The AOP's four-day festival kicks off at the Old Truman Brewery

How do those who commission photography pick up on trends, and where do they find the people they work with? Find out more on Monday with the AOP, the UK’s largest organisation for commercial photographers, in a debate that includes Mike Trow, picture editor at Vogue; senior art buyer Sarah Williams; Tim Paton, global head of commercial assignments at Magnum Photos; Chantal Webber of Webber Represents; and the award winning photographers David Loftus and Tim Flach.

The debate is part of the AOP’s four-day Beyond the Lens festival, which kicks off today at The Old Truman Brewery. Other debates include a session on photography education and another on contemporary food photography; the festival also includes talks by photographers such as Giles Duley, whose exhibition I Can Only Tell You What I See is currently on show in the Old Truman Brewery, and Chris Floyd, whose photography and films are shown in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Harpers Bazaar, GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, and Wallpaper*.

The festival also includes a portfolio review, including Sarah Thompson, an art buyer and producer with Creative Blood, and Charles Laird, agent and producer with Sarah Laird & Good Company; plus business advice on building a brand, making moving-image content, and exhibiting and selling prints.

For more information visit https://www.the-aop.org/

Image © Nick Hal
Image © Phil Fisk
Image © Tif Hunter
Image © J. Konrad Schmidt
Image © Charlie Clift
Image © William Green
Image © Victor Albrow
Image © Katinka Herbert
Image © Tim Flach
Charles Simon and another Hadza hunter meandering their way through the Hadza landscape searching and tracking wildlife to hunt for food near their camp in the Central Rift Valley, Tanzania. Image © Nick Hall
Image © Simon Winnall
Image © James Day
These amazing bright lakes of pink, green and yellows are caused by the organisms or micro-algae living within them. The microorganisms in each lake are determined by their tolerance to salinity, and the colours are reactions to salt levels. These evaporation lakes show all sorts of colours and hues with green, where low salinity encourages green algae to grow, to a incredible coral pink and reds that is caused by the algae Dunaliella. Image © Jason Hawkes
Image © Julia Fullerton-Batten
Image © Juan Carlos Verona
Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy