femLENS

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femLENS Social issues through documentary photography. Our vision is empowered women creating and sharing their own stories about their lives.

Since 2015 femLENS works with local community centres, libraries, activist groups and NGOs providing documentary photography workshops to women and girls from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, organising photo exhibitions and publishing books and magazines. Our mission is to visually educate and make technologically aware women from diverse backgrounds through documentary photography made accessible by mobile phone cameras.

The value of photography books has changed. They are increasingly presented as objects to collect, display and admire. L...
05/08/2026

The value of photography books has changed.

They are increasingly presented as objects to collect, display and admire. Limited editions sell out quickly. Beautiful books become design accessories. Lifestyle magazines recommend them alongside furniture and home décor.

There is nothing wrong with appreciating a well-made book. But something changes when its appearance becomes more important than the ideas it contains.

At the same time, AI companies are buying printed books, scanning them and destroying the originals because they recognise another kind of value. Not aesthetic value, but informational value. Books contain carefully edited, human-produced knowledge that is becoming difficult to find.

A photography book is not simply a beautiful object, nor is it simply a collection of images waiting to be digitised. It is a carefully constructed experience, one that asks us to spend time with photographs in a way that few other forms can.

❓Does the photography book still offer something that digital publishing cannot? If so, what