Welcome to the City of London & Cripplegate Photographic Society

Our Society is unique. Its location in the heart of one of the greatest cities in the world gives us unique face to face access to some of the world’s greatest photographers and educators. This means we can offer members an unrivalled programme of events that will inspire them and broaden their knowledge and understanding of photography.

We’re not new to this – the Society was formed on the 17th January 1899 at the Cripplegate Institute in East London, making us one of the oldest Societies in the country. Since then, of course, we have evolved to become contemporary in both our outlook and practice.

We help members on their photographic journey, irrespective of their starting point - encouraging everyone to improve their photographic knowledge and practice in a fun, supportive and welcoming environment. We do this through a programme based on four elements: Inspiration, Learning, Community and Special Events & Projects.

The Society embraces all types of photography whether you create your images on film, digital camera or mobile phone.

Our meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of every month close to the Barbican Centre throughout the year, but for those who can't attend, we offer the opportunity to "Zoom in". Non-members, and for anyone wanting to ‘try before they buy’ are very welcome to attend as a guest.

The four elements of our programme:

Inspiration – well known and respected photographers come and talk to us about their work and careers to inspire our own image creation. Recent speakers have included Syd Shelton, Peter Dench, Adam Wiseman, Jo Sax, Derek Ridgers, Sarah Ainslee, Stuart Freedman, Laura Pannack and Tom Hunter

Learning – invited experts and tutors come and talk to us about how to do things, and how to do them better. Our four-round competition consists of two rounds where experts give us advice, inspiration and instruction and then return to give their views on our endeavours. The other two rounds use external qualified judges who give constructive criticism of our submitted images. Our experts have included Honey Salvadori, Marriane Holm Hanson, Slavek Staszczuk, Simon Ellingworth, Nigel Wilson, Sarah Leigh Lewis and Michael Harding

Community – This takes a number of forms. We go out on photographic walks capturing what we see in our own style and then discuss our photographs together. We have meetings where members talk about their work, their projects or their techniques with the aim of sharing knowledge and encouraging everyone to think differently

Special events and projects – Being based in the heart of London gives us opportunities that other photographic groups may not have. In 2024 we celebrated our 125th anniversary with special visit to St Paul’s Cathedral arranged because of our historic connection to the Cathedral – one of our founding members was the Dean; in the past we have run a programme photographing the City’s livery Halls; we produced a book of members photographs; our recent "Storyteller" programme helped members create photo-essays with the support of external speakers, member workshops, buddy programmes, and an evening to review our work. 2025 saw us back at the Barbican for our biennial exhibition which was held at the Barbican throughout October.

We have recently begun a new project with the London Archives documenting changes across London over the last century. This began with a visit down to the vaults of the archive and will culminate in an exhibition in 2026.

If you would like to know more, click here.

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