Alice Gabriner is a visual editor and educator with more than three decades of experience at TIME, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. She has produced more than 100 cover stories and has collaborated with many of the world’s most respected photographers.

She previously served as Deputy Director of Photography at the Obama White House and now directs The Center for Contemporary Documentation, a nonprofit dedicated to visually documenting the impacts of climate change and environmental issues on communities across the United States.

Her work has earned an Emmy Award, four National Magazine Awards, recognition from World Press Photo, multiple editing awards from Pictures of the Year International (POYi), and a nomination for the Lucie Award for Photo Editor of the Year. She is a faculty member at the International Center of Photography and curates books and exhibitions worldwide.

Born 1942 in Israel, Amnon Bar-Tur served in Israeli army as a military photographer and correspondent. After completing his service he was invited to join “Haaretz” leading daily paper photographing for their weekend supplement. In 1966 Bar-Tur moved to England to study photography at London College of Printing and Graphic Arts (now London College of Communication, UAL). In 1968 Bar-Tur joined forces with friend Jeff Vickers to expand DPM design consultants, providing photography, graphic design services to high profile clients. His work was widely syndicated and published worldwide. In 1976, Bar-Tur moved his family from England to the United States to grow his graphic design & production business. In 1981 he established Chroma Copy (later named C2media) in New York City with two English partners Jeff Vickers and David Manning. C2media grew to be one of the largest digital imaging company’s in the US with 6 offices and more than 500 employees. Bar-Tur and his partner sold the business in 2010 and it still thriving under the name c2imaging. For the last fifteen years, Bar-Tur and his son Armon have worked together developing student housing in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Poland.

Arianna Arcara was born in Monza, Italy, in 1984. After studying photography, she co-founded Cesura, a photo collective that explores various approaches to documentary photography, and the associated publishing house, Cesura Publish, where she serves as Art Director.

Her artistic practice delves into the ever-changing meaning and shape of “boundaries” – natural, urban, cultural, or human. In several of her long-term projects, Arcara aims at walking along one of these boundaries through the creation of collaborative processes and multidisciplinary exhibitions. She continually questions how – and if – her photography impacts the people and stories she follows, constantly seeking and reflecting on new ways to engage and empower her subjects.

Her work has been exhibited at institutions including Triennale/Milano, Le Bal Space/Paris, MoCP/ Chicago, Kulturhuset/Stockholm, Deichtorhallen/Hamburg, Nobel Peace Center/Oslo, Palazzo Reale/Milan, Maxxi/Rome, Camera/Turin and Foundation Louis Vuitton/Paris among others.

Brian Byrd is a freelance photographer with more than two decades creating powerful narratives that drive social change. He serves on the board of governors for the Overseas Press Club of America, which champions journalism by promoting excellence in global reporting, fostering emerging journalists, and defending press freedom worldwide. He is on the advisory board for WITNESS, the pioneering human rights organization founded by Peter Gabriel that leverages digital technology to document human rights violations worldwide.

Charlotte Cotton is a curator, writer and creative consultant who explores the artist-led directions of photographic culture and visual storytelling. She has held positions including curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum; head of programming at The Photographers’ Gallery in London; curator and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and founding artistic director of the Tasweer Photo Festival, Qatar. Charlotte is the founder of photography discussion platforms, WORDS WITHOUT PICTURES (2008-09) and EITHERAND.ORG (2012-15) and is currently Chief Creative Success Officer at NARRATIVE.NEW.

Her book, THE PHOTOGRAPH AS CONTEMPORARY ART (4th edition, 2020), is published in fourteen languages and has been a key text in charting the rise of photography as an undisputed art form in the 21st century. Charlotte’s PHOTOGRAPHY IS MAGIC (2012-15) biennial and book were the part of the first wave of marking the rise of global artists defining the Post internet image environment. PUBLIC, PRIVATE, SECRET (2016) culturally addressed the complex intersections of our rights to be seen and heard while claiming the privilege of privacy. Her forthcoming book, LOVE PICTURES, is a collaboration with artist Jess T Dugan, structured around a week-long conversation about photography, responsibility, family and love. She has recently received the 2026 Photography Curatorship, Criticism or Research Award from the Royal Photographic Society in the UK.

Fiona Shields has over 20 years' picture editing experience across a range of newspaper titles. She is also a curator, speaker on photojournalism, and photography mentor.

She was picture editor of The Guardian for ten years before taking up the role of head of Photography for the Guardian News and Media Group. Throughout her career, she has been involved in the coverage of some of the most historic news stories of our time including the events surrounding 9/11, continuing conflicts around the world, large-scale natural disasters, and the humanitarian crises resulting from the growing refugee numbers across the globe.

In addition she has judged numerous high-profile photographic awards including the Sony World Photography Awards, The Carmignac Photojournalism Award, and The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. She is a regular nominator for the Prix Pictet Prize and was chair of the global jury for the World Press Photo Awards 2024.

Frank Meo

Frank has represented photographers for thirty years as business partner, advocate, curator, and manager. This collaboration has produced hundreds of award-winning ad campaigns, art shows, provocative editorial content and successful books.

His PROJECTIONS platform is a moderated event that showcases the talent of visionary photographers to an eclectic audience of creatives. Presenters have included numerous winners of the Pulitzer Prize among other prestigious international awards. These photographers have had their work appear around the world.

Frank has shared his photographic and business expertise at Xposure Photo Festival, Lucie Awards, Syracuse University, New School, ICP, Critical Mass, SCAG, SVA, ASMP and APA.

Heba Farid is an artist, curator, researcher and educator in photography, based in Cairo. She is co-founder of TINTERA gallery, Cairo, which opened in 2019 and is Egypt’s first photography dedicated gallery.

She has a background in architecture from Canada and the USA, and has taught photography in the Visual Arts program at the American University in Cairo. She is a founding member of the Contemporary Image Collective (CiC), a Cairo based art centre dedicated to the visual image, operating since 2004.

Both independently and as the former coordinator of the photographic heritage program for CULTNAT, a satellite of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, she has curated and collaborated on exhibitions based on historic photograph collections.

She has participated in and published articles for several regional symposiums and journals on archiving and Egypt’s photographic heritage. She is a contributing author for the monograph by Xenia Nikolskaya entitled DUST: Egypt’s Forgotten Architecture, 2022 (AUCPress), for PhotoResearcher, Journal of the European Society for the History of Photography special issue on The City and the Territory: Imagining Cairo and Egypt (2017) and The Journal of the Arab Council for Social Sciences issue on Gendering the Arab Archive (Oct 2025).

Having received professional training in preservation and management of photograph collections, she is an alumni of the Middle East Photograph Preservation Initiative. Her current research project is archiving an early 20th century Egyptian female performer and is supported by the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library for 2025-26 in collaboration with the Rare Books and Special Collections Library of the American University in Cairo.

She has participated in selection juries for World Press Photo, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, and other institutions.

Hideko Kataoka is a photo editor, educator and curator and was appointed director of photography at Newsweek Japan in 2001. In 2004, she created the 'Picture Power' section, a weekly photo essay that captures underreported topics from around the world and was celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024. She has been a lecturer in photojournalism and documentary photography at Tokyo Polytechnic University since 2013 and a member of the External Review Committee at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum since 2016. She participates in portfolio reviews and has served as a juror at international photography festivals and competitions, such as World Press Photo, Visa pour l'image, Sony World Photography Awards, and many others. Hideko is also the founder and director of Miiraii Creative.

James Wellford is a Senior Visuals Editor and producer for Global Issues at National Geographic. Stories he has worked on at NatGeo include; Afghanistan, the Science of Sleep, the Circular Economy, the restoration at Notre Dame Cathedral, Covid stories around the world, El Salvador, Falcons, Lithium, the crisis in Niger/Mali, World War II Veterans, Uncontacted People in the Amazon, Ebola in the DRC, Eritrea, the Sudan, Uganda, Ghana, Kashmir, Indonesia, and Migration/refugee issues throughout the world.

Prior to his time at NatGeo, he was the International Photography Editor at Newsweek Magazine for 12 years. He has also worked as a visual editor for Foreign Policy, CNN, and the Smithsonian.

James is a graduate of Brown University and a Knight Wallace Fellow from the University of Michigan. His career spans decades during which time he has served at an editorial director at Visura, founded ScreenProjects.org, edited the New York Daily News archival collection, curated numerous photography exhibitions , and served on a number of photography juries around the world including the Leica Oskar Barnack award, the Tim Hetherington Trust, the Overseas Press Club, PX3 in Paris, the Cortona Photo Festival, and at POYi.

Dedicated to visual education, James has taught at the International Center of Photography and the New School in NYC.

Lucy Conticello is the director of Photography of M, Le Monde's weekend magazine. Lucy studied archeology and art history at La Sapienza University in Rome. She has worked for Business Week, The New York Times, l'Espresso, The New York Times magazine, Courrier International, The International Herald Tribune as well as photography agencies such as Sipa Press, Magnum Photos and the AFP.

She has been assigning photographers for several years and what she loves most is the creative process of pairing photographers with stories, brainstorming ideas and seeing how these pictures end up defining how the viewers access the articles.

Marie A. Monteleone is a senior photo editor for Bloomberg News, where she commissions visuals for Enterprise stories globally. While at Bloomberg News, she has led the expansion and diversification of the roster of freelance photographers. Prior to Bloomberg, she worked for ABC News, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The New York Post, and W Magazine. Ms. Monteleone has been a guest speaker at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, The International Center of Photography, Parsons School of Design, The Bronx Documentary Center, Leica Gallery New York, The Women Photograph Workshop, The Eddie Adams Workshop and Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay. She has served on the jury for World Press Photo, International Photography, World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program, Diversify Photo, The Women Photograph X Getty Grant, and Photoville - The Fence. Marie Monteleone studied photography at Parsons School of Design in New York. She lives and works in New York, United States.

Natalie has 26 years’ experience with in Higher Education from being a senior lecturer and Course Leader for both HE and FE courses and leadership roles at 3 of the 6 University of the Arts London colleges. As Head of London College of Communication and Pro Vice Chancellor, International in 2013 -2021 she led the development of a revised portfolio of courses including the launch of Screen School in 2016. Natalie has held 2 diversity leadership roles for UAL, the first being the Disability Champion for staff and students and more recently the LGBTQ+ Champion. As an international Illustrator, Natalie has worked for clients in publishing and advertising including Random House, Penguin, Saatchi and Saatchi, McCann Erikson and British Airways. She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by UAL in 2022.

Paolo Woods is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and curator. He is the author of eight books and his work is widely exposed, collected and published. He works on long-term projects that focus on subjects that are crucial for understanding the world we live in but difficult to translate photographically. His projects include A Crude World tackling the subject of the oil industry, Chinafrica were he documented the spectacular rise of the Chinese in Africa, Walk on my Eyes, an intimate portrait of the Iranian society, STATE on what happens to a society when the state collapses, The Heavens which is a unique photographic investigation into the workings of tax havens. In 2021 he published HAPPY PILLS, with Arnaud Robert, on how the pharmaceutical companies sell us happiness. HAPPY PILLS is also his first film released in 2022. He is one of the founders of the magazine Kometa in France. He is co-founder of RIVERBOOM, a collective and publishing house that explores the limits of the photographic language.

Veronica Nicolardi (Lecce, Italy, 1980), a graduate in Management Engineering, works on the conception and realisation of cultural events, exhibitions and photography festivals, following all their vital production processes. She seeks funding from public and private institutions and creates partnerships and stakeholder networks. It focuses on engaging audiences, from fans to tourists and the local community, and creating innovative cultural programmes. In 2016 she co-founded OTM Company that works in the world of photography in all its fields and declinations. Since 2021 she has been the director of Cortona On The Move, an international photography festival, a reference point for experts in the field and for a national and international public attentive to contemporary culture. In 2022 she cofounded Yeast Photo Festival together with members of the cultural associations ONTHEMOVE and BESAFE, taking over as its co-director. In 2023, she co-founded OTM Gallery.

Vivek Prakash is visuals professional with two decades of experience in multiple aspects of journalism.

He has worked as a desk editor, then a staff and chief photographer for Reuters, working across Asia on a variety of high-profile stories. From 2017-2020, reporting for AFP, he covered the political tumult in Hong Kong which culminated in mass street protests and violence, a turning point for democracy in Asia.

At the The New York Times, Vivek edited and signed off on front pages for the paper's International Edition; he also worked closely with photographers in crafting visual storytelling in the Asia-Pacific for the digital report across multiple platforms.

Since 2020, at the helm of Getty Images’ news operations in Asia, he has been bringing his considerable experience to bear in nurturing emerging talent with practical guidance and mentorship; many of these photographers have changed the look and feel of the visual report in Asia.

Under his leadership, Getty Images has become an engine for transformation; his mission is to lift the level of craftsmanship in visual storytelling to the highest degree, while holding the photographers he leads to uncompromising standards of ethics.