Three Fairs, Three Days: A Weekend Deep in the Photobook World

Photo London, Offprint and Peckham 24 — our May 2026 dispatch from the heart of London and visual culture publishing.

We wrote this at the end of May and somehow June got in the way of publishing it. But looking back at that weekend now, it still feels worth sharing -- some experiences don't date, and this was one of them.

Day One: Photo London at Olympia

There are weekends that remind you exactly why you do what you do. Three days. Three fairs. Two sides of the table -- visitor, then exhibitor. From Olympia to the buzzing independent energy of the Tate Modern, and finally to Peckham on a Sunday afternoon with our own books spread out in front of us. If you want to know where the world of independent photography and visual culture publishing is at right now, this particular stretch of May gave a pretty vivid answer.

The grand hall at Olympia -- Photo London 2026 spread across two levels, with that beautiful Victorian ironwork and glass roof doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

We visited Photo London back in 2023 — those impressions are here if you're curious — and the fair has a consistency to it that works in its favour. It doesn't try to be everything. It's curated, calm, and gives you space to actually look, which, in a world of sensory-overload art fairs, is no small thing.

This year's standout was the work of Luca Ortis at Open Doors Gallery: cyanotypes printed on Hosokawa shi paper that stopped you in your tracks. The cyanotype process, one of photography's oldest, producing those deep Prussian blue tones takes on a completely different character when the paper itself is as considered as the image. Hosokawa shi is a Japanese handmade paper with a surface that breathes, and together the two created objects that felt somewhere between ancient document and living thing. One of those moments where you stop, and then you stay. A small bonus: Open Doors Gallery are also based at Somerset House, so there was a pleasing sense of the building looking after its own.

Detail of Luca Ortis, Shodo no.04, 2026 -- cyanotype on Hosokawa shi paper, shown at Open Doors Gallery, Photo London 2026.

Across the fair, Qerndu Gallery from Iceland brought work by Ragnar Axelsson landscapes and portraits with real elemental weight to them, the kind of photography that doesn't ask for your attention so much as command it quietly.

The most thought-provoking corner of the day was the work of Justin Brice Guariglia at For Freedoms — a collective that describes itself as a platform for civic engagement through the arts. Guariglia's work operates in that space where art becomes active statement rather than passive decoration, and in the current climate, that felt urgent in exactly the right way. Worth looking up if you don't know it.

Justin Brice Guariglia, Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington, United States I -- shown at For Freedoms, Photo London 2026.

Martin Parr's Rocket Gallery was, as ever, essential, still funny, still devastating, still one of the most necessary ongoing projects in British photography.

And a small moment worth mentioning: a passing nod to Misan Harriman in the crowd. One of the UK creative sector's great inspirations, and someone who always seems to be exactly where things are happening. Good to see him in the room.

Misan Harriman: The Purpose of Light -- Hope 93, Photo London 2026.

Day Two: Offprint London at 180 Studios

First time at Offprint. Won't be the last.

If you don't know it, 180 Studios sits right next to Somerset House on the Strand. A cavernous, industrial space that turns out to be a perfect home for this kind of fair. Where Photo London is measured and gallery-led, Offprint is altogether more alive -- independent publishers, small presses, zine makers and the kind of people who care deeply about what a book feels like in your hands. The energy was noticeably buzzier; the crowd younger, more restless, more hungry. Less white walls, more conversation.

It was also, unexpectedly, a bit of a reunion. Running into old friends from a previous chapter of my working life, people I hadn't seen in years, gave the whole day a nostalgic and surreal vibe.

Offprint London 2026 at 180 Studios, The Strand.

Topsafe were a highlight, the kind of publisher operating with a clear point of view, doing things that feel genuinely their own. And I came away with a football book by Will Robson-Scott, which felt like exactly the right kind of impulse purchase, visual, physical, specific - a lovely title to reference and hold.

Overland and Sea -- Topsafe, picked up at Offprint London 2026.

Village, the much-loved independent bookshop, had a proper presence too always good to see independent retail holding its ground in a space like this.

If you haven't been to Offprint and you're anywhere near London when it runs, clear your diary. Seriously.

Day Three: Peckham 24 — This Time, Behind the Table

Sunday brought a different kind of fair day entirely. No browsing, no wandering — we were set up and selling at Peckham 24, and there's a particular quality of attention that comes with being on the other side of the table.

The SOI Books table at Peckham 24 -- Stickerbomb titles out in force alongside the Tifo book, in a room full of people who actually want to browse.

You notice different things. The way someone picks up a book, puts it down, picks it up again. The conversations that start with "what's this?" and go somewhere unexpected. The people who already know your work and the people discovering it for the first time in the same afternoon.

We had Stickerbomb titles out alongside our Tifo book, and both felt right for the room — books with visual energy, books about subculture and spectacle, books that people wanted to hold rather than just glance at. The turnout was steady, the conversations were warm, and there's something genuinely sustaining about that kind of direct connection with readers that no online order can quite replicate.

Peckham 24 has a different energy from the big fairs — more neighbourhood, more unpretentious, more genuinely mixed in its crowd. That's precisely its value. Long may it run.

What Three Days Taught Us

Photo London, Offprint, Peckham 24. Three fairs at different points on the independent publishing spectrum, and together a pretty complete picture of where things stand right now.

There is appetite. There is community. There is still something irreplaceable about a physical book in a physical room, passed between people who care about it — whether you're the one making the work, selling it, or discovering it for the first time on a Sunday afternoon in south London.

We'll be out at more fairs soon. Head to our events page to see where to find us — we'd love to see you on the other side of the table.