Those who aspire to a career in photojournalism and photographers established in the industry often hope to do the lion’s share of their work abroad, covering war zones and absorbing foreign cultures.

Multicultural Britain has plenty to offer by way of contrasts and acute social issues for photojournalists to explore though. Save The Children has brought together a collective of British photographers to put the spotlight on poverty in the UK. An eye-opening presentation of photographs will be accompanied by a discussion with two photographers. Liz Hingley and Gideon Mendel will speak about their experiences of working in the UK, covering issues on their doorstep. What are the challenges photojournalists face at home compared to overseas? Problems of access, media interest and legal issues will all be covered.

This event will be moderated by Diane Smyth, deputy editor of the British Journal of Photography. She has written about photography for Aperture, PDN, Guardian.co.uk, Thetimes.co.uk, The Telegraph’s Telephoto site, Creative Review and Philosophy of Photography.

Liz Hingley ‘s photography intimately documents political and social issues, with a particular interest in alternative modes of community living. Hingley graduated from Brighton University with a first class BA Honours in Editorial Photography in 2007. Her work has been exhibited internationally, her recent awards include being selected for PND’s top 30, The Eugene Smith award, the Ian Parry scholarship and Canon female photographer of the year. Dewi Lewis Publishing launched her book Under Gods: stories from Soho Road in March 2011. 

Liz Hingley‘s work for Save the Children has been made possible through the generous support of Fuji film.

Gideon Mendel is a South African photographer based in the UK and has won six World Press Photo Awards, the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography and the Amnesty International Media Award. The bulk of his work is for NGOs overseas, but he stayed in the UK for one of his recent projects, Kingsmead Eyes, developing the photographic talents of children from the deprived area around the Kingsmead Estate in Hackney. The project was part of the 3EyesOn project which Mendel developed with fellow photographer Crispin Hughes. Mendel spoke at the Frontline Club in 2008 about nearly 20 years of photographing HIV in Africa and raising awareness of the problems AIDS sufferers face. In his current practice he is addressing the issue of climate change through developing a body of work on the global impact of flooding on the world’s poorest people.

How do photographers establish themselves in the competitive world of photojournalism? If you’re not represented by an agency what’s the best way to secure stories and promote your work? Go it alone and try and make a name for yourself in the dog-eat-dog photography business? Or form a collective?

Documentography is a group of photographers who collaborate internationally covering documentary, reportage, portraiture and fine art. Since 2000 this collection of five very different and equally talented photographers has worked together to promote their work and share their success. They combine forces to produce a quarterly web magazine, ISSUE.

Two members of Documentography, Guilhem Alandry and Anna Kåri, will be at the Frontline Club to discuss their collective and their varied techniques, including their innovative joint project about a shanty town built on a rubbish tip in Sierra Leone commissioned by Save the Children.

The event will be moderated by Jennifer Pollard, a Senior Lecturer in History & Theory of Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication. She specialises in the history of photojournalism and documentary, trauma, and globalized visual culture.

Guilhem Alandry is a videographer, photographer and multimedia producer. His use of 360-degree documentary technique has won him awards and has been used in print, interactive projects, exhibitions and TV. He won the Olympus Digital Elements Award 2003 and the Olympus Digital Photographer of the Year in the Observer Hodge Award 2004.

Anna Kåri’s specialties are humanitarian issues of migration, refugees, identity and human rights. The Danish photographer has worked extensively in the Balkans, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and West Africa. Her 5-year long project “The Roma refugees from Kosovo” won a Metro young photographers bursary award, The Tom Webster Award and was a runner up in the Ian Parry Awards. In 2005, Kåri was selected for the World Press Masterclass.