Photo Tips: Beyond Belonging - Photography & the Right to Tell Our Own Stories

Our Photo Tips online talk series offer a safe digital learning environment for the photography community worldwide. These sessions provide insight, inspiration, and open dialogue with industry professionals and creative community members.

🎤 In this special edition of Photo-Tips, British-Egyptian photographer and PLATFORM 2020 Founder Laura El-Tantawy joins British-Sudanese photographer Mehaira Abdelhamid for a conversation exploring how identity shapes authorship and how lived experience influences the stories we choose to tell.

 ✨ Drawing on their own practices, they will examine photography not simply as a visual medium, but as a tool for understanding ourselves, our communities and our place within a rapidly changing world.

🌍 Together, they will reflect on home and belonging, developing an authentic visual voice, navigating the photography industry as practitioners from underrepresented backgrounds, and balancing personal, political and creative narratives.

📸 Alongside practical insights into building a sustainable photographic career, the discussion will ask: Who gets to tell the story? What responsibilities do image-makers carry? And how can emerging photographers create work that remains rooted in their values while engaging with contemporary realities?

🔎 Themes explored

• Heritage, culture and identity in photographic practice

• Home, belonging and personal narrative

• Developing an authentic visual voice

• Navigating opportunities and challenges within the photography industry

• Ethics, representation and responsibility

• Photography as a tool for advocacy and social engagement

• Building a sustainable creative career

• The role of photography in a rapidly changing world

💬 The session will close with an open Q&A and informal discussion, creating space to connect, reflect, and share ideas.

About the Organisers

Mehaira Abdelhamid is a Photographer and Creative Director based in London whose work blends fashion and culture to create art that highlights underrepresented identities/cultures. Her work aims to provide a more diverse and varied perspective on traditional art, challenging conventional norms while celebrating the beauty of diversity, identity, and heritage. Her work has been featured in National Geographic’s September 2025 issue. She was a 2025 finalist for the Association of Photographers Emerging Talent Award, which recognises her distinct approach to visual storytelling. In November 2025, she debuted her solo exhibition, Banāt Al-Nīl, showcasing Sudanese culture as a living work of art, breaking away from the one-dimensional narratives often imposed on Sudan.

Laura El-Tantawy is an award-winning British/Egyptian documentary photographer, bookmaker and educator. Born in Ronkswood, Worcestershire, to Egyptian parents, she studied in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US and the UK. Living between East and West throughout her life has profoundly influenced her artistic journey, creating a rich cultural terrain for her work.

The Photography Foundation is a London-based charity set up in 2019 to create pathways into photography careers and the wider creative industries. We are driven by our belief that everyone deserves a fulfilling creative career, and that creativity thrives when barriers to opportunity are removed. We have grown into a dynamic hub of creativity, community, and career development for diverse audiences. Our events programme is designed to support a sustainable creative career by enhancing your skills, promoting wellbeing, and underlining the importance of making time for inspiration and creativity in your practice. Our programme brings together a range of events with different pricing levels, allowing us to better reflect the breadth of the photography and creative careers landscape. To ensure our events remain accessible, we offer a select number of bursary tickets for paid events, and all ticket proceeds help us to continue to deliver low cost and free events for our community. We are The Photography Foundation - empowering emerging creatives to see, capture, and shape their futures

📸 Photo Tips Online Talks FAQs

🎯 What Are Photo Tips Online Talks?

The Photo Tips Online Talk Series is a safe learning space for photographers of all experience levels. Hosted by The Photography Foundation, these one-hour virtual sessions feature guest speakers from across the creative and photographic industries.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, our talks offer a chance to:

• Learn new photography techniques and career tips

• Understand image licensing and brand pitching

• Hear firsthand insights from professionals in the industry

• Ask questions and engage in open discussion

📅 Topics for 2025–2026

We host six online sessions per year, each one focusing on a new theme or skill, such as Fashion Week photography, image usage and licensing, practical tips on pitching to brands and magazines, and more.

👥 Who Can Join?

• Age: Open to anyone aged 16+

• Experience Level: All levels welcome — from total beginners to professional photographers!

🎟️ Tickets & Cost

• Pay What You Can - Suggested donation: £3 per session

• Can’t pay right now? No problem — enter £0 at checkout to join for free.

As a registered charity, your contributions help support our mission: using photography as a tool to drive positive social change and fight poverty.

💻 How to Join

1. Book your ticket via our Ticket Tailor event page.

2. Receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link.

📹 Recording

Can’t make it? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording afterwards. Faces from the participants will not be publicly shared.

📧 Accessibility

If you have any accessibility requirements or questions please email Events@thephotographyfoundation.org

Image credits: @MehairaAbdelhamid, @LauraEl-Tantawy 

Headshot of Mehaira Abdelhamid 

@MehairaAbdelhamid

Headshot of Laura El-Tantawy

IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS © LAURA EL-TANTAWY