A Trump supporter in regalia passes a local seller of swag while waiting for 5 hours in the freezing rain, to get into the Capital One Center for Trump’s Victory Rally in Washington, DC on January 19, 2025. © Ed Kashi.
Triumph & Defeat in Washington D.C: Capturing the Inauguration & People’s March
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No Woman’s Land: Behind the Scenes Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan.
No Woman’s Land: Behind the Scenes Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
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When sea ice ages, the salt sinks into the ocean, leaving fresh, drinkable water on top. Charlotte Naqitaqvik collects a teapot of water at her familyÕs hunting camp in Nuvukutaak, near the community of Arctic Bay in northern Canada. © Acacia Johnson.
Visual Storytelling Techniques with Acacia Johnson
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CAMPAIGN

We are committed to freedom of the press, advocate for journalists’ safety, and support individuals in vulnerable situations. We organize public conversations that promote independent reporting as a tool for civic engagement and social impact. Our regular online events and in-person presentations — as well as Dispatches, our Substack publication — probe the production and power of images and campaign for a diverse, secure, and viable profession, especially for freelancers worldwide. We do not endorse political parties or take partisan positions.

A costumed protester during the People’s March in Washington , DC on January 18, 2025. © Ed Kashi.
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May
08
2025

Triumph & Defeat in Washington D.C: Capturing the Inauguration & People’s March

Riot police attack journalists who accompanied Carlos F. Chamorro, director of Confidencial, to the Plaza El Sol offices to inquire about the confiscation of their offices in Managua, Nicaragua. December 15, 2018. Photograph by Carlos Herrera.
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Apr
24
2025

How Is Latin American Journalism Resisting Authoritarianism?

President Donald Trump arrives as Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) holds as a sign as Trump enters the House chamber to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
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Apr
10
2025

Re-Framing the Narrative: Unconventional Imagery From Trump’s Not-Normal First 100 Days

Phillip Toledano, We Are at War. IMAGE GENERATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
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Mar
27
2025

Reimagining History with Artificial Intelligence: A Conversation with Phillip Toledano

German Flores feeds the donkeys with carrots, at the Burrolandia sanctuary, in Otumba, Mexico State, on December 6, 2024. “They love carrots, it’s their favorite food, and they can’t resist it”, he says, as he drives his car around the fields while playing music: “When they listen to this song, they know food is coming”. © Sara Escobar.
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Mar
13
2025

Photo Stories from the Square Mile Initiative

When sea ice ages, the salt sinks into the ocean, leaving fresh, drinkable water on top. Charlotte Naqitaqvik collects a teapot of water at her familyÕs hunting camp in Nuvukutaak, near the community of Arctic Bay in northern Canada. © Acacia Johnson.
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Feb
27
2025

Visual Storytelling Techniques with Acacia Johnson

Dispatches blog

Dispatches features the best writing on the role of images in our world, along with new and diverse visual stories from around the world. 

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No Woman’s Land: Behind the Scenes Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan.
No Woman’s Land: Behind the Scenes Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan.
No Woman’s Land: Behind the Scenes Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan →
Kiana Hayeri and Mélissa Cornet reflect on how they made their award-winning story.
When sea ice ages, the salt sinks into the ocean, leaving fresh, drinkable water on top. Charlotte Naqitaqvik collects a teapot of water at her familyÕs hunting camp in Nuvukutaak, near the community of Arctic Bay in northern Canada. © Acacia Johnson.
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Feb
27
2025

Visual Storytelling Techniques with Acacia Johnson

The Japanese Macaque, best known as the ‘snow monkey,’ is revered as a bridge between man and the gods, but it has become so habituated to humans in recent years that its population has increased tenfold. Now, the exploding monkey population in the countryside must raid crops to survive, and farmers are responding with homemade deterrents; meanwhile, macaques brought to the cities for the entertainment industry are a big hit with locals and tourists. © Jasper Doest.
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Feb
20
2025

Visual Storytelling for Positive Change in Wildlife Conservation, with Jasper Doest

Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 12, 2024. © Kiana Hayeri
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Jan
30
2025

Documenting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan, with Kiana Hayeri and Mélissa Cornet

Wilmarie Deetlefs, 24, together with her boyfriend, Zakithi Buthelezi, 27, on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa on Nov. 1, 2018. They are both part of South Africa’s ‘born free generation,’ youngsters who were born around the ending of the racial segregation system, apartheid. Wilmarie Deetlefs, 24, together with her boyfriend, Zakithi Buthelezi, 27, on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2018. They are both part of South Africa’s ‘born free generation,’ youngsters who were born around the ending of the racial segregation system, apartheid. © Ilvy Njiokiktjien / VII.
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Sep
14
2024

Born Free: Generation of Hope

On Saturday, September 14, 2024, the Apartheid Museum opened Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s exhibition, "Born Free: Generation of Hope." We held a panel discussion with Ilvy and the curators of the show.
Journalism at Risk: Threats and Responses panel event during the Les Rencontres d'Arles Photo Festival 2024 opening week at The VII Foundation campus in Arles, France. © Camille Kirnidis for The VII Foundation.
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Jul
04
2024

Journalism at Risk: Threats and Responses

On Thursday, 4 July 2024, The VII Foundation organized a hybrid (in-person and online) event at the Alexandra Boulat Campus in Arles, France.

curated collection: Artificial Intelligence


IMAGE GENERATED BY AI. In response to the prompt, “Give me an image of a photojournalist documenting an important issue,” ChatGPT4o produced this visual of a young white male with a DSLR wearing camouflage gear at a public gathering or protest. ChatGPT said: “Here's the image of a photojournalist documenting an important issue. The scene captures the intensity and focus of real-time news reporting.” 22 July 2024.
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Jul
24
2024

Artificial Intelligence and the Threat to the Real: An Interview With Mutale Nkonde

Mutale Nkonde, CEO of AI for the People, speaks about algorithmic racism in the databases that drive large language models and how this bias shapes AI-generated images.
**IMAGE GENERATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE** Prompt: “An award winning documentary photograph of a lone soldier and the victim of a war crime in the style of a VII photographer” (created via Midjourney on 6 June 2023) (Image created for a discussion on AI)
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Jul
03
2024

Artificial Intelligence and the Threat to the Real

On July 3, 2024, we hosted a hybrid event at The VII Foundation Campus in Arles, France, addressing the risks synthetic media pose to image reliability. The session explored how independent practitioners and media organizations can ensure authenticated visual content remains central to visual journalism.
Signature behavior, 2013. © Tomas Van Houtryve / VII.
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Jul
13
2023

Documentary Photography in the Era of Generative A.I., with Tomas van Houtryve and Fred Ritchin

In this event moderated by David Campbell, Fred Ritchin, Dean Emeritus at the International Center of Photography, discussed with photographer Tomas van Houtryve the risks and opportunities AI presents to documentary photography.

curated collection: ethics


Tatianna Lesnikova has fled from the USSR to the US. She was convinced that local officials were preparing to commit her to a mental hospital for anti-government views. They had already done so with her son Danil. Lesnikova traveled on a USSR passport and hoped to one day return to her son, but during her travels, her home country dissolved. Now, she is stuck. The US doesn’t want her to stay and is trying to deport her. Lesnikova is left in limbo, with no rights, protections, or a path to resolution. © Shaminder Dulai.
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Oct
17
2023

Lecture Series on Ethical Literacy, Part 3: Photography Ethics: Putting Ethics into Practice

In October 2023, VII Insider hosted a three-week public lecture series on ethical literacy. In the third and final session, we hear from Shaminder Dulai on putting ethics into practice.
Fresh graves of servicemen who died defending Ukraine from Russian invaders are seen at the cemetery of Bucha, Kyiv Region. © Franco Pagetti / VII.
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Oct
03
2023

Lecture Series on Ethical Literacy, Part 1: Photography Ethics–What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

In October 2023, VII Insider hosted a three-week public lecture series on ethical literacy. In the first session, Savannah Dodd introduced a principles-based approach to photography ethics.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko attends the military wedding of Lesya and Valeriy near the frontline in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 6, 2022. © Ron Haviv / VII.
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Mar
22
2022

Ethics in a Time of War

What ethical issues arise in the visual coverage of war? In this event, building on the topics discussed in an earlier event (Towards an agenda for ethics in documentary photography), and looking at recent visual examples, Savannah Dodd, the founder of the Photography Ethics Centre, is in conversation with David Campbell.