London Photo Show Summer 2026 – Photos
Sharing here imaged from the opening night of teh Summer 2026 London Photo Show. Certainly our hottest opening and lovely to have a summer feeling to the evening!
Swarnali Mitra
On first name basis
by Swarnali Mitra
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bas-ki dushvār hai har kām kā āsāñ honā
ādmī ko bhī mayassar nahīñ insāñ honā
So hard, the becoming-easy of anything —
even to be human is not granted to all.
— Mirza Ghalib
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This photo story is an attempt to tell the stories of the delivery workers who keep our shared city moving. Often unnoticed, often unacknowledged, often invisible.
Beneath the carrier bags, bikes and helmets, each individual’s story runs along a strikingly similar thread: the desire to build something better, for a family and for oneself. Something that makes the relentless hours, in any weather, worth it. Something all of us might recognise in ourselves.
What isn’t obvious at a glance, though, is that, for many here, this work isn’t one choice among others. It is the only door to a semblance of agency in a society that can deny them the right to work, or the only way they can make ends meet as the cost of living climbs beyond anything they had imagined.
Many of the people in these photographs have given up meaningful work in pursuit of a better life: jobs on factory floors, in offices, in design studios. And yet affording weekly groceries, baby formula and nappies, or even a stroller for a newborn, has become tremendously hard. And because most of them gave up everything to be here, selling their land and possessions, there is very little left to return to.
The artist invites you to look deeper into the reasons behind the decisions made by the person in front of you. Decisions shaped by the histories of empire, migration and inequality. Decisions made under structural forces that were never quite in their control. Decisions underpinned by beliefs now carried across generations.
Perhaps the next time someone carries what you need to your door, you might pause for the human behind the order; tip a little more; and, to begin with, learn their name.
This work was brought to life with the support of the Newham Community Project. Click the link learn more about how they sustain and support hundreds of families every week through their food bank, health and social care work and other community programmes.
Joanne Segars
Joanne Segars is a social documentary photographer. She is motivated by a desire to use photography to tell stories about the world we live in, the human condition, and current issues, whether that’s though stories on our doorstep or travel photography. Her work includes themes on climate change, local communities and the importance of connections.
Her work on display at the London Photo Show 2026 explores themes of urban decay, showing how once grand cities and structures have been allowed to fall into disrepair, prompting thoughts about what might have been…and what might be yet to come in its place.
Joanne gained her HND in photography in 2024 and is a trustee of the Royal Photographic Society.
www.joannesegarsphotography.co.uk
Instagram: @joannesegars
From Observation to Intent: The 5-Point Photo Workshop
Stop Snapping, Start Making: The 5-Point Photo Faction Workshop
Most photos we take are just observations. We notice something interesting, point the camera, click, and move on. It’s a record of a moment, but it’s rarely a compelling photograph.
This in-person, highly practical workshop is designed to break that habit. There will be no slideshows, no heavy theory, and no sit-down presentations. Instead, we are going straight out onto the streets to learn how to move from passive observing to active, intentional photography.
You will be introduced to the Photo Faction 5-Point Self-Scoring System, a brutal but effective framework to grade your own work based on:
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Clear Intent – Is it obvious what the photo is about?
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Effort – Did you work the scene, or just stand there?
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Control – Did you master the light, background, and positioning?
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Simplicity – Have you stripped out the distractions?
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Impact – Does the final image hold attention for more than 3 seconds?
How it works: We will look at a few quick, real-world examples of how to “work a scene” by changing your angle, waiting for the light, and simplifying the frame. Then, you’ll be sent out with your camera to put the 5-point system into practice.
You will leave this workshop not with a bunch of notes, but with a permanent mental filter that will completely change how you look through the viewfinder.
What to bring: Any camera (DSLR, Mirrorless, or Smartphone). Come ready to walk and shoot.
This workshop is free as part of the London Photo Show Summer 2026
Where and when? Sunday 25 June from 2pm-5pm at Hoxton Arches, Cremer St, E2 8HD
How to Sign Up:
Join our online community to register.
You will also get access to background resources for this workshop. You will also be able to share your images here and receive feedback.
