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Sign up for free NOOR masterclasses in Stockholm, Brussels, and Warsaw

It’s one of the best-respected photo agencies in the world, representing image-makers such as Nina Berman, Yuri Kozyrev, and Kadir van Lohuizen – and yet NOOR is offering three four-day masterclasses completely free of charge to “young, aspiring photojournalists and documentary photographers”.

Run by NOOR and the NOOR Foundation with the support of Nikon Europe, the masterclasses will take place in Warsaw (26 February-01 March), Stockholm (12-15 March), and Brussels (19-22 March). 15 participants will be invited to attend each event, on which three tutors will help them discuss their experiences, work on their portfolios, improve their editing, and learn about visual storytelling. The tutors for each class are: Poland – Nina Berman, Taya Habjouqa, and Sebastián Liste; Sweden – Yuri Kozyrev, Jon Lowenstein, and Kadir van Lohuizen; and Belgium – Sanne De Wilde, Bénédicte Kurzen, and Pep Bonet.

To apply, photographers must submit an image portfolio of no more than 40 images, including at least one photo story which is between 8 and 20 images long. The deadline for applications is 1pm on 29 January. NOOR and Nikon have been partnering up on education since 2009, and have previously worked with 175 students from more than 64 different countries.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2mn5cz1

Nigeria, Lagos, 27 January 2017. A man carries a huge bag of bottles collected for recycling at the Olusosun landfill. The Olusosun landfill in Lagos receives between 3-5000 tonnes of rubbish per day and is about 45 hectares in size. About 5000 scavengers work and live here, collecting anything that is recyclable, such as plastics, textiles, electronics, paper etc. The landfill is full and the city wants to close it down, but there are question marks over where it could go as there are no incinerators, and no infrastructure to formally recycle waste. There is one other landfill, but it also needs to close. Landfills in Lagos smell less than other landfills in the world because Nigerians throw away less food – they either finish their plate, or feed it to the animals. Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
From the series The Island of the Colorblind © Sanne De Wilde / NOOR
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. She also edits the Photoworks Annual, and has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Aperture, FOAM, and Apollo, plus catalogues and monographs. Diane lectures in photography history and theory at the London College of Communications, and has curated exhibitions for The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. Follow her on instagram @dismy