The Photojournalism Hub Calendar 2026 showcasing the incredible work of photojournalists and documentary photographers who have contributed to our mission.
It was a privilege for the Photojournalism Hub to be invited by Stanhope Plc to host a series of free Photography Workshops for residents of Hammersmith and Fulham borough at White City Place in White City, London. The workshops were facilitated by photojournalist and founder/director of the Photojournalism Hub, Cinzia D’Ambrosi for the past three consecutive Mondays at different time of the day, including lunchtime, to render them available to a wide range of people. The aim of the project was to provide an inclusive space in which member of the local community would get together and learn visual skills. Under the theme of getting to know one another, participants worked with a fellow participant to tell something about their lives in the form of a photo story using reporting techniques such as interviewing, writing and taking photographs. The outcome is a series of printed zines which will be made available in/around White City.
The project has highlighted how people of different ages, backgrounds and experiences can be brought together by creative expression. It has provided a platform upon which participants have had the opportunity to develop a photo story following through steps from start to completion. Most participants identified becoming more confident in taking photos, learning visual narrative and enjoying meeting new people as being some of their key experience of the sessions.
Group of participants working together on an exercise on editing.Developed using darktable 3.6.0Mia and Tiana, 16 years old, enrolled to the workshop as they are thinking to pursue a career in media and politics.
Developed using darktable 3.6.0binary commentDeveloped using darktable 3.6.0
The Photojournalism Hub launched in November 2018 in White City and since then has delivered many community focused photography projects in the local area working with youths, women, and the elderly. Photojournalism Hub has used the concept of getting to know a fellow participant to its workshops as a means to combat isolation, prejudice whilst providing a platform for creative expression and for learning reporting, visual narrative and photography. The workshops at White City Place were kindly supported by Stanhope PLC.
Photographer Denise Laura Baker answers questions from the public.
Written by Fatima Sanchez
On Friday 23rd, the Photojournalism Hub hosted the 15th edition of the Photojournalism Nights event at The Studio inside The Westworks, dynamic venue in White City Place.
The night was filled with an engaged public, thought-provoking conversations and presentations from outstanding photographers documenting outstanding current affairs .
Our guests for the night included Denise Laura Baker,Simon King and Carolina Rapezzi who shared great insights on the work they have been producing over the last few years of their career.
The event started with the presentation of the photojournalist and portrait photographer Denise Laura Baker. Denise’s work is heavily embedded in socially engaged work. She has been documenting communities and events since the age of 11 as well as becoming a psychologist, studies that have added an incredible depth to her photographic work. In her compelling presentation, she explained the importance of drawing back from any subjectivity, ‘putting aside your personal biases’, which also ‘strengthens the [psychological] work’ that she captures.
Furthermore, her family environment, engaged in social justice, has contributed to her inclination towards photographing issues that surround communities around the UK and Wales. Her key interests surround the travellers and environmentalist communities.
One compelling aspect from Denise’s personal approach to photojournalist work is that she is in the look-out for the bigger picture in a story. Yet, not losing to capture the small details, like it is the human “gaze” in an image.
Simon Black talks about his latest and ongoing project.
The second guest of the evening was Simon King, British documentary photographer who brought to us captivating documentary work shot on film. He presented us his photographic documentation of Washington, D.C. when it was subject to militarised observation to a degree not seen in about 53 years, due to fears of right-wing violence after the MAGA riot at the Capitol of January 6.
When asked why investigating this topic, he explained ‘to keep exploring Patriarchism and the political landscape in America’.
Simon proved transparency, honesty and openness with his words which all encompassed with the strong visual work from his project, yet to be shown in its entirety.
Simon’s photographs seem to bring together elements that form conversations and interactions that are symbolic and representative of the political landscape in America. Some of the work he shared from this project evidenced how the journalists and police force members’ body language mirrored the political scene at the time.
Carolina Rapezzi shares insights behind her iconic photo of a girl taking a short rest amid e-waste disposal in Ghana.
The last guest of the Photojournalism Nights event, was Carolina Rapezzi, who is a self-taught Italian photographer who has been working on social, humanitarian, and environmental issues. She took the initiative to merging her journalistic background and interest for photography to document current affairs such as migration issues, various protests, and ultimately environmental issues.
Carolina introduced us to her timely long-term project Burning dreams which she has invested herself in for the past few years. Her project was inspired by an investigation that she came across while researching on e-waste. A gps was placed inside an old washing machine in the UK and it eventually ended up been shipped to Agbogbloshie in Ghana. This was Carolina’s starting point of her ongoing and timely project.
She travelled to Ghana to investigate the way the e-waste was disposed as well as the impact of this in the communities. She learned that the cheapest way to get rid of huge amounts of e-waste was by burning it – often by local children.
Her project exposes the impact of disposing e-waste illegally and/or using methods that are not environmentally friendly.
Her presentation also opened up conversations on how important it is for a country to develop and sustain several sources of income, in order to divert from reliance on e-waste disposal, a completely non-sustainable activity.
Her presentation and insights, make us reconsider expanding the life of our day-to-day devices such as our mobile phones or laptops, something we often overlook.
Furthermore, her powerful work stresses how important it is for environmental issues to be talked about at a global level rather than simply national because of its scale and repercussions.
The Photojournalism Nights presented photographers whose work is committed to bringing to the wider public topics that impacts social justice. Bringing people together to learn and talk about these pressing issues is a fundamental step for action and positive change.
Ghana, Accra, November 2018. Rashida is a young girl originally from the North of Ghana, she sells water in the scrap yard of Agbogbloshie. Along with other girls living in the area, she carries water bags into a wheelbarrow and sell them for 1 Ghanaian Cedi each (the equivalent of £0,15) to workers who need to extinguish the fire and cool down the copper extracted from burning cables, wires and other appliances.
Carolina Rapezzi is an award-winning photographer based in London, part of the collective Women Photograph. Her works focus on social, humanitarian and environmental issues. She worked on migration issues in Sicily and France, covered the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in Moscow and St. Petersburg, followed several protest movements in London, including the more recent Black Lives Matter and, since 2018 she has been working on environmental issues. Her independent project Burning Dreams on electronic waste in Ghana has been awarded internationally and exhibited multiple times: Portrait of Humanity 2019, Winner Flash Forward 2019, Winner 1st Prize Single Images, Winner World Water Day 2020, Shortlisted Sony World Photography 2020, Winner Siena International Award 2020.
Denise Laura Baker is a photojournalist, documentary, and portrait photographer. Her work draws on influences from the many different strands of her career, particularly her time as an ethnographic psychologist where she interviewed and collected the stories of the people with whom she worked. She has been exhibiting since 2016 and have, exhibited at various locations in Wales, including holding her first solo exhibition as part of LLAWN 2019 (Llandudno arts Weekend). She is the recipient of an Arts Council for Wales R&D grant for a project examining interconnecting communities within Gwynedd, Conwy and Ynys Mon. She also teaches and give talks on the role of narrative in photography and photo book making.
Simon King is a documentary photographer, currently working on a series of long-term projects, all on 35mm film. Simon teaches at UAL, and with Leica Akademie (UK). Simon works with the collective New Exit Group to publish photo-essays highlighting intimate, local stories. Simon’s recent publications include BARDO (in collaboration with NEG), a USA Digest which includes work from 2019 – Winter 2021, and Transiting Bulgaria, from his recent time there over Christmas 2020.
The Photojournalism Nights is an event that promotes committed and courageous photojournalism and engages the public to social justice and human rights. To join HERE
Thanks to White City Place for supporting our events
White City Place Holds PhotojoWhite City Place | 18 April 2019
In April 2019, Photojournalism Hub brought together photographers, community organisations and practitioners at White City Place for a discussion exploring participatory photography and ways of working with communities.
Curated by Photojournalism Hub founder and director Cinzia D’Ambrosi, the event brought together Tom Elkins, CEO of PhotoVoice; Andy Fearn, Director of Protection Approaches; photographer and FotoSynthesis director Ingrid Guyon; and photographers Becky Warnock and Grace Gelder, whose work includes participatory approaches.
The discussion explored how photography can be used collaboratively with communities and considered different methodologies for engaging people in projects that address sensitive social issues.
A central part of the event was the question of how community outreach can be developed in a respectful and safe way. During the Q&A, local community members asked the speakers about building meaningful relationships, reaching people who may be excluded from traditional photography projects and ensuring that participation does not cause further harm.
The speakers drew on their own experiences of working with communities around sensitive subjects, including projects involving young people and self-harm.
The event reflected an important strand of Photojournalism Hub’s early work: bringing practitioners together to question how photojournalism is made, who gets to tell stories and how photographers can work responsibly with the people whose lives they document.
It also reflects the Hub’s wider commitment to using photography not simply to represent communities, but to engage people in the process of telling stories and addressing issues that matter to them.