Beyond the Hard Drive: What to Do With Your Photos Instead of Social Media
For years, many of us have been hoarding our own photography. We capture landscapes from trips, portraits of friends, and random, experimental shots, only for the files to end up buried on hard drives or lost in a social media feed.
Aside from the select few images that get printed and framed for the house, the vast majority of our work never actually sees the light of day. If people occasionally look at your photos and tell you that you should “do something” with them, it asks the question: how do you get your work out into the world on your own terms?
If you are looking for meaningful ways to share, exhibit, or license your photos, free from the usual social media grind, here are the best avenues to explore.
1. Entering Local Gallery Exhibitions & Open Calls
Shifting focus to physical spaces is a much more rewarding way to share photography. You don’t need to be a full-time professional to get your work onto a gallery wall. And it’s a refreshing way to get real person engagement with your photos rather than chasing virtual likes.
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Community Open Calls: Local art councils, non-profit spaces, and community galleries frequently put out “open calls” for themed group exhibitions. They are accessible, usually requiring just a small entry fee and a digital submission.
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Finding Opportunities: Platforms like CaFÉ (CallforEntry.org) or photography sites like Lenscratch aggregate these calls, letting you filter for local or national exhibitions that match your specific style.
2. Licensing Work (Without Feeding AI Models)
If you want to put your photos up for legitimate, copyrighted reuse but want to draw a line against your work being used as free fodder to train artificial intelligence, the standard stock sites are no longer the answer.
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Independent Platforms: Look toward photographer-first platforms like Glass.photo or decentralised networks like Pixelfed. They operate on a subscription or community model rather than selling user data, and they explicitly ban AI scraping.
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Content Credentials: If you host a personal portfolio website, you can embed cryptographically signed metadata (via the Content Authenticity Initiative) into your files. This attaches a permanent “Do Not Train” tag that compliant web crawlers respect.
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Digital Shields: For public uploads, tools like Glaze and Nightshade apply microscopic pixel alterations to your images. To a human eye, the photo looks completely normal, but to an AI scraper, the data is essentially poisoned, preventing models from accurately mimicking or indexing your work.
3. Alternative Ways to Use your Archive
If gallery submissions feel like too much administrative upkeep, there are simpler ways to give your photos a purpose.
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Short-Run Photo Books: Curating a decade’s worth of images into high-quality, self-published coffee table books (using services like Blurb) turns a digital archive into something tangible. They make lovely gifts for friends and family who actually feature in the photos and it’s just nice to have the lying around to browse though.
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Local Businesses: Independent coffee shops, libraries, and local offices are often open to displaying work by local photographers on their walls. It gets the photos out of the digital void and into a physical space where people can actually look at them.
The Anatomy of a Winning Shot: What 5 Years of Competition Winning Photos Can Teach Us
Looking back at the winning images from the last five years of the London Photo Show Competition, we had two nature shots, two portraits, and the travel winner, you notice they all hit a specific benchmark of impact and interest.
If you’re looking to get your work on the walls at the Hoxton Arches, in the Salon or competition, this is what you should aim for.
1. Nature: Behaviour And Impact Over Static Portraits (2 Winners)
A lot of people submit nature photos that are just clean, sharp portraits of an animal sitting still. While technically fine, they rarely win.
Look at Alex Brackx’s winning shot Those Last Seconds (the zebra and the cheetah). It won because of drama and perfect moment. It’s all very well composed and technically perfect.
Lars Gesing’s image wont for pure perfection of the striking silhouette against the incredible colours of the sky.
2. Portraits: Mood Over Perfect Lighting (2 Winners)
The winning portraits from the last five years aren’t shot in a sterile studio with perfect, flat lighting. They usually have lots of mood and character.
Tom Atwood’s portrait won for intrigue, character and storytelling. There is a whole life in this picture.
Laura MacAulay’s portrait won because it captures exactly that feeling of the last rays of sun and has an intimate mood and warmth.
3. Travel: Layered Scenes Over Postcards (1 Winner)
The single travel winner by Mustafa Abdul Hadi won because of that unusual angle, the repeating pattern and the sense of scale of experience.