Documentary Photography & Ethics Panel Discussion

Who will be joining you?

Before we share the details of our panel discussion, let’s get to know more about the facilitator and panellists who will be accompanying you on this exciting event.

Alexis Andreou (facilitator)

A FUJIFILM House of Photography Team Leader, Alexis Andreou will be leading and facilitating the panel discussion. A documentary photographer and visual artist, his work deals with looking at the post-conflict landscape of Cyprus and the sociopolitical effect this had on the island’s displaced communities. He’s been working for FUJIFILM since 2019.

Panellists:

Aidan Frere-Smith

 Aidan Frere-Smith is a London based freelance journalist and photographer with a primary focus on issues surrounding humanitarianism, environmentalism as well as activism and grassroots initiatives and has undertaken projects in aid of both localised and international causes.

Through gained access, he has covered animal rights efforts in the UK, refugee solidarity work on the Poland-Belarus border, the Serbian-Hungarian border as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and most recently the plight of Palestinians living under occupation in Masafer Yatta of the West Bank. In addition to this, he has written about immigration policy and protest legislation in the UK.

Davide Lhamid

Davide Lhamid is an Italian-born documentary photographer and visual artist. After completing his sociological and anthropological studies, he approached photography seeking an alternative language to widely communicate the critical thinking that social sciences have provided him with.

Drawing inspiration from being the son of migrant parents, and in response to his personal and academic background, he has developed a particular interest in social inequalities and structural and institutional forms of racism within migration processes. Aiming at bringing to light the functioning of social phenomena by deconstructing and questioning forms of common understanding, he hinges his visual research on linguistic and spatial dimensions of social processes.

Mike Ruane

Mike Ruane is a freelance photographer with 15 years of experience in the industry. Since 2020 he’s worked as press photographer covering breaking news and politics across the UK and internationally and his imagery is featured regularly in the Guardian, The Times and the Telegraph amongst many others.

Rebeca Binda

Rebeca Binda is a Brazilian photographer and researcher specialising in social documentary and environmental photography. Her work amplifies the voices of traditional communities, women, and climate resilience, with a strong emphasis on the ethical dimensions of image-making. Through in-depth research and participatory storytelling, Rebeca explores the intersectional impacts of extractive industries, fostering dialogue on their effects on affected communities. Her projects have been featured in leading publications and recognised with various awards, including the recent MEAD Fellowship.

Key information for attendees

If you’re interested in attending our Documentary Photography Panel Discussion, you will find all the information you need to join us at this exciting event below.

Date: Saturday 8th February 2025

Time: 18:30-20:00

Location: FUJIFILM House of Photography, 8-9 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9LH

Meeting Point: First floor, auditorium.

What can you expect from the panel discussion?

The Documentary Photography Panel Discussion will start with the fundamental ethical questions of documentary photography: how to honour your subject and conduct adequate research to represent it truthfully. What does it mean to other your subject and how to avoid doing so. This will use the respective experiences of the photographers as a baseline, who have all been in the field but come from different genres of documentary photography: some of them photograph indigenous communities, some of them conflicts, some of them landscapes and architecture.

Following this, the discussion will touch on those field experiences of the panellists to draw some advice on fundamentals of practising documentary photography, such as remaining unbiased, staying safe when out photographing, getting permission as a press photographer, and more.

Itinerary for the day

Note: Please aim to arrive 15 minutes before your session time.

18:15 – 18:30

Arrive at the House of Photography for ticket checks and sitting down.

18:30-18:40

Introduction of panellists and themes to be discussed

18:40-19:40

Discussion between panellists and facilitator

19:40-20:00

Q&A and discussion

What will you learn?

The session will go through themes of being in the field, being in the midst of live events documenting, and photographing subjects in a respectful and ethical manner, and how to do that. This will be a discussion amongst the panellists, and will end with a Q&A and discussion that will involve the attendants. Like with most panel discussions, the structure of the conversation will be guided by the responses, but will touch on the above themes. Attendees are expected to learn about creative projects involving the photography of conflicts, minority communities and various social groups, as well as ethics and the principles of truthfulness in documentary photography.

Activity and mobility requirements

The FUJIFILM House of Photography is fully accessible and has an operating lift to the first floor.

Additional information

Tickets do not include any expenses, train fares, meals, taxi fares, parking charges, etc unless otherwise stated. Please aim to arrive 15 minutes before your session time.

Terms and conditions

Once you have purchased a ticket, your place on the day will be reserved. If circumstances change and you need to cancel your place, please let us know 10 working days before the event and we will be happy to issue you a refund in full. Places cancelled after this time are non-refundable. You need to be at least 18 years of age in order to take part in this event. In case of emergency on the day, please email fujifilm_schoolUK@fujifilm.com.