Copiously illustrated, Queer Lens explores the transformative role of photography in LGBTQ+ communities from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Photography’s power to capture a subject—representing reality, or a close approximation—has inherently been linked with the construction and practice of identity. Since the camera’s invention in 1839, and despite periods of severe homophobia, the photographic art form has been used by and for individuals belonging to dynamic LGBTQ+ communities, helping shape and affirm queer culture and identity across its many intersections.
Queer Lens explores this transformative force of photography, which has played a pivotal role in increasing queer visibility. Lively essays by scholars and artists explore myriad manifestations of queer culture, both celebrating complex interpretations of people and relationships and resisting rigid definitions. Featuring a rich selection of images—including portraits of queer individuals, visual records of queer kinship, and documentary photographs of early queer groups and protests—this volume investigates the medium’s profound role in illuminating the vibrant tapestry of LGBTQ+ communities.
Calling the Shots: LGBTQIA+ Photography from the Victoria and Albert Museum is an engaging and accessible exploration of LGBTQIA+ representation in photography, offering a groundbreaking survey of queer history through one of the world’s largest photography collections. Drawing from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, the book showcases a rich array of global LGBTQIA+ photographers, subjects, and communities.
Through six thematic chapters—Icons, Staged, Body, Liberty, Making a Scene, and Beyond the Frame—the volume highlights the vital role of photography in expressing, documenting, and celebrating queer life. Each chapter opens with a concise essay, followed by a visually stunning collection of photographs. Expanded captions and "artist in focus" features spotlight key works and moments in queer history, drawing attention to the intersection of photography with activism, performance, nightlife, and subcultures.
The book thoughtfully juxtaposes bold proclamations of queer identity with personal explorations of self, documenting moments of struggle, joy, and everyday life alongside staged performances and photographic fictions that challenge traditional notions of gender and sexuality.
Curated by Zorian Clayton, Calling the Shots serves as both an inspiring visual archive and a vital resource for anyone interested in the history of photography, as well as those passionate about LGBTQIA+ history. Through its inclusive lens, it offers a powerful and expansive appraisal of how photography has shaped and continues to reflect queer communities and culture.
In October, when we were down in Bristol for the Foundation’s BOP event, Martin, Caroline and I got together to select the edit for this new 2026 edition of Small World.
It had become almost a tradition that with every reprint of the book we would change the cover and add in a number of new photos that Martin had rediscovered or taken recently. Over the years, Martin and I made six different editions of the book – each subtly different and each with a new cover. For this edition we added in eight new images, five taken in 2025 and three earlier images. Back in Stockport over the following weeks I adjusted the sequence to accommodate these new images, sent it over to Martin for his approval and then sent it off to EBS, our printers in Italy.
SNAP COLLECTIVE presents the first book by photographer Asako Naruto, who has received numerous international awards. Through her lens, the artist explores the contours of “what is present” while
tracing the silent echoes of “what is absent.” Divided into ten chapters, the
book gathers fragments of “untold stories” that float through the streets of
Madrid, reflecting the fleeting nature of memory and the delicate fragility of
existence.
Anna Atkins: Photographer, Naturalist, Innovator offers a clear and well-documented introduction to one of the most important yet long-overlooked figures in photographic history. Corey Keller places Atkins’s cyanotypes within their scientific, technical, and social context, showing how her work contributed to the early development of photographic publishing while navigating the constraints faced by women in the nineteenth century. Concise, carefully illustrated, and accessible to non-specialists, the book provides both visual pleasure and historical insight. It is an essential reference for readers interested in early photography, photobooks, and the intersection of science and image-making.
Archipelago, a debut photobook by Yolanda del Amo, explores the tension between the inner and exterior realities of human life. Through staged tableaus featuring friends and family, Del Amo constructs moments that expose the social frameworks shaping identity, class, family, and gender. Her photographs illustrate how closeness and separation coexist within the same space and reveal the fragile balance between connection and solitude.
Photographed in London, Near Dark ventures into a mysterious territory, reflecting a less harmonious city mood, a fever dream of anxiety and unpredictability. London is just as alluring as ever but now everyone is taking shelter, keeping out of sight.
I constantly wonder where I truly belong. This series explores the psychological impact of
relocation and emigration that I have experienced throughout my life. The title is inspired by the
keyboard shortcut I frequently use when typing in Japanese, and it serves as an indirect
representation of my national background.
Agony in the Garden is the second monograph by Magnum Photographer, Lúa Ribeira, created
in her native country of Spain between 2021 to 2023 in the peripheries of Madrid, Málaga,
Granada and Almería. Inspired by the revealing potential of contemporary counter-culture,
she has collaborated with young people to make images that reflect on the alienation and
uncertainty of the present era, evoking a dystopian landscape suspended in time, one that
appears both contemporary and ancient while reflecting the signs of contemporary youth
movements and how they convey the alienation and uncertainty of the present-era
This series of black-and-white portraits depicts the people around whom Denis Dailleux grew up, between love and hate. Created when he was 25 years old and full of doubt, the project marked a turning point in the photographer’s work.
Anastasia Samoylova’s Atlantic Coast is more than a photography book—it is a journey through the evolving landscape of the United States, both literal and metaphorical. Retracing U.S. Route 1 from Key West, Florida, to Fort Kent, Maine, seventy years after Berenice Abbott first documented the road, Samoylova offers a meditation on the tensions between nostalgia and progress, myth and reality, that define the American experience.
