Dubai Photo Forum 5

From the Depths of Human Experience to the Vastness of Space

Dubai Photo Forum 5, organized by the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA), celebrates the extraordinary power of photography to transcend boundaries, connect civilizations, preserve human stories, and reveal the world from perspectives beyond our imagination.

Inspired by the remarkable journeys and achievements of HIPA's Special Award recipients, this year's forum explores photography not merely as an art form, but as a universal language of discovery, understanding, and cultural exchange.

Forum Purpose

Dubai Photo Forum 5 aims to inspire, educate, and connect photographers, visual storytellers, content creators, and audiences through meaningful dialogue and the exchange of exceptional photographic experiences. By bringing together distinguished voices whose work spans cultural exploration, knowledge sharing, humanitarian storytelling, and space photography, the forum seeks to broaden creative perspectives, encourage responsible visual storytelling, and demonstrate photography's power to preserve heritage, deepen human understanding, and inspire future generations.

Exploring Extraordinary Perspectives

The journey begins with a tribute to a lifetime of photographic dedication, perseverance, and cultural exploration. Through decades of documenting distant lands, peoples, traditions, and civilizations, photography becomes a bridge between cultures, bringing the world's diverse heritage closer to our own communities and preserving its richness for generations to come.

It continues with the profound impact of meaningful content creation in one's native language, where storytelling becomes a responsibility as much as a creative pursuit. By making knowledge accessible, celebrating cultural identity, and communicating ideas in the language of their people, content creators build an enduring legacy that educates, inspires, and expands the horizons of collective understanding.

The forum then turns its lens toward the untold stories of life amid war and its aftermath, moving beyond the familiar images of destruction and suffering to uncover resilience, tenderness, color, and unexpected beauty. Through a different vision of conflict, photography reminds us that even where darkness prevails, humanity continues to create moments of hope, dignity, and life worth celebrating.

Finally, Dubai Photo Forum 5 takes us beyond the boundaries of Earth, inviting audiences to rediscover our planet through the extraordinary eyes of astronauts who are also photographers. From the vastness of space, their cameras capture breathtaking landscapes, astonishing patterns, and magnificent scenes invisible from the ground, transforming scientific exploration into visual masterpieces that deepen our appreciation of the fragile and beautiful world we share.

From the depths of human experience to the vastness of space, Dubai Photo Forum 5 brings together remarkable perspectives united by a single conviction: photography is more than the art of seeing. It is the art of understanding, connecting, remembering, and inspiring.

Through these exceptional voices and visions, HIPA reaffirms its commitment to advancing photographic excellence, fostering cultural dialogue, and celebrating the enduring ability of images to illuminate our shared humanity and preserve its legacy for future generations.

Forum Dates and Venue

11–12 November 2026
Al Wasl Ballroom, Dusit Thani Dubai.

Speakers and Sessions

Wednesday, 11 November 2026

• Don Pettit — Chasing Cosmic Pixels: Photography from the International Space Station (6:00–8:00 PM).
• Véronique de Viguerie — La Vie en Rose (8:30–10:00 PM).

Thursday, 12 November 2026

• Kazuyoshi Nomachi — Beyond the Horizon – My Photographic Journey (6:00–7:30 PM).
• Dr. Ali Mohammed — AI and the Future of Photography (8:00–10:00 PM).