Respect for others is important to Carina, both in her work as a social worker and in her photography. With her camera as a constant companion, she has embarked on many adventures over the years, always valuing moments and encounters.

By chance, Carina ended up in Dublin in 2011. She appreciates Ireland’s beautiful landscapes, but it is the people who draw her back. While she is not a frequent pub-goer in her hometown of Skellefteå, she has explored the pub culture in Ireland — experiencing everything from the calm atmosphere of friends meeting at lunchtime to nights filled with music and dancing. And her camera is always with her.

Carina is both a participant and an observer in her photography. It often begins with photographs of strangers, but her curiosity about the people she meets allows her to get close and hear their stories. Fragments of these stories will be shared in her talk, “Moments of Life.”

Ireland holds a special place in Carina’s heart. In addition to a planned book project about one of the pubs, she has several other ideas she hopes to bring to life.

Helge Skodvin is a photographer born and based in Bergen, Norway. He works for magazines, newspapers, publishers, commercial clients, and on numerous long-term personal projects. Skodvin primarily works within the documentary genre, characterized by a strong and distinctive visual style.

He has published four photobooks, and his book 240 Landscapes was named the best in the world in 2015 by photographer, photobook critic, and guru Martin Parr. His latest work, Observations of a New Norwegian Fauna 2014–2022, was released in 2023.

A devoted supporter of Liverpool FC, he enjoys his coffee black—with two sugars.

I am a Greek photographer, born in Athens but have never lived really in any country for more than 4 or 5 years. 

My life has taken me in all parts of the world and I consider myself a citizen of the world.  I speak five languages but consider photography my most important language, as it speaks loud and is understood by all people from around the world.

My photography constantly seeks the human presence, I am human centric and love the interaction and connections made with people one gets to meet on the streets. This has led me to explore street photography in depth but also portraiture and documentary photography since 2011, and also to teach street photography workshops around the world. 

I would like to share my photographic journey with all of you in the hopes to inspire some of you and to have a creative dialogue.

Martin Parr is one of the best-known documentary photographers of his generation.
With over 100 books of his own published, and another 30 edited by Parr, his
photographic legacy is already established.

Parr also acts as a curator and editor. He has curated two photography festivals,
Arles in 2004 and Brighton Biennial in 2010. More recently Parr curated the Barbican
exhibition, Strange and Familiar.

Parr has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1994 and was President from
2013 – 2017. In 2013 Parr was appointed the visiting professor of photography at the
University of Ulster.
Parr’s work has been collected by many of the leading museums, from the Tate, the
Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Martin Parr established the Martin Parr Foundation in 2017.
In 2019 the National Portrait Gallery in London held a major exhibition of Parr’s work
titled Only Human.

“Martin Parr is a chronicler of our age. In the face of the constantly growing flood of images released by the media, his photographs offer us the opportunity to see the world from his unique perspective.
At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garish and the perspectives are unusual. Parr’s term for the overwhelming power of published images is “propaganda”. He counters this propaganda with his own chosen weapons: criticism, seduction and humour. As a result, his photographs are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. But at the same time they show us in a penetrating way that we live, how we present ourselves to others, and what we value.
Leisure, consumption and communication are the concepts that this British photographer has been researching for several decades now on his worldwide travels. In the process, he examines national characteristics and international phenomena to find out how valid they are as symbols that will help future generations to understand our cultural peculiarities. Parr enables us to see things that have seemed familiar to us in a completely new way. In this way he creates his own image of society, which allows us to combine an analysis of the visible signs of globalisation with unusual visual experiences. In his photos, Parr juxtaposes specific images with universal ones without resolving the contradictions. Individual characteristics are accepted and eccentricities are treasured.
The themes Parr selects and his inimitable treatment of them set him apart as a photographer whose work involves the creation of extensive series. Part of his unusual strategy is to present and publish the same photos in the context of art photography, in exhibitions and in art books, as well as in the related fields of advertising and journalism. In this way, he transcends the traditional separation of the different types of photography. Thanks to this integrative approach, as well as his style and his choice of themes, he has long served as a model for the younger generation of photographers.
Martin Parr sensitises our subconscious – and once we’ve seen his photographs, we keep on discovering these images over and over again in our daily lives and recognising ourselves within them. The humour in these photographs makes us laugh at ourselves, with a sense of recognition and release. “
Thomas Weski

Pau Buscató is a Barcelona-born photographer who has recently returned to his roots after an extended stay in Norway. Initially inspired by his father’s career, Buscató pursued architecture, but his true calling in photography soon became impossible to ignore. He eventually specialized in the realm of “candid creative photography,” often referred to as Street Photography.

Since embarking on this visual journey in 2010, Buscató has been committed to capturing life’s hidden narratives through his lens, exploring the spontaneous magic of the streets in cities such as London, Oslo, Barcelona, New York, and beyond.

His work, which aims to encapsulate the playful beauty of everyday moments, has earned him international recognition, exposure, and features in acclaimed photo festivals, books, and various publications.
For the past eight years, Buscató has also shared his passion through street photography workshops, with a teaching approach that mirrors his photographic style: intuitive, explorative, and deeply personal.

Buscató thrives on the idea of starting his day without a predefined plan, allowing the pulse of the city to guide his creative process. This philosophy of embracing the unexpected shapes his work, making each photograph a testament to the spontaneity of the moment. For him, the absence of a plan becomes the plan—a paradox he playfully acknowledges, preferring to leave conceptual debates to others while focusing on the primary experience of photographing and letting the images speak for themselves.

Pau Buscató demonstrates that the simplest subjects, when approached with curiosity and fresh eyes, can unfold into captivating stories. Marked by a distinct blend of spontaneity and intent, his work invites audiences to journey through the extraordinary moments hidden within everyday life.

Siegfried Hansen, born in 1961, is a photographer, author and coach and is one of the most renowned German street photographers.

Since 2022 he is Leica Masterclass Referent from the German Leica Akademie. His work has been presented worldwide in solo and group exhibitions. He is co-founder of the “German Street Photography Festival” and the website “German Street Photography”. Hansen’s works are also represented in several photo books.

His own books “Hold the Line” and “The flow of the lines” have been published very successfully. His latest books together with Pia Parolin “Mit offenen Augen” + “StreetPhotography Praxis” is a factual and guide for streetphotography and explains in great detail the “PILOT” system developed by Hansen.

“In 2002 I saw an exhibition by Andre Kertesz by chance and it impressed me so much that I changed my profession and wanted to become a photographer. For my photographic development it was and has always been good to be inspired by other photographers. Henri Cartier Bresson, Ernst Haas, Ray K.Metzker and Saul Leiter are photographers whose works I still enjoy looking at. Even painters such as Piet Mondrian, Lyonel Feininger and Edward Hopper have also influenced my artistic development.

For me, the camera is the tool through which I express my creativity, like the brush for the painter.“

During the 1960s and 1970s Sonya Newell-Smith worked as a freelance
photojournalist for The Sunday Telegraph, The Times and various Italian
magazines.

She was self-taught under the guidance of her late husband
David Newell-Smith (1937–2017), a distinguished photojournalist for The
Observer. From this early period exists a series of black-and-white
photographs in London railway stations. In May 1971 a portfolio of her work
was published in the British Journal of Photography under her maiden name
Sonya Hirsch.

Over 53 years Sonya shared the love of photography with her husband
David. From 1978 till 2017 they led the renowned Tadema Gallery. In 2021
Sonya published together with Beatriz Chadour-Sampson its history with the
title ‘Tadema Gallery London. Jewellery from the 1860’s to 1960’s’.

Sonya’s passion for photography continues to this day and in 2021 she was a finalist
in the DPSP Street Photography Awards and in February 2022 her work was
published in X-Posure. In July 2022 she had a solo-exhibition at Galleria arte
spazio tempo in Venice titled ‘Decisive Moments: Brick Lane London’.

In the accompanying exhibition catalogue Pia Parolin wrote in the foreword
‘Sonya Newell-Smith shows her ability to capture a moment in the classic
tradition of photo-journalism. At the same time, she presents us street
photography with a fundamental sense of humour and understanding for
human emotions, in her direct and candid photos which mirror daily life. Her
photos reveal an insight into the diversity, vibrancy and energy of the place,
and they express a deep passion for this environment and its people’.
In 2024 she received the Gold Medal for the category ‘Street Humour/
Unusual’ from the PISPA (Paris International Street Photo Awards).