Where Photography Meets Purpose: Summit Photo Returns

The image that changes minds. The photograph that shifts policy. These are the questions at the heart of Summit Photo — the Royal Geographical Society's annual event dedicated to the transformative power of visual storytelling. After a remarkable debut in 2025, Summit Photo returns Friday 17 to Sunday 19 July 2026 at the Society's home on Kensington Gore, London.

The Inaugural 2025 Event

The first Summit Photo asked a deceptively simple question: how can photography address the global challenges of our time? The answer came from photographers, scientists, explorers and policy-makers — amongst them Simon Townsley, Marissa Roth, Midnight Sun photographer's Sue Flood, Ian Dawson, BAFTA Breakthrough winner Poulomi Basu, and the Satueday keynote by Frans Lanting and many others. The Society's curator of photography, Jamie Owen, summed it up: "The response was wonderfully exciting and bodes incredibly well for 2026 and 2027."

The 2026 Lineup

This year's speakers are exceptional. James Balog has spent decades turning the slow catastrophe of climate change into images people can feel. Bertie Gregory — BAFTA's youngest-ever cinematography winner — brings the natural world to life with breath-taking storytelling. Shahidul Alam, Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2018, offers a perspective on photography that is at once artistic and fiercely political. Mandy Barker transforms marine plastic debris into something unnervingly beautiful. Areeba Hamid, co-leader of Greenpeace International, ensures activism and policy are part of the conversation. Aaron Gekoski investigates wildlife exploitation with images that are as disturbing as they are necessary, and Simon Townsley, a three-time British Press Photographer of the Year, and ourselves return for the 2026 programme.

Also confirmed: Rhiannon Adam, Chris Rainier, Selene Magnolia Gatti, Anne Nwakalor, Olivia McKendrick, and more — spanning social justice, indigenous cultures, and ecological crisis.

The Details

Organised with Photoworks and the Royal Photographic Society, and sponsored by Rolex through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, Summit Photo draws on the RGS's collection of over half a million photographs dating back to 1850.

Talks, exhibitions and workshops run across all three days. This is for anyone who cares about the planet and the stories that shape how we see it.

Day pass: £25 (non-member) / £15 (member — RGS, RPS or Photoworks)Dates: 17–19 July 2026 | Royal Geographical Society, London

Book now at rgs.org/events/summit-photo

"The world has no shortage of crises. What it sometimes lacks is the image that makes us feel them. Summit Photo exists to close that gap"