About the exhibition

Welcome to the National Union of Journalists Photographers exhibition 2007, celebrating 100 years of the National Union of Journalists.

This exhibition of top quality Photojournalism also highlights the skills of professionals. None of these images were taken by ‘reporters with mobile phones’, ‘citizen journalists’, or amateurs who happened to ‘be there’. No these images were all taken by skilled artisans, professionals to the core – every one

Whilst there have been competitions, and collections of images in the past; as far as I am aware this is the first National Union of Journalists Photographers Exhibition put together by the unions photographers to showcase the excellence of their craft.

Originally thought up in 2005 to highlight Photojournalism in the NUJ it wasn’t until 2006 that the idea finally came into fruition. With 2007 being the ‘One hundredth anniversary’ of the Union, it seemed an ideal opportunity to once again put forward the idea of an exhibition. Not only would it be supporting the union in its 100th year, but it would be an excellent backdrop to the Annual Delegate Meeting in Birmingham and provide and excellent demonstration of the worth of the Unions photographers.

With the backing of the NUJ’s Photographers Sub-Committee, the project was launched and despite financial assistance being unavailable from the Union itself, a substantial amount was gained from Imaging Insurance, another donation from the Anne Bolt Fund, and donations from various branches around the union, including Birmingham, Belfast, Bristol, East Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London Freelance, Newcastle, Nottingham, West of Scotland, Wolverhampton.

With these donations the Exhibition was able to take place, but of course money was not everything. It was the hard work of Pamela Morton in the Freelance office who coordinated the nearly four hundred submissions from nearly seventy photographers, including the captions and CV’s. Thanks must also go to Loxley Colour for the excellent printing. Only the photographer members of the Photographers Sub Committee will be able to tell us how much work went into making the selection, and thanks should go to Kevin Cooper, Stan Gamester, and Molly Cooper who put in so much time.

But no venture of this sort would work without the cooperation of the members themselves, and my sincere thanks to all those photographers from all over the union who made the effort to send in their images.

The Exhibition was launched in Islington at the 2007 Photographers Conference, and then Birmingham for the Anniversary ADM. In the summer the Foreign Press Association hosted the images, and future shows include Manchester and London again.

These photographs show what skilled professionals are capable of and as the unions photographers the photojournalists of the NUJ urge you to support the Union’s initiative Stand up for Journalism

I would like this exhibition to be a regular reminder to the union of the work that photographers do and have done. It contains some really iconic images, and I am proud to have been involved in its inception. Here’s to this years’ exhibition, the first of many….

Pete Jenkins
Vice- Chair, Photographers Sub Committee