This festival is a one-day event at the Royal Geographical Society in London taking place on 9th August 2025, celebrating all things in the documentary photography and photojournalism world!

We are hosting the Festival of Photography – DOCUMENTARY a one-day event held at the prestigious Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington, London – and you could win two tickets to the event.

Building on the success of the Festival of Outdoor Photography, AP is giving you another opportunity to learn, be inspired and engage with leading image-makers as they share their wealth of knowledge.

Throughout the day you will hear from a series of world class experts in Documentary photography. Each giving an insight into their work, how they captured some of the world’s best known documentary images and how you can too. Confirmed speakers include: Zed Nelson, Laura Pannack, Jillian Edelstein, Jon Nicholson and more!

tribute to salgado panel headshots

The agenda includes:

ZED NELSON: Guns, Beauty and the Anthropocene

This year’s Sony World Photography Awards winner Zed Nelson takes us on a revealing journey into humankind’s increasingly illusory relationship with the natural world, and behind the scenes on three previous award-winning projects.

JON NICHOLSON: Auto Exposure

Jon takes us through his 40-year career in sports reportage, documenting the culture of everything from Formula 1 (featuring the likes of Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill) to banger racing, as well as some of his other work.

SIMON HILL & JOHN BULMER: The North Revisited

John Bulmer’s colour images of northern England taken in the 1960s and ’70s remain a cornerstone of British documentary photography. Simon Hill recently revisited those communities and they discuss their two bodies of work.

KRISHNA SHETH: Life on the Picture Desk

Recently appointed Director of Photography for The Economist, Krishna will talk about her career, which began as a picture researcher at the Express newspaper, before becoming Deputy Photography Director at The Telegraph Magazine.

JILLIAN EDELSTEIN: Sharing the Story

Jillian shares stories related to managing reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa, personal stories linked to Ukraine and Palestine, and local stories on a range of topics. Plus, how commercial work helps to fund the personal projects.

CAROL ALLEN-STOREY: Telling Women’s Stories

Carol Allen-Storey is an award-winning documentary photographer specialising in humanitarian and social issues. In her presentation she discusses her work photographing issues affecting women and children around the world for NGOs such as The Elton John AIDS Foundation, UNICEF, Save the Children, Comic Relief and International Alert.

LAURA PANNACK: Documentary Portraiture

Laura discusses her portraiture and social documentary work, which has been extensively exhibited and published worldwide, including at the National Portrait Gallery, the Houses of Parliament, Somerset House and the Royal Festival Hall.

More panel line-ups and photo walks to be announced. See the full agenda here.

More news:

Follow AP on FacebookInstagramYouTube and TikTok.