Summit Photo 2026

As always, an inspiring and insightful few days at Summit Photo 2026 held at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London. I urge any of you with an interest in photography to look at attending next year's world-class event.

This year, I participated in a roundtable with photographers who need no introduction, James Balog, Mandy Barker and Sue Flood Photography, discussing how photography actually effects change in practice. What does it mean to persevere and keep making work when the subject is habitat loss, species decline, glacial retreat? When your subjects are slowly, but undeniably, diminishing? Chris Rainier and Gideon Mendel both brought considered perspectives to the table, and Jamie Owen (FRGS) chaired the proceedings with his usual deft hand.

(A particular thank you to Simon Hill HonFRPS for the image above of the round table discussion around the historic boardroom table where Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition was planned in 1899)

One question kept surfacing: how to maintain a positive outlook when the evidence in front of your lens is often bleak? There was a view that hope isn't something passive. It has to be chosen. Something closer to what William James called the 'will to believe', an idea that committing to a possibility can, in itself, help bring it about. Without that commitment, the work risks becoming mere documentation of loss. With it, there's at least the chance that the image does something, shifts a perspective, or holds the viewer's attention a little longer. As ever, the discussion could have developed over many more hours. I always leave Summit with more questions and ideas than when I arrived.

©Ian Dawson 2026

I'm also pleased that my image of the Thwaites Glacier has been selected for the Earth Photo 2026 exhibition, touring the UK throughout 2026 and 2027. Thwaites is one of the most closely watched glaciers on the planet. Changes to this remote Antarctic ice sheet have implications for global sea level rises that are hard to overstate.

The touring exhibition can be seen at:

•  Royal Geographical Society, London — until 22 July 2026

•  National Trust Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire — 27 June – 31 July 2026

•  National Trust Coleton Fishacre, Devon — 12 September – 21 October 2026

•  Sidney Nolan Trust, Chester Zoo, and further National Trust and Forestry England venues through to early 2027

  
  

Thanks to the RGS, Photoworks and the The Royal Photographic Society for building something worth coming back to.

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