What’s On
From artist exhibitions and talks to creative workshops, screenings and book launches we host an array of events that bring photographic art creators and fans together to learn and connect.
Attending Our Events
All of our events are free unless stated otherwise, we have optional RSVP for each event, but we welcome walk- ins. Paid or private events can be booked below or via the organiser.
The Photobook Cafe: Archive Launch
On July 29th we welcome all to celebrate the re launch of our Archive, seeing months of categorising, resulting in a fully accessible onsite and online Archive, housing over 1000k items with over 40 categories.
The evening will see a curated reading room and gallery display, open for all to explore.
No RSVP required.
The Photobook Cafe Archive
Our Archives' intention is to build one of the most diverse and inclusive, free public access photobook collections in the world. Accessible to everyone to explore and be a part of. Our aim is to champion photographers and small publishers by giving a platform for promotion and shared collective learning.
We are after personal projects that reflect a photographer's artistic output, whether that be a personal or commercial project. This can encompass any genre of photography, method of binding/printing, and selected publishing house, we look for uniqueness and cherish alternative or low fi printing quality.
With a firm grasp on sustaining an economical and accessible ethos, the entire collection is catalogued using Omeka systems, which allows users to view the entire collection from anywhere in the world. Paired with a free open submission process, the Archive positively supports the future academic learning on photography and self publishing.
The Archive collection is curated by The Photobook Cafe team, alongside founder Lee Williams. Donations are digitised and catalogued monthly, seeing submissions via the online portal on an ongoing basis. The Archive is celebrated within The Photobook Cafe’s public programme, seeing monthly launches, displays, reading rooms and talks. With an aim to create space for academic and personal research for artists, photographers, writers, curators, students, collectors and historians.
Find out more about The Photobook Cafe Archive which includes all of our physical photobooks held in our onsite archive, plus digital reference photobooks.
All in a Day's Work by Jakub Dabrowski
Jakub Dabrowski
All in a Day's Work
A photographic journey of a bike packing trip taken over six months in 2024.
Over 190 days, Jakub cycled a total of 8,517km as he travelled through France, Spain, Morocco and Portugal.
All in a Day’s Work is a selection of over 200 photos which documents the landscapes, people and architecture encountered along his journey.
Social media handles
Instagram: @shotbykubi, @bylloydwood
Photo and Video Exhibition: Uncertain Blue by CocoMori
Independent documentary filmmaker CocoMori has always focused on the lives of ordinary people that might be easier to overlook. She has been trying to unfold it without portraying the individuals as the victims or as research topics in the public media. This project was made as a reflective piece, to show a life that is not far from us; an urban village, located just 4.9 miles away from the central city of Beijing, China. It is a home for non-city dwellers to stay in the metropolis; however, the residents have heard that this village is going to be demolished soon, and their vivid lives are now shrouded in uncertainty. I was able to take the camera to record their lives, voices, and faces before the demolition. I hope that the project will raise thoughts and foster understanding between people.
Social media handles
@i_cocomori
Photo and Graphic Exhibition by Soshi: Bond With
Osaka-born, London-based graphic designer Soshi will hold a photo exhibition titled “Bond with”on August 4th and 5th, 2025, 10am to 10pm at Photobookcafe in London. Through a combination of street photography and graphic work captured and created in London, the exhibition explores human connection, memory, and the emotional bonds that arise in fleeting moments.
special mix by Sou Kitahara, a Kyoto-based DJ and composer, will be played throughout the space, creating an immersive atmosphere that blends sound and image.
The merch corner will feature Soshi’s original Zine and badges, as well as handmade bags by Kiyo, an Osaka-based skate video filmmaker known for crafting one-of-a-kind pieces using a variety of fabrics and textures.
Sou Kitahara, based in Kyoto, creates music that fuses ambient textures with the structure of minimal techno. His work emphasizes intuition and experimentation, exploring the coexistence of organic emotions and mechanical form.
Kiyo, a skate video filmmaker based in Osaka, designs original handmade bags by freely combining diverse patterns and materials — no two are ever the same. Just as his video work features a range of skaters and settings, his bags reflect that same sense of individuality and layered expression through unique fabric pairings.
Book Launch: Pump
It's easy to laugh at the absurdity of bodybuilders. It's easy to call them unaware, to hottake that most of them are living out control-obsessed eating disorders. But many of us say that without confronting the control within ourselves. PUMP mirrors the messages we absorb online today: that through control, routine, and discipline, we can secure emotional safety, self-worth, and acceptance.
PUMP is the latest project from artist Alannah Cyan—a fictional 1978 bodybuilding magazine combining original photography, writing, and graphic design.
A reflection on control, discipline, and the quiet desperation that lives in many of us. Cyan uses the obsessive, cult-like lens of a 1970s bodybuilding magazine as a broader metaphor for the pursuit of emotional safety through disciplined routines and self-control.
Both surreal and sincere, PUMP is a fantasy of transformation, restraint, and the desire to become someone else. Structured around Dante’s Divine Comedy, it moves from Inferno to Paradiso through fictional ads, invented interviews, and an endless pressure to buy imagined supplements.
What begins as a parody slowly reveals itself as a devotional text to self-optimisation—not just of the body, but to the illusion of safety it promises. Come join us at the launch, where you can get your own copy of PUMP!
DRESS CODE: The year 1978
Zine Club
Turn your London snaps into a handmade zine!
