Photographic Practice
The Best Photography Books Every Serious Photographer Should Read (2026 Reading List)
How This Reading Guide Is Organised Whether you’re studying for a BA, MA, MFA or PhD, or simply want to deepen your understanding of photography, this guide… These books will change the way you think about photography, not simply how you make photographs. One of the questions I’m asked most often by photographers preparing for postgraduate study is surprisingly simple: What should I be reading? Photography is one of those rare disciplines where the most influential books often have very little to say about cameras. Instead, they challenge how we think about images, memory, ethics, representation, politics and ultimately ourselves. Over the past few years, as I’ve developed my own…
AI and Photography: Gianluca Ricoveri on Truth, Memory and Presence
Introduction In this latest conversation for my ongoing AI and Photography interview series, I speak with Italian photographer and artist Gianluca Ricoveri, whose work many readers will already know through TheAppWhisperer and our print store, where I have the privilege of representing his collection. Gianluca’s photographs – from his contemplative Tuscan landscapes to his richly observed botanical studies – have long carried a profound sense of stillness, intimacy and emotional attention. That quality feels especially relevant within this discussion on artificial intelligence. Gianluca’s images are rooted in observation, patience and lived experience – qualities that increasingly feel at odds with the speed and synthetic fluency of AI-generated imagery. His work…
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Best Photography Residencies 2026: 8 Artist Retreats to Apply For
Best Photography Residencies and Artist Retreats for Photographers in 2026 One thing I have learnt since beginning my career as a photojournalist in 1997 is that sometimes the most valuable thing a photographer can receive is not money, nor publication, nor even recognition. It is time. Time away from expectation. Time away from the relentless pressure to produce, upload and perform. Time away from trends, algorithms and the increasingly accelerated cycle of contemporary image-making. Time to think, to experiment, to fail and to return to an idea without feeling the need to explain it before it has fully formed. That, for me, is where residencies become important. Over the years…
How to Edit a Photography Portfolio (2026)
How to Edit a Photography Portfolio (2026) Editing a photography portfolio is one of the most difficult parts of photographic practice. Making the work is one thing; deciding what stays, what goes, and what ultimately speaks for you is something else entirely. Over the years, whether preparing work for exhibitions, competitions, funding applications or postgraduate study, I’ve found that editing is often where the real shape of a project begins to emerge. A strong portfolio is rarely about showing everything. It’s about showing enough. One of the most common mistakes photographers make is overloading a portfolio with too many images. The instinct is understandable. We become attached to…
Best Photography Grants, Bursaries and Funding Opportunities in the UK (2026)
Funding is one of the biggest obstacles for most photographers and always has been. Good ideas often get stuck because they need time, travel, access or simply the space to develop properly all things that cost money. Over the years I’ve watched photographers build extraordinary projects with the help of bursaries and grants, and I’ve also seen how the application process itself can sharpen an idea, even when the funding doesn’t come through. We recently also posted about grants, bursaries and funding opportunities in the US; if you missed that, please look here. The UK still offers strong opportunities for photographers, although the market is competitive and often asks you…
How to Write an Artist Statement for Photography Applications (A Practical Guide for 2026)
I have never met many photographers who enjoy writing artist statements. Most of us would rather make the work, edit the work, print the work, sequence the work – almost anything other than sit down and explain it. There is something quite uncomfortable about trying to put visual thinking into words, especially when the work may have begun from instinct, memory, frustration, curiosity or something much harder to name. But artist statements do matter, particularly if you are applying for an MA, a grant, a residency, an exhibition or any opportunity where someone is meeting the work without you standing beside it. The statement helps the reader understand what they…
“The Imperfect Human Hand May Become the Most Radical Artistic Gesture of All” — Jane Schultz on AI and Photography
Over the years, through TheAppWhisperer, I have had the privilege of not only publishing the work of some of the world’s most influential mobile artists but also forming genuine friendships with many of them. Jane Schultz is one of those artists. I first met Jane and her husband, Dave, in London some years ago, and what struck me immediately was her depth of thought, her warmth, and her unwavering commitment to authentic creative practice. Jane has long been one of the most respected voices within the mobile art community, creating work that is emotionally rich, layered and deeply personal. Jane is also one of the artists I represent through TheAppWhisperer…
Best Photography Competitions and Awards to Enter in 2026
As someone who has worked within photography, journalism and publishing since 1997 and spent almost two decades building and editing TheAppWhisperer, I am often asked whether photography competitions are worth entering. My answer is usually the same: the right competition can be transformative, while the wrong one can be an expensive disappointment. Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of photographers, reviewed portfolios, followed careers as they developed and watched photographers move from relative obscurity to international recognition. In many cases, a respected competition or award provided the breakthrough that helped their work reach a much wider audience. At the same time, I have seen photographers spend considerable sums entering…
From My Bookshelves: 10 Photography Books That Continue to Influence My Practice
Looking back through almost two decades of writing for TheAppWhisperer, reviewing photobooks, interviewing photographers and studying photography myself, I recently realised I had reached a rather practical problem: I had run out of room for my photobook collection. The solution was the installation of yet another set of bookcases, a reminder not only of how many photography books I have accumulated over the years, but also of how frequently I return to them. As I was unpacking and reorganising the shelves, I found myself revisiting old favourites and rediscovering books that had influenced my thinking at different stages of my photographic journey. The titles included here represent only a small…
What Happens When AI Starts Curating Our Memories?
What Happens When AI Starts Curating Our Memories? Yesterday, Apple unveiled what it describes as an entirely new generation of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence. Far more than a voice assistant, Siri AI has been designed to understand personal context across a user’s devices, drawing information from emails, messages, photographs, notes and applications to provide more personalised and conversational responses. Among the most significant developments are Siri’s ability to understand what is displayed on screen, retrieve information from personal archives, analyse visual content, and assist with writing, editing and everyday tasks. Apple is also introducing a dedicated Siri app, allowing users to continue conversations across devices while maintaining…
