About Call

The Rock 'n Roll Photography Workshop is an educational initiative presented by Pep Bonet and LOUD>SOCIETY. Taking the opportunity of W:O:A 2026 (29th July to August 1st 2026) and led by Pep Bonet, who established this initiative at the festival for the past four years, it will empower six selected photographers by facilitating the development of their visual mastery in music, event and festival photography. This year's theme for the 35th Anniversary of the Festival and the 5th Anniversary of the Masterclass is "HARDER"

The criteria for selection of candidates is as follows:

• Portfolios will be reviewed on the basis of original, human-focused storytelling, including but not limited to community focus on musicians, teams, attendees, volunteers and the many faces of human connection in music festival culture
• Personal moments of humour, spontaneity, fun and memorable moments
• Inclusive and ethical representation of diverse individuals, couples and groups
• Capacity for the creation of rich single images that are exciting, expressive or captivating
• Capacity for the creation of visual stories that can act as effective communication • We push for gender parity, and actively pursue equal representation of candidates
• Candidates are required to be able to speak and understand English

What winners receive

Tuition-free live workshop by Pep Bonet during Wacken Open Air 2026. For four days, the mentor and candidates will be working as a group, dividing tasks, creating a variety of images with a fresh style - shooting, editing and post-producing new photography on the spot to be used on the official W:O:A communication channels. During the 2026 festival/workshop all the participants will be hosted for free at W:O:A, including a free entrance ticket and access to the crew catering area, where 3 meals a day and beverages will be provided for free. All necessary VIP passes and permits for shooting and access will be arranged. You will be picked up by a shuttle bus at either Hamburg Hbf train station or at Hamburg airport.

About the mentor Pep Bonet The workshop will be led by Pep Bonet, multi-award winning photojournalist with a large body of work in music photography. Former photographer of Motörhead, official photographer of Wacken Open Air for various editions, Pep has been committed to the visual documentation of rock 'n roll and heavy metal scenes across the globe, as demonstrated, among others, by his latest personal project 'Hellbangers', an audiovisual project and book documenting the unique underground metal music scene of Botswana.

About Wacken Open Air

Wacken Open Air is the largest heavy metal festival in the world. Starting with 800 visitors in 1990, nowadays 85,000 fans from all over the world travel to Wacken every year, turning the small village in Schleswig-Holstein into the center of the festival scene for several days. The organising WOA Festival GmbH is connected to a broad network including band management, the Wacken Foundation, tour booking, music publishing, metal travel, merchandising distribution and ticketing. In cooperation with partners, this results in creative solutions and ideas that revolutionise the festival experience, enable technical innovations and produce extraordinary event concepts. Wacken Open Air 2026 will take place from July 29 to August 1, 2026.

Application information

Multiple applications from the same candidate will disqualify the application. Photographers are expected to arrive in Wacken on July 28th and depart on August 2nd, 2026. Please, don't apply if you are not able to take part in the workshop entirely.

Judging Criteria:

All candidates will be reviewed anonymously in a 2-tier assessment. Initial screening will be held by the W:O:A team. Thefinal candidates will be selected by Pep Bonet.

About the mentor Pep Bonet

The workshop will be led by Pep Bonet, multi-award winning photojournalist with a large body of work in music photography. Former photographer of Motörhead, official photographer of Wacken Open Air for various editions, Pep has been committed to the visual documentation of rock 'n roll and heavy metal scenes across the globe, as demonstrated, among others, by his latest personal project 'Hellbangers', an audiovisual project and book documenting the unique underground metal music scene of Botswana.