The Photojournalism Hub Calendar 2026 showcasing the incredible work of photojournalists and documentary photographers who have contributed to our mission.
‘Us Connected’ is a photobook created by women from West London as part of the Photojournalism Hub’s ‘Knowing You’ program—a course designed to build skills in photography and visual storytelling. The project offers a supportive space for self-expression, healing, and connection. Through the process of crafting and publishing photo stories of one another, participants gain tools for personal empowerment while fostering broader community cohesion.
The project has been kindly supported by the National Lottery.
I would like to express my thanks to everyone for their Nomination, the wonderful participants, the charity Near Neighbours, the London Faith & Belief and Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Greater London’s Council on Faith. It is an honour that the Photojournalism Hub’s Knowing You project will be receiving a Certificate of Recognition from the Faith and Belief Forum and Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London’s Council on Faith on the 30th November at The Royal Society of Medicine.
The Knowing You project is among the 40 selected projects ‘deemed exceptional’ by this year’ judges and the Faith & Belief Forum that have provided support, respite and are working to make London a city that is inclusive to everyone and continuing to do so despite the challenges posed by the current pandemic.
Knowing You photobook cover with an image of the participants meeting over Zoom during lockdown.
It has been a wonderful experience to engage with women of different faiths and backgrounds living in White City with the Knowing You photography project to inspire bonding and community cohesion whilst providing visual narrative and photojournalism teaching. The project supports participants to bond one another, promoting respect and acceptance and aims to dispel prejudice and barriers of ethnic, religious and racial discrimination by encouraging participants to get to know a fellow participant through developing a photo story of each other. The project has culminated in the production of a photo book, which will be soon shared to the wider public containing wonderful visual stories and testimonies of the powerful human connections. The project has been kindly supported by the charity Near Neighbours.
We had a WhatsApp application to keep us informed of any project updates. Up to two weeks ago, we did not know that we would have relied heavily on technology to stay connected. And as the time went past, it became the only option to keep us connected.
The COVID-19 global outbreak has dramatically changed the lives of many and with it the way we communicate and interact ‘each other’s stories. Social distancing and isolation have left millions to largely interact via digital means.
I am glad that the Knowing You project, which began three months ago has provided a wonderful ground for women in west London to meet, get to know each other and develop a photography narrative on each other stories. This has led the participants to naturally want to continue with the project and navigate through the immediate challenges.
Moving from face to face engagement to working online will reflect this exceptional time of distancing, isolation and profound sadness.
“The project has brought women from different backgrounds and communities together through learning, dialogue and photography. It has been an incredible to see the complexity of people’s idea develop and take form. All this with Cinzia’s help, support and guidance. People have learned about far more than photograph during the project” – Katherine
Knowing You is kindly supported by the charity Near Neighbours.
Photojournalism is an industry that is still dominated by men. Suzanne Plunkett, award winning photojournalist, reaffirmed this fact during the Photojournalism Hub’s talk event last Monday. She recounted her impressive career and highlighted that she was always among only a handful of women photographers within a sea of men when working for agencies. Her lived experience can be reflected in the fact that ‘just 18% of the AOP’s accredited photographers and assistant photographers are women.’ (Steven: 2019). Along with the clear gender bias towards employing male photographers, she also touched on issues of sexism from managers in agencies, not being taken as seriously as her male counterparts and the lack of demand for stories that cover important female issues.
Talking about these issues was pertinently timed as International Women’s Day was to be celebrated just 6 days ahead of the talk. The theme of this year’s IWD was Each for Equal – aiming to help create a more equal world where women are always on the same platform as men. Suzanne, along with Chiara Ceolin and Quintina Valero (the two other speakers at the event) are certainly helping to create gender equality by doing such amazing work with women around the world and documenting their stories. They have worked on projects with victims of female genital mutilation, sex trafficking and female prison.
By having more amazing female photojournalists in the industry we are creating a levelled playing field and going against a male centric selection of stories in the media. We need to keep recognising the achievements of female photographers and those who are telling the stories of women to come closer to a world where gender discrimination is a thing of the past.
We can learn someone’s name, age, job and where they live. We can ask about their interests, hobbies and how they spend their time. We can acquire many facts and details about them, but can we say we truly know that person?
I believe to really know another we need to go deeper than the surface level, delve beneath the trivia and touch upon one’s core. We must unearth the defining moments in a person’s life and understand what has shaped them. Ask about their deepest fears, their hardships and come to understand their dreams, passions and longings. When we discover the complex, messy and beautiful nuances of a person, we are beginning to know them.
And this is what the Knowing You project is all about. It is about going beyond the small talk and making those connections. It’s asking us to break down barriers and cross unknown territory. It is bringing women from diverse backgrounds together and learning who they really are underneath the exterior glaze. Through the project I hope to truly get to know the other women participating and allow myself to be known to others. I am excited for the journey to unfold and to see how this manifests in the photographs taken.
Reflecting back on the last three weeks since the start of the ‘Knowing You’ project, I cannot say how inspiring and meaningful this is proving to be. The project brings together women from White City with different backgrounds, ethnicities and religious beliefs on the common ground of sharing their personal story to one another and develop a photo story of each other.
The aim of the project is to break down barriers and prejudices by creating the basis for bonding and cohesion through getting to know someone of different religious or ethnic background. Our sessions to date in one of the meeting rooms of Our Lady of Fatima Church in White City have explored interview techniques, story structures and photography. Women have shared their earliest memories and meaningful and defining moments and are reflecting, working together from those. And in these questions, inevitably the project has opened up much deeper layers, something that perhaps I did not envisage to be so strong; women have shared painful, joyful, hopeful experiences.
Being together, women shared, has awaken a safe space, a discovery of oneself through another. Who are we? Who am I? – one of the participants asks. Unapologetic, Bold, Beautiful– another participant describes how she tries to convey her perceptions of a fellow participant. ‘Knowing You’ is awakening, connecting and probing reflection on common experiences of being a woman, of dealing with representation of another woman’s story which brings to light aspects of oneself and of ourselves. Despite, the difference of background it seems to connect everyone on this important core. ‘Knowing You’ project is supported by the charity
Knowing You is a Photography and Storytelling project working with women of different faiths and backgrounds living in White City to inspire self expression, bonding and community cohesion.
Knowing You is a Photography and Storytelling programme developed by the Photojournalism Hub. It works on the principle that by getting to know each other, the process contributes to community cohesion and abating barriers of prejudice.
‘Knowing You’ is a Photography and Storytelling project with a community focus that uses the teaching of visual narrative as a means to educate, instil empowerment, erase barriers and foster community cohesion. The first ‘Knowing You’ project took place with women of White City supported by the charity Near Neighbours. The project allows a therapeutic and safe space in which participants go on a journey of self- expression, bonding and empowerment whilst learning new skills. It created a safe space for women of different faiths to meet, get to know each other and contributing to community cohesion. Women learned photography and photo storytelling by developing a visual narrative about a participant of the project with the photography showcased in a photobook.
The Knowing You project has been Awarded Recognised project (2020) and it is among the 40 selected projects ‘deemed exceptional’ by the judges of the Faith & Belief Forum and Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Greater London’s Council on Faith for having provided support, respite and are working to make London a city that is inclusive to everyone and continuing to do so despite the challenges posed by the current pandemic.
Knowing You project has been kindly supported by the charity Near Neighbours
