing landscapes and portraits in La Pedriza, a mountainous valley of granite monoliths in the Sierra de Guadarrama, north of Madrid.

Chris de Bode

France

Dutch born Chris de Bode’s path in life started with a dream. On his way to primary school, he always passed the photo shop in town. By the age of 10, he could advise people which camera to buy. In his early twenties, he was still searching for a purpose in life, until he remembered the photo shop. He decided to buy his first camera. As a mountaineer he took his first pictures. Following a trip to Palestine he decided to focus his work on humanitarian issues. He now has travelled to over 90 countries, meeting people and collecting stories.

Chris searches for find different angles in visualizing the stories he works on. In ‘No Way Home’ he has tried to explore what it means for people to lose their homes while ‘Tour du Monde’ took him to China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Qatar and Senegal, following international cycling teams as they raced across diverse terrains and through culturally and politically charged environments.  The work was brought together in ‘Tour du Monde’ (Schilt) published in 2009.

More than a decade ago while on assignment to photograph Ethiopian children in their school. He decided to ask them what they dreamt of?  At first some answers seemed improbable, or mere childish fantasies. A closer look revealed the opposite to be true: almost every child’s dream turned out to be a solution to things that needed improving in their lives. Little did he know that this would be  the start of a ten year global project to photograph and collect children’s dreams culminating in the publication of DREAM (2019). 

Elena Chernyshova

Russia

Elena Chernyshova’s passion for photography started during her studies at an architectural academy. After two years working as an architect she quit her job and cycled from Toulouse to Vladivostok and back again: 30,000 kilometres, 26 countries, 1,004 days of intense and challenging experiences. During this journey Elena decided to become a photographer.

Photography allows Elena to delve into the daily life of communities and to investigate the effects of environmental, political and economic change. Her work tries to visualise the impact of human activity, ways of adapting to changing circumstances and the great diversity of lifestyles.

Ian Willms

Canada

Ian Willms is a post-documentary photographer whose multi-year photo essay projects often address the intimacies of power struggles, inequities and profound compromise.

Ian's Mennonite ancestors fled violent persecution in Russia before settling in Canada, where Ian grew up in a subsidized apartment building for at-risk women. His formative years were steeped in a community with lived experiences in mental health, addiction, homelessness, poverty, racism and gender-based oppression.

Ian has shown his work around the world, including the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, G44 the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto, F3 in Berlin and the Coalmine Gallery in Switzerland. His recent self published books Sick Days I and Sick days II, visual assemblages of the fear, distrust and politicisation which swept into the global pandemic, are now sold out.

Jenny Matthews

United Kingdom

Jenny Matthews is a documentary photographer and filmmaker working on issues of dispossession and human rights with a particular emphasis on the lives of women and girls. She has worked all over the world covering momentous historical events including the guerrilla war and independence of Eritrea, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the genocide in Rwanda.

Jenny’s book 'Women and War', chronicling 20 years of women worldwide affected by conflict was published in 2003 and exhibited widely. She is working on a second volume entitled ‘Stories of Love and War’ as well as documenting life in her community in Hackney, East London.

Johis Alarcon

Ecuador

Johis Alarcón’s work is concerned with social justice, identity, and gender related issues. She is a National Geographic Explorer and member of Ayün Fotógrafas, Women Photograph and Diversify Photo.

In 2022 Johis published her first book ‘Cimarrona: Soy Negra porque el sol me miró’ (KWY) which explores the African spiritual tradition alive in Ecuador, by portraying the women who safeguard their ancestral practices. The Cimarrona refers to the wild female spirit, expressed in all forms of resistance against slavery and discrimination. Johis’ work has been exhibited in Photoville NYC, Latin American Photography Festival Bronx Documentary Center (2019-2020), and Montevideo Photography Center (2021).

Karla Gachet

USA

Karla Gachet discovered photography while studying in the US and in 2004, moved back to Ecuador to explore her homeland with fresh eyes. She began working freelance until one of the main newspapers in the country, Diario El Comercio, hired her in 2005. Karla worked here for two years, and became the first woman to be a part of their photographer’s staff.

Karla has published two books: Historias Mínimas, from Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego (2009) and Gypsy Kings (2012). Both projects were produced with her husband Ivan Kashinsky, also a photographer. Her photographs have been exhibited in Ecuador, Guatemala, London, India, Peru, Uruguay, China and USA. Together with Kashinsky, she created the collective Runa Photos (2011).

Kieran Dodds

United Kingdom

Kieran Dodds is a non-fiction photographer known internationally for his research-driven photo stories and portraiture. His personal work looks at the interplay of environment and culture, tracing global events through daily lives.

A trained ecologist, Kieran is interested in ‘questions of being and doing’ ; in how humans live and how landscape functions as a crucible of culture. He has received grants to document Tibetan culture in flux, as pastoral nomads are resettled in highland China, and the role of spiritual beliefs in the global conservation movement. Living in Scotland, he has also focused on its recent political upheaval using the landscape to consider depictions and realities of Scottish identity through the centuries. 

Kieran’s work is held by the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland and has been shown at the Scottish Parliament and the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. His first book ‘Gingers’ was released in November 2020 closely followed by a softcover second edition. The book was one of Smithsonian Magazine’s Photography books of 2020.

Lalo de Almeida

Brazil

Lalo de Almeida has covered news and social issues for publications in Europe, America and Brazil, working for the Folha de São Paulo for 27 years while pursuing his own documentary projects.

For his first long term project The Man and the Land Lalo met people from various traditional Brazilian populations, to understand and communicate how ancient traditions influence the communities relationship with the environment.

In 2012, Lalo won an award from the Brazilian National Arts Foundation to explore the social impacts of the construction of the Belo Monte hydro-electric power plant on the Xingu river in the Brazilian Amazon. This process led to a fascination with the fate and development of the Amazon basin, where Lalo has worked for the past decade, documenting the effects of industry and infrastructure projects on the fragile ecosystems of the rainforest and its people. This work culminated in the project Amazonian Dystopia for which he won a Eugene Smith Fund Grant in 2021.

Mads Nissen

Denmark

For Mads Nissen photography is about empathy - an attempt to create understanding, an intimacy and closeness to his subject. He strives to build that connection while focusing on contemporary issues like inequality, human rights and our destructive relationship with nature.

Mads has twice won World Press Photo of the year, the most prestigious prize in photojournalism. In 2015, his photograph was of an intimate moment between a young gay couple from Russia, and in 2021, ‘The First Embrace,’ depicted an embrace between two women in a carehome in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mads has published three photo books: The Fallen (People's Press), AMAZONAS (Gyldendal) and most recently in 2018 the award-winning We are Indestructible (GOST Books). He has had solo exhibitions across Europe and Latin America.

Mark Henley

Switzerland

After many years working around the world, observing the consequences of economic and social change globalisation has brought, Mark Henley has taken as his subject the organisations that have helped drive these changes, elaborating a visual language to talk about decision makers, diplomats and bankers who are more used to operating unobserved, behind closed doors.

His project ‘Bank on us’ about the secretive Swiss banking industry won several awards including the Swiss Press Photographer of the Year 2012. He won this award a second time in 2014 for ‘Waiting on a deal’, his observation of the diplomatic negotiations leading to the Iranian nuclear deal in Geneva.

Mark is based at the UN in Geneva and divides his time between the real world and the United Nations.

Patrick Brown

Denmark

Patrick Brown has lived and worked in Thailand for nearly 20 years, documenting critical issues across the Asia region often under-reported by the mainstream media. His work on the illegal trade in endangered animals won a World Press Photo Award in 2004 and Patrick continued working on the project for the next decade, covering its dealers, stockpiles, trafficking routes and markets, before publishing the book ‘Trading to Extinction’ in 2014.

In 2019 he published ‘No Place On Earth’ a series of portraits of and conversations with survivors of the massacres of Rohingya villages perpetrated in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in 2017. The massacres were described by a human rights official at the UN as ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing’.

Patrick’s work has been exhibited at the International Centre of Photography in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Tokyo, and Visa pour l’Image in France and is held in private collections.

Ramin Mazur

Moldova

Ramin Mazur was born on the left bank of the Dniester River in the Moldavian Soviet Republic, a part of the country that soon became the unrecognised state of Transnistria after a short war in 1991. He graduated from the Journalism Department of the Moldavian State University in Chisinau and started working with various print publications in the country as a photo reporter. A desire to dedicate more time to investigating subjects led Ramin to start working independently. He now focuses his work on the realities of life in Transnistria and the countries nearby in periods of transition.