Join us for our next Zine Workshop led by a pro photographer + bookmaker @felixfalckn
What to expect:
-Choose your favourite photos
-Print and design your own paper keepsake
-Trim, fold, and staple your zine by hand
-Enjoy a drink while you create in a cozy creative space
_
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
1 Zine included with your ticket
Zine Club
Turn your London snaps into a handmade zine!
Join us for our next Zine Workshop led by a pro photographer + bookmaker @felixfalckn
What to expect:
-Choose your favourite photos
-Print and design your own paper keepsake
-Trim, fold, and staple your zine by hand
-Enjoy a drink while you create in a cozy creative space
_
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
1 Zine included with your ticket
Antlers Volume III, Reading and Launch Party
Antlers is a publication and creative community platforming emerging female and non-binary artists working in all mediums of visual and written art. Our new issue features over 30 emerging artists from around the world. Our launch event will feature live readings of written works and an exhibition of visual works.
Social media handles:
@antlerszine
Book Launch: fLIP Imperfect
What does imperfect in photography mean to you?
A fault, an error, a mistake, a miscalculation? Do you recoil from it? Do you disown it? Does it become a ‘bad photo’ or an ‘ugly photo’? Do you discard it?
Or do you embrace its agency of chance, chaos and happenstance? Maybe you see the collateral beauty in the unhappy accident? Maybe it becomes a ‘happy accident’ instead?
Whether you fear it or delight in it, imperfect is at the heart of the Summer issue of FLIP magazine, published independently by London Independent Photography @london_independent_photography
Full of insight into LIP photographers’ artistic practices, exhibitions reviews, a deep dive into the concepts of imperfect and photography, and an interview with HAPAX co-director Christiane Monarchi, fLIP is an independent voice representing a community of over 280 artists and photographers.
Exhibition: CLEAR WATER STUNS THE ONLOOKER
A group exhibition showcasing the works of Jess Wishart, Billie Stringer, Hannah Hall, Samuel Edwards and Nikolai Voelcker.
Jess Wishart
Wishart is a photographer making work about how we live, how we connect with each other, and ourselves. How do we navigate digital spaces, what does autonomy mean when we have the ability to be any version of ourselves, or someone else entirely? So much of the visual content we associate with technology is imbued with sci-fi aesthetics, glossy, sleek, and clean. But this same technology is so ingrained in our daily lives, in many senses it is our daily lives. Wishart aims to create work that is closer to that reality. Centred around a traditional photographic practise, and then various modes of digital manipulation are used to sculpt out new ways of looking at the initial image. Breaking the barrier between the two worlds.
Hannah Hall
Hall’s work is rooted in an exploration of morality and women’s emotions beyond the confines of stereotypes, giving space for her subjects to be nuanced and contradictory. Her practice combines costume, set design and performance. Whilst also drawing inspiration from her own lived experiences, she builds intimate visual narratives that challenge traditional portrayals of identity and emotion. Her process is deeply collaborative, with each subject contributing to the development of a distinct character within an intentionally constructed scene. At the heart of Hall’s practice is a sense of nihilism, an exploration of themes she feels are only spoken in hushed tones when affecting women. Hall is motivated to create a space where women are allowed to be controversial and complex.
Samuel Edwards
Exploring themes of desire, voyeurism and vulnerability, Edward’s work is motivated by his own nuanced reflections of relationships. Creating imagery with the intention of constructing raw, tender and complex moments with his subjects, allowing onlookers to form their own personal interpretations. “I prefer when it seems like I’m not even there”. Having been advised early in his photographic career to be careful about labelling his work as queer Edward’s felt like he distanced himself from exploring his own queer identity for several years. “Now, it feels liberating to start again, creating work that reflects sexuality on my own terms.”
Nikolai Voelcker
Nikolai Voelcker is a Zurich-born photographer and director based in London. Operating at the intersection of cinematic image-making and staged portraiture, Nikolai's photographs and films construct emotionally charged, highly composed, and sometimes humorous worlds that explore youth and male dynamics. He tells stories often inspired from his own life experiences, by challenging everyday situations among men. Deeply committed to creating work about and within his surroundings, his sets, styling, and other personal details act as markers of his unique style. His work invites viewers into moments of vulnerability and transformation, they’re intimate and marked by softness and distinct visual clarity.
Billie Stringer
Billie Stringer is an Irish photographer based between London and Paris, whose work explores her way of seeing as a queer woman, curating a world that exists at the intersection between portraiture and performance. She is driven by collaboration within the image making process, with each image being born from conversation and each person who sits in front of her camera having as much autonomy in the outcome of the image as she does.
On The Periphery An Exhibition by Duncan James
On The Periphery – Exhibition and Book Launch – Duncan James, aka Mad Mods
And A Camera Duncan James is a professional art director who’s worked at a variety of London-based advertising agencies. Over the last ten years, he’s been on a journey to document modern Britain’s thriving Mod subculture.
It’s a journey that began when he spotted a group of Mods outside a North London café on Remembrance Sunday, 2015. It sparked something in him. So, when he got home, he grabbed a camera and went back, hoping to capture a few shots. He didn’t know how they’d react, but the group were happy to pose for him. And when he posted some images on Instagram, he realised he’d stumbled on a lively UK Mod scene.
A developing passion
Ten years on, that chance encounter has turned into a major side project. The group Duncan photographed that day called themselves Mad Mods and Englishmen, so his project became Mad Mods and A Camera. And since 2015 it’s taken him on a photographic journey to scooter ride-outs, Mod festivals and conventions in a number of countries, and the launch of his own Mod-themed magazine, The Scene. It even led to a photo shoot with the Modfather himself, Paul Weller. Duncan’s never claimed to be a Mod, although he always loved the Mod look, the music and the scooters. But through this project he’s developed a genuine passion for everything Mod, including other subcultures, such as suedeheads and skinheads. And the more he discovered about them, the more he wanted to document them.
On The Periphery
Duncan’s photographic approach is based on a quote from the American photographer and photojournalist, Alfred Eisenstaedt: “It’s more important to click with people than to click the shutter.” For Duncan it’s about trust, friendships, and building strong connections with the people who have welcomed him into their vibrant Mod subculture. But he still sees himself as a guest, rather than a participant – standing On The Periphery, looking in – and that’s how he prefers it.
The On The Periphery exhibition and the accompanying book celebrate ten years of documenting this flourishing scene. Reflecting the close bond Duncan’s developed with the people he photographs, his unintrusive images capture moments in time with an honesty that truly represents contemporary Mod culture. You can pre-order the On The Periphery book, either for collection at the exhibition, or for home delivery here. All proceeds from sales of the book will go towards The National Brain Appeal.
You can pre-order the On The Periphery book, either for collection at the exhibition, or for home delivery here. All proceeds from sales of the book will go towards The National Brain Appeal.
Zine Club
Turn your London snaps into a handmade zine!
Join us for our next Zine Workshop led by a pro photographer + bookmaker @felixfalckn
What to expect:
-Choose your favourite photos
-Print and design your own paper keepsake
-Trim, fold, and staple your zine by hand
-Enjoy a drink while you create in a cozy creative space
_
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
1 Zine included with your ticket
Zine Club
Turn your London snaps into a handmade zine!
Join us for our next Zine Workshop led by a pro photographer + bookmaker @felixfalckn
What to expect:
-Choose your favourite photos
-Print and design your own paper keepsake
-Trim, fold, and staple your zine by hand
-Enjoy a drink while you create in a cozy creative space
_
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
1 Zine included with your ticket
Brythonic / Dylan Garcia
Brythonic is a project dealing with, time, deeptime, climate change and Britain real or mythological.
Dylan Garcia's practice deals with issues of time, history, mythology, human consciousness and how this relates to the natural world.
Dylan Garcia is a lens based artist living in southern England. He is a member of RPS (Royal Photographic Society), and OVADA (Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency).
He was awarded the Daylight/Format24 Award.
He has exhibited in Rome, London, Athens, Oxford, Cambridge, Amongst other places, and at the Chester Photographic Festival (UK).
Dylans Photobook Brythonic is in the collections of the National Art Library V&A (London UK), Photo Book Cafe (London UK), Hasselblad Foundation (Gothenburg Sweden), PHMuseum (Bologna Italy) and the Photo Book Museum (Cologne Germany).
Dylan has a BA in Graphics (Photography) from Norwich School of Art, MA Photography from Falmouth University and holds ARPS from the Royal Photographic Society.
Social media handles
@dylangarcialensart
COCK FOR PRIDE
Cock For Pride: A Celebration of Queer Culture
This July, join us for an exciting and vibrant collaboration between The Photobook Café, Rapid Eye and The Cock Tavern, as we come together to celebrate Queer Culture in honour of Pride 2025!
What’s Happening
At the Cock For Pride exhibition, we’ll be showcasing a diverse group of emerging and established LGBTQIA+ artists. This multidisciplinary exhibition will ignite important conversations and amplify Queer voices on an international scale. Featured artists to be announced.
Our FREE public opening invites all to come together and celebrate diverse and underrepresented Queer talents. No RSVP required, just bring yourself, your friends, and your Pride!
Want More?
The exhibition will also be accompanied by an inspiring public programme featuring a specially curated Queer Library window display at The Photobook Café. This month, we’re highlighting works from amazing Queer publishers and creatives, including Jesse Glazzard and Marc Vallée.
The Cock Tavern
A true icon of London’s queer nightlife scene, The Cock Tavern in Kennington has long been a symbol of friendship and inclusivity. Led by Farika Holden, Patrick Black, and Leean James, the Cock brings warmth and community to the forefront. Their mantra: friendship overrides race, religion, and sexuality.
Rapid Eye
As passionate advocates for the creative process, they are proud to be part of Cock For Pride, supporting the production of artworks by LGBTQIA+ creatives and pushing the boundaries of queer representation in art. With their commitment to fostering a supportive, inclusive space, Rapid Eye Darkrooms continues to stand at the forefront of contemporary photography and printmaking.
Cock For Pride is generously supported by
The Cock Tavern @thecocktavernlondon
Rapid Eye Darkrooms @rapideye.darkroom
Zine Club
Turn your London snaps into a handmade zine!
Join us for our next Zine Workshop led by a pro photographer + bookmaker @felixfalckn
What to expect:
-Choose your favourite photos
-Print and design your own paper keepsake
-Trim, fold, and staple your zine by hand
-Enjoy a drink while you create in a cozy creative space
_
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
1 Zine included with your ticket
Yu Zoe Cui: Good Day To Marry – A Celebration of Queer Chinese Intimacy (Prelaunch + Panel Discussion)
Yu Zoe Cui is a London-based designer and artist whose work spans visual storytelling, printed matter, and participatory experiences. She creates self-initiated projects and workshops centring ESEA (East and Southeast Asian) communities. Zoe’s recent practice focuses on themes of intimacy, identity, and memory—especially Chinese queer experiences, diaspora, and female-centered narratives.
You’re warmly invited to the prelaunch of "Good Day to Marry", a deeply personal photo book celebrating Chinese queer intimacy through a series of dreamlike, surreal wedding portraits. The book features three female queer couples, captured in intimate settings that honour love, tenderness, and the quiet defiance of simply being seen.
This event is a soft opening of Yu Zoe Cui’s ongoing project—an evening to gather, reflect, and share. We’ll start with a relaxed behind-the-scenes screening, offering a glimpse into the process and stories behind the images. Following that, join us for a thoughtful panel discussion on Chinese queer love and marriage, with contributions from photographer Nandal Seo and Dr. Xumeng Xie, Lecturer at Queen Mary University.
You’ll also get to see the outcomes of Zoe’s recent participatory workshops, where participants reimagined Chinese marriage certificates through collage and creative writing—an ongoing part of the "Good Day to Marry" project that invites the community to reclaim and rewrite the language of love.
The portraits have been shortlisted for the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, and this event marks the first time they’ll be shown publicly. Come for the stories, stay for the celebration. We can’t wait to share this moment with you.
@zozomoloko
Transformation by Benjamin Swanson
Transformation – A Handcrafted Photo Book Celebrating Nature and Change, Launching at The Photobook Café, London
Transformation is a new hand-bound photo book by Benjamin Swanson, set to launch on Thursday, July 24th at The Photobook Café in London. This limited edition of just 40 individually unique copies brings together evocative photography and the delicate beauty of hand-pressed wildflowers, each one harvested from the artist’s own garden.
Transformation is a meditation on growth, impermanence, and connection to the earth. Each copy features an original arrangement of hand-pressed flora, making no two books alike. The tactile experience is deepened by the cover, crafted from plantable seed paper, allowing the book to give life long after the pages have been turned.
The launch will be held at The Photobook Café. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the artist, view the books in person, and purchase a signed edition.
Body・Sound・Life, The Ways of S. S. S.
Body・Sound・Life, The Ways of S. S. S.
身・聲・生
신체・소리・삶
-- A Full-day Indie Music Trail --
// // // //
Body・Sound・Life, The Way of S S S, meaning Sensing, Sharing and Seeking. The concept exploring individuals’ interaction between music, body and visualisation, extending to personal interpretations of life experiences and allowing people to find their own trajectory of "Body・Sound・Life".
We aim to unite artists from Taiwan, Korea, and the UK to share cross-cultural creation and the values of Asian indie music. We would like to invite you to enjoy the journey of discovering musical genres varieties within ourselves.
＿＿The trail includes＿＿
【Talk】11:00am - 12:30pm
> Exploring The Asian Indie Music Scene by SUPERSONIC STUDIO
【Body Workshop】1:30 - 3:00pm
> Body Movement and Physical Expression Workshop by Shiou-Fen Li & Ling
【Performance】3:00 - 4:00pm
> Sensing Discrepancy performance by Shiou-Fen Li & Ling
【Zine Making Workshop】4:30 - 6:30pm
> Synthesise Your Journey and Make Your Own Zine with SUPERSONIC STUDIO
// // // //
UK Organiser: Studio Current (@studiocurrentuk)
KR Collab Org: SUPERSONIC STUDIO (@supersonicstudiokr)
TW Collab Artists: Shiou-Fen Li (@lishioubonn), Ling (@shiun___)
Trailer (click for the link)
CAFE FM
Cafe FM is a week-long pop-up exhibition in Shoreditch blending music, art, and culture under one roof. Curated by global creative agency Golden Wolf, award winning label Take Your Medicine, and next-gen entertainment brand Doodles, it’s a collaboration built on a shared love of creativity in all its forms.
From July 14–18, step into a nostalgic, greasy-spoon-inspired space brought to life with bold visuals, unexpected sounds, and interactive experiences. Hang out, discover new music, explore immersive art, grab a drink, and maybe even pick up some exclusive merch.
"Kilometers", Book Release & Signing / Maxime La
Maxime La is a Paris-based photographer whose multicultural roots—Cambodian, French, and American—inform a culturally attuned perspective in his work, grounded in nuance and authenticity. His images search for raw narratives among his subjects or environment, and the sublime of an unfiltered reality.
“Kilometers”, published by Soft-Copy, documents an unlikely friendship established between Maxime and a taxi driver in Singapore with a deep love for food and his city. Having initially met during a six-hour layover in 2022, the book retraces Maxime's return to Singapore with KM, “Kilometers”, Seah two years later; capturing his day to day life, shared moments and meals, and the blossomed friendship that developed from his boundless optimism and appreciation for life.
Social media handles
@maxime_la published by @soft__copy
Tom Shaw A Portrait of Cricket: Book Launch and Signing
Tom Shaw is an award winning sports and portrait photographer. He spent the early part of his career as a staff photographer at Getty Images where he worked exclusively as a cricket photographer working with the England cricket team. Since leaving Getty Images over a decade ago he has established himself as a commercial photographer working with sports brands and governing bodies across the globe.
This project is a portrait of the game of cricket from across the country. The cricketing landscape has been shaped over the years by the diaspora from cricket-playing nations across the world who have brought their own passions, styles and traditions to the game. The aim is to move the narrative along from being solely the rural, leafy village green and to meet the players, spectators, volunteers, ground staff and everyone else who make the game what it is today.
THE5: A STORY OF CARE BY LETIZIA LOPREIATO
WHY AM I LAUNCHING THE5 - MY NEW CREATIVE TRADEMARK FOCUSED
ON:
CARE, LOVE, EMPATHY AND FORGIVENESS, AND WHY NOW?
The intense experience of fear linked to the diagnosis of visual impairment I received in my adulthood, triggered a radical need to get to the roots of what it meant to me to feel safe as a woman, while living with ‘disability’ and why I couldn’t feel a trace of that feeling of safety within my body until my 30s. The journey that started in 2022 it is now a three years documentary centred in THE
POWER OF STORYTELLING TO TRANSFORM OUR LIVES FROM VICTIMS INTO AUTHORS.
I therefore started researching in the realm of mythology to better portray the three main emotional domains I could sense being connected to visual impairment and to what the roots of those emotions now so violently triggered in my body truly represented:
FEAR
LOVE
CARE
FORGIVENESS
EMPATHY
AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO FATHEROOD AS THAT GIFT OF PRESENCE, OR
ABSENCE, that women could relate to throughout their adulthood, while stopping to think, rethink, or simply witness, their relationship with love and its dimension of safety. Mine within photography is a journey that has only been made possible by embracing my authentic self to its core, While uncovering the roots of fear and its relationship with what love meant to me, as e-motion, an energy in motion and constant evolution throughout our life. A process of discovery I would have never embarked on without what visual impairment brought to me five years ago, the call for unveiling, layer after layer of experience, my vocation for photography and in particular for visual poetry storytelling, as an art-form in its own right.
I most recently had my fourth eyes operation at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London where I had the luck and the joy to have been, truly, taken care of over. So after six years without being able to look into somebody’s eyes, as my capacity for face and colours recognition was being impaired more and more by my eye condition, my brain, but above all, my body as I now am aware of, started filling the gaps with other stories for me to ‘look at’, other stories for me to feel with other senses.
The stories of what my body, my mind and above all my energy were capable of, narrating to me through my entire body, what the presence of somebody else’s energy made me feel, and that guided me to slowly but surely, over the course of the last three years of shooting, to conclude my latest creative documentary.
A story that has become a form of self - guided meditation through, the now mono- sight lens, of my visual creative process.
I have been FEELING REALITY throughout my entire body, via a form of total
EMBODIED COGNITION, rather than just through my eyes and mind - mnemonic processes.
I ADDED OIL PAINTING TO MY PRACTICE LAST YEAR, AS A RESULT.
THE MAKING OF ME THROUGH COLOURS, AS I CAME TO DEFINE THIS ACT
OF SELF – DISCOVERY … This journey is now A TWO – SIDED STORY OF UNCONVENTIONAL CARE AND
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, RECEIVED AND GIVEN
Between my mum and myself, a journey which for me started during a talk I had with Claire, founder of PhotoFringe 22 while I was living in Brighton, and which then continued throughout my new project’s research studies on how:
- IFS acronym for the Internal Family System psychoanalytical model
- The neuroscience of emotions; regulation
- The neuropsychology of embodied cognition
can set someone free from the triggers of CPTSD as in Complex PTSD in adulthood.
This is the story of a lived experience FROM TRAUMA TO GROWTH, that I am now
ready to start sharing, to help others living through challenging times in their lives,
TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN THEIR FEET, AND ABOVE ALL IN THEIR HANDS,
TO LEARN AND RELEARN HOW TO TRULY HOLD EACH OTHER’S HANDS, BY
KEEPING ON MOVING FORWARD, or as my Mum would say in Italian:
- POCO A POCO -
Step by step :)
With Care, Love and Respect, Letizia Lopreiato
Zine Club
Print a paper keepsake at Photobook happy hour with a pro photographer. Explore the zine history and get inspired by a vast archive located in our cafe. Whilst you have a browse grab a drink from out bar. Select phone pics to turn them into a personalized keepsake. Have a drink on us as you curate your design, send to print! The fold, staple and trim.
Booking Essential, your ticket includes 1 zine.
Visual Narratives Workshop with Xavi B
Transform Your Photography into a Cohesive Story
A single image can be powerful, but a carefully-edited series tells a story. If you’ve ever struggled with organizing your work, or turning a collection of images into a meaningful project, this workshop is for you. Join Xavi B., an experienced photographer and creative director, for a full day workshop designed to help you build a compelling visual narrative from scratch.
What You’ll Learn:
-The art of editing: How to select and sequence images to enhance storytelling.
- Visual narratives: Understanding rhythm, flow, and emotional impact in a photo series.
-From chaos to cohesion: Structuring a project from scattered images into a polished body of work.
-Laying out for publication: Bringing your project to life for digital or physical format.
Who Is This For?
Photographers looking to refine their editing and storytelling skills. Artists interested in publishing personal projects or wishing to get into zines or books. Visual storytellers who want to develop a stronger narrative voice.
Why Join?
Hands-on experience: Bring your own images and work through practical editing exercises. Small group setting: Small group for personalised feedback and guidance. Take-home insights: Learn techniques that you can apply to future projects. Spots are limited—secure your place now!
Xavier Buendia (Xavi B.) Is a freelance photographer, creative director and lens based artist originally from Mexico City. Now established in Brighton since 2009, Xavi works with independent clients on commercial assignments ranging from food & drink brands, to portrait and business documentary. His food photography has won a several awards early in his career. He now spends his time writing a newsletter on the creative process, helps photographers and creatives through mentoring and wishes to have enough time to work on his photo books and zine projects.
July 5th
10:30-17:30
Please bring with you between 16 - 40 photos printed in plain paper, no bigger than A6.
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
£40.00
Booking via Xavi
Zine Club
Print a paper keepsake at Photobook happy hour with a pro photographer. Explore the zine history and get inspired by a vast archive located in our cafe. Whilst you have a browse grab a drink from out bar. Select phone pics to turn them into a personalized keepsake. Have a drink on us as you curate your design, send to print! The fold, staple and trim.
Booking Essential, your ticket includes 1 zine
Open Call Exhibition and Publication Launch: JOY
Following the success of our third Open Call Love, we continue a similar rhetoric with a new theme: joy, kindness, moments of connection, and the profound beauty that makes life worth living. Seen in a time of increasing division and conflict, we want to create a space for photography that embodies openness, freedom, and the small yet powerful acts that shape a better world. We want to see captured moments that matter, whether fleeting or monumental. Acts of war, acts of love as contrasting realities that shape each individual human experience.
This was an invitation for photographers to explore the world not just as it is, but as it could be. The exhibition will see an open visual manifesto of love, joy and the radical power of kindness. Expressing how love persists in the face of struggle, joy as an act of defiance as moments of celebration, resilience, and human connection. Seeing kindness as a force of change as gestures of generosity, solidarity, and care.
Our invited guest judges Laura Conway and Victoria Sullivan have reviewed all submissions, selecting the final 35 photographers. Awarding our four runners up and best in show photographer.
As part of The Photobook Cafe’s Public Programme we aim to bring a diverse selection of photographers together, collectively representing all forms of Joy. With all submissions being celebrated and screened on the evening of theJune 26th, and the potential to be featured on The Photobook Cafe and Rapid Eye Darkrooms Instagram, exposing all submissions to press and industry professionals. Alongside the final selected photographers having their photograph presented in a group exhibition and publication, with an opening night and publication launch held at The Photobook Cafe.
Best in show and our runners up will be announced June 26th 18:30 in our Gallery.
As part of The Photobook Cafe Public Programme
Supported by Rapid Eye Darkrooms
Many thanks to our guest judges: Victoria Sullivan and Laura Conway
Poster image Courtesy of: Heather Lawrence and Emma Martin
Brownstone Cowboys UK Issue Launch
Brownstone Cowboys Magazine was started by former The Face Fashion Director Heathermary Jackson in New York in 2021. BSC UK began in 2024, with our first issue launch last November. We are a magazine founded on the intersection of style and social justice - a vanguard of people who believe that fashion and art are vehicles and windows for looking at wider-reaching issues and conversations in this world.
Social media handles
@brownstonecowboysmagazine
Zinnia's Open Crits
ALL AGES
A series of informal critical reviews aimed at building a photographic community, collaborating with one-another and sharing work!
Zinnia Collective (@zinniacollective_) are excited to share with and invite you to a series of photo based crits open to all - any age and any stage of their career!
A series of informal critical reviews aimed at building a photographic community, collaborating with one-another and sharing work!
This will be relaxed, informal get togethers to support one another while providing honest and constructive feedback.
For those looking to share work, please DM or email us with some examples of what you would like to show. We love looking at prints, however we understand not everyone can print so please don't hesitate to bring a laptop for the group to gather around and look at your work.
These will be held monthy at the fabulous Photo Book Cafe. Please keep an eye on our Instagram for any updates.
If you have any accessibility requirements please don't hesitate to email.
Hackney Urban Survey #08 - Boundaries with Mark Power
Photography workshop and pop-up exhibition
£175 booking essential
21st of June
9.30am - 5pm: Workshop
7.00pm - 9pm: Exhibition and Social
Hackney Urban Survey is a series of photography workshops and pop-up exhibitions created by Mass Collective to explore Hackney’s rich and diverse urban fabric, building a collective archive of what Hackney is today.
This phase of Hackney Urban Survey has reached its eighth and final chapter — and we’re closing the circle with something truly special. This time, the workshop and exhibition will take place at the Photobook Café, a renowned creative hub in Old Street, and we’re thrilled to be joined by none other than Mark Power as guest tutor.
Mark will guide us through some of his most relevant work exploring the theme of boundaries before joining us for the hands-on photography session and exhibition curation. With a keen eye for sequencing and narrative, he’ll help shape the final selection of images. This is a rare chance to be inspired by — and work alongside — one of Magnum’s most celebrated photographers. His seminal projects, including The Shipping Forecast, The Sound of Two Songs, and Good Morning, America, have deeply influenced the work we do at Mass Collective.
The workshop is open to 15 photographers, welcoming both professionals and passionate amateurs. On Saturday 21st June, we’ll spend the day immersed in talks, shooting, and group reviews — all culminating in a one-night-only flash exhibition at the Photobook Café, where each participant will showcase a print produced during the day.
Ancient Light Dr Melanie King Book Launch
Join us for the launch of ‘Ancient Light’, a new photo book by Dr Melanie King. All welcome!
‘What to make of Melanie King’s photographs of the stars, which make up the extensive series ‘Ancient Light’? They have none of the glamour of NASA’s enhanced astronomical photographs and cannot repeat the exactitude of the powerful telescopes which constantly map the universe. Rather, they are photographs rooted in the earth’s surface , emphasising our smallness against the infinity of space. This is what we see, insists Melanie King, aligning herself perhaps with Plath’s vision of the tired and bedraggled stars glimpsed in the night sky over England . And to see them like this, to acknowledge the power of their travelled light, we celebrate the fact that we are part of this, moving , vibrant specks in a history as long as time.’ (Professor Val Williams, 2024) ‘Ancient Light’ comprises analogue astronomical photographs of the night sky, often produced in remote locations away from light pollution.
The project arises from King’s practice-based PhD ‘Ancient Light: Rematerialising The Astronomical Image’, completed at the Royal College of Art in 2024. In this book, King highlights the connections between light emitted from deep within the cosmos, photographic materials and the ecology of Earth. The book includes an essay by Professor Val Williams and an introduction by Dr Melanie King.
The launch will include projections from the series ‘Ancient Light’ by Dr Melanie King, and sounds curated by Clementine Blue.
The book has been partially funded by Canterbury Christ Church University.
The launch has been supported by Dr Melanie King’s Patreon subscribers.
Publisher: XYZ
Books Lisbon https://www.artbooks.xyz/
Designer: Joana Durães https://www.joanaduraes.com/portfolio/
Dr Melanie King is a working class artist and curator, originally from Manchester, UK. Melanie is now based in Kent, UK. She is co-Director of super/collider, Lumen Studios and founder of the London Alternative Photography Collective. Melanie is Lecturer In Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University. She has recently completed her PhD at the Royal College of Art. Melanie is interested in the relationship between the environment, photography and materiality. In her work, Melanie intends to highlight the intimate connection between photographic materials and the natural world. She is currently researching several sustainable photographic processes, to minimise the environmental impact of her artistic practice.
Professor Val Williams is University of the Arts London Professor of the History and Culture of Photography at the London College of Communication. She is the author of many books about the culture and societal impact of photography. As a curator, she has curated and co-curated exhibitions for Tate Britain, Barbican Art Gallery, Turner Contemporary, the Photographers Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She initiated the Photography and the Archive Research Centre at UAL and was its director until 2018. Williams also teaches on MA Photography at the London College of Communication.
Social media handles
@MelanieKing
Emerge
Emerge - Fashion Photography Collective Exhibition. Showcasing the diverse and dynamic work of 13 emerging fashion photographers. Each artist brings a unique vision and voice, celebrating the individuality and creativity that makes this collective truly one of a kind.
Social media handles
@emergehibition_
Paul Walsh, Walking With Strangers / Barry Falk, In Search of Amnesia - joint book launch and book signing
Paul Walsh / Barry Falk Walking With Strangers / In Search of Amnesia Joint book launch and book signing
Paul Walsh and Barry Falk are both members of the MAP6 Collective, a group of 10 photographers who have been working together for over 14 years creating projects that explore people and places, from as far afield as Moscow and Lithuania to Wales and the Shetland Islands.
Paul Walsh is a British photographer whose work is derived from his lifelong passion for walking. His personal work examines the relationship between walking and photography, creating projects drawn from the physical, psychological and historical experience of being in natural or urban landscapes. Paul’s work has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions in the UK and abroad, and his first book 'Walking With Strangers' was recently published by Another Place Press.
Barry Falk is a UK based photographer exploring a range of subjects related to the psychological sense of self. He has documented places that have undergone collective trauma, focussing on Eastern Europe to consider both his own personal history and explore how certain locations hold a sense of collective grief related to the Jewish narrative of loss. He is currently exploring nostalgia linked to the fascination with the former GDR. Barry has exhibited within the UK and internationally. He has recently published his first book ‘In Search of Amnesia’, published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg.
Both photographers touch upon a number of interconnected themes, including exploring sacred pilgrimages sites, collective memory and personal loss, transgenerational trauma and religious identity. With both book projects the theme of connecting with others has been key: for Paul it was encountering and connecting with people whilst walking, who were seeking to overcome major life events and find something that was missing from their lives; for Barry it was seeking traces of a once vibrant Jewish narrative, that has largely disappeared from Eastern Europe, by meeting the various custodians of memory: the historians, conservationists, archivists, forensic archaeologists, tour guides, academics and the visiting Jewish people tracing their family genealogy.
Paul’s project follows a number of Camino Pilgrimage routes on foot, beginning at the town of Le Puy en Velay in southern France and ending 1700km later at the town of Muxia on the west coast of Spain; Barry travelled through southeast Poland and northwest Ukraine, following the old Chasidic Rabbi routes that led to surprising synagogues and rivers and transportation lines that inevitable led to the death camps. For both photographers the act of travelling to the places of original trauma and potential spirituality, treading in the footsteps of others, past and present, led to a deep sense of connection and understanding that informed the final projects.
For this event Paul and Barry will be sharing insights into their projects, as well as signing copies of their book.
Paul Walsh - @paulwalshphotography / https://paulwalshphotography.co.uk/ Barry Falk - @barryfalk / https://www.barryfalk.com/
ETERNAL SOLACE: The Exhibition / kendrafilmz
kendrafilmz is a 19 year old emerging photographer from South London. Her debut solo exhibition "Eternal Solace" explores how she uses photography as a visual record for pivotal moments in her life & marks an important milestone in her photography journey so far.
Social media handles
@kendra.ui @kendrafilmz
Book Launch "I'm A Stranger In This Country" by Frederik Ruegger
Born 1993 in Worms, Germany | Based in Berlin, Germany
Frederik Rüegger is a Berlin-based photographer whose work explores themes of identity, culture, and the human form. Frederik left his hometown at the age of 18 to move to New York, a decision that profoundly shaped his artistic perspective and creative journey. With a background spanning both art and science, Frederik completed a Bachelor of Science at the Sports University Cologne in 2016 before transitioning to photography, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the renowned Ostkreuz School for Photography in 2025.
His creative achievements have been recognized internationally, including accolades such as being a finalist in the Festival Fotografia Etica, Sony World Photography Awards, and the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery. Frederik's work has also earned second-place honors in competitions by TIME Magazine & ASMP, as well as the New York Photography Awards.
Frederik's photography has been featured in prestigious exhibitions, including the 2024 Sony World Photography Award exhibition at Somerset House in London.
His publications span collaborations with esteemed magazines such as Frog Magazine and Lampoon Magazine, showcasing projects ranging from editorial pieces to his acclaimed Bodybuilder series. His work will further expand into print with the upcoming release of his book I’m a Stranger in This Country through Kehrer Verlag in 2025.
I'm A Stranger In This Country
Frederik Rüegger spent over two years visiting Great Britain and Ireland to make the photographs for his book of Roma, or Travellers’ horse fairs, I Am a Stranger in This Country. His vibrant, complex images capture all the excitement and social interaction in the country towns where Travellers traditionally meet - to display and trade horses - but also to engage in a wide range of cultural activities, including selling other goods and making music together. Rüegger’s title, l Am a Stranger in This Country reflects his status as a visitor and also that of the Travellers’ as ‘outsiders’ in British and Irish society. He was inspired, as a boxing enthusiast, by the fact that heavyweight Tyson Fury is a Roma - created a wish to document a whole way of life that is under threat from both changes in contemporary society and prejudice in a post-Brexit nationalist Britain. Rüegger’s pictures are not simply a document but a celebration of innovative and creative picture-making.
Social media handles
@frederikruegger
Zine Club
Print a paper keepsake at Photobook happy hour with a pro photographer. Explore the zine history and get inspired by a vast archive located in our cafe. Whilst you have a browse grab a drink from out bar. Select phone pics to turn them into a personalized keepsake. Have a drink on us as you curate your design, send to print! The fold, staple and trim.
Booking Essential, your ticket includes 1 drink at our bar, excluding cocktails*
London Experimental Zine Launch
In anticipation of the London Experimental screening event mid-June, we are delighted to invite you to the launch event of the limited edition London Experimental Zine. The book features imagery and words from our 40 filmmakers and artists who will exhibit their films at the 2025 event. Join us for an evening of celebration for our eclectic upcoming program and purchase a copy of the London Experimental zine. Featuring a special performance by experimental musician Seaming To, who will compose a live soundtrack to our event trailer. Seaming To is an artist, Composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Her experimental ethos and mastery across a variety of instruments has enabled her to collaborate with some of the most respected and radical artists of this decade. She has composed soundtracks for numerous short films, theatre, and dance. Monday, the 2nd June 2025. 4 PM - Late.
Social media handles
LE Website: https://www.londonexperimental.com/ LE Instagram: @londonexperimental Seaming To Instagram: @seamingto Seaming To Website: seaming.co.uk Birdhouse Brewery: birdhousebrewing.com Birdhouse Brewery Instagram: birdhousebrewery
Editions
"Please come and join BA Photography graduates from Middlesex University as they showcase their photographic portfolios, bespoke books and zines on Thursday 29th May for a launch night from 6pm - 9pm or during it's public opening on Friday 30th May from 10am - 6pm."
Lydia Goldblatt will deliver a talk on her photographic practice at 12pm on Friday 30th May in the Photobook Gallery. All are welcome.
Zine Club
Print a paper keepsake at Photobook happy hour with a pro photographer. Explore the zine history and get inspired by a vast archive located in our cafe. Whilst you have a browse grab a drink from out bar. Select phone pics to turn them into a personalized keepsake. Have a drink on us as you curate your design, send to print! The fold, staple and trim.
Booking Essential, your ticket includes 1 drink at our bar, excluding cocktails*
The First Draft / Rich Gilligan
'The First Draft' is an artistic homecoming, bringing internationally influenced work back to the roots of Rich Gilligan's creative journey and offers a contemplative look at the themes of belonging, identity, and coming of age in suburbia. The book revisits Gilligan's early projects created around Blanchardstown in Dublin which are presented as non-sequential vignettes exploring the complex relationship we often hold with the places that shape us, inviting audiences to experience a dialogue between past and present, where transient moments explore the process of coming of age. Each photograph, whether revisiting past work or presenting fresh perspectives, serves as a personal yet universally resonant meditation on how our environments shape our outlooks and identities.
Featuring essays by Ken Grant & Sue Rainsford
Published by Driftwood Editions Design and Production by an Atelier Project Print and Lithography by MM Fine Art Book Printing & Repro
Hardback, linen bound cover, 120 pages Edition of 500
Bio: Rich Gilligan is a photographer from Dublin, Ireland. He began his work making his own zines as a teenager and then went on to work as a skateboard photographer for a variety of publications worldwide. He now shoots a wide range of commissioned projects while continuing to pursue his own personal work. Until recently Rich was based in New York, but in 2020 he relocated to Wicklow where he continues to work on projects both in & out of Ireland. Previous photographic publications include Time/Line (Self Published) 2008, DIY (1980 Editions) 2012, Rituals (AAD) 2014, Burnside (Driftwood) 2014, DIY (Prestel) 2014, Town (The Salvage Press) 2018 and All Sorts Of Impossible Things (Driftwood Editions) 2022. His work has been published in iD, T Magazine, The New York Times, Vogue, Port, The New Yorker, Source & Time.
Social media handles
@richgilligan & @driftwoodeditions