There are many ways to improve your photography, above and beyond buying a great new (or used) mirrorless camera or DSLR.

Visiting photography festivals and exhibitions is one way to get inspired by the work of other photographers and to make useful contacts, and if you are close to Bath, Bristol, or the rest of Somerset in the UK, this year’s Photo|Frome festival is well worth visiting.

Now in its third year, the Photo|Frome festival is running until April 27th and features some superb exhibitions of world-class photography around the picturesque town of Frome.

Photo Frome
Don’t miss the chance to see Susan Meiselas’s world-famous documentary photography

Photo|Frome 2025 highlights

  • The third edition of the festival includes 14 free exhibitions (indoor and outdoor), talks, workshops, portfolio reviews from AP contributor Benedict Brain and other experts, a pop-up portrait studio (Faces of Frome), curator tours and more.
  • Susan Meiselas, a member of Magnum Photos and recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World
    Photography Awards 2025, will be showing her world-famous documentary work from Nicaragua’s Sandinista uprising in 1979.
  • One of Photo|Frome’s principal installations features Joss Barratt’s photography taken whilst working on set with acclaimed film director Ken Loach, alongside documentary photographers independently working on similar issues as Loach’s films, including Susan Meiselas, Nick Hedges and Tish Murtha.
  • Photo|Frome will again reveal the winners of the international Open Photobook Award and the MPB Student Awards. There is also a new Open Call on the inEquality theme, which has received entries from across the world.
Photo Frome
Movie director Ken Loach (Kes, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) will also be speaking. Image credit: Joss Barratt

This year’s festival builds on 2023’s successful second edition which featured over 170 photographers, broke venue records in Frome, and welcomed many thousands of attendees from across the UK. ‘We are committed to using Photo|Frome as a platform to explore important issues from a diverse set of viewpoints,’ explained co-founder Mick Yates. ‘We believe that this year’s theme of ‘InEquality’ is particularly timely’

Photo|Frome is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The festival’s Official Sponsor is used camera and lens specialist, MPB.

Don’t forget that Amateur Photographer’s Festival of Outdoor Photography also takes place from May 30 to June 1st at the Royal Geographical Society in central London. There is a stellar line-up of speakers and workshops – get your discounted early bird tickets here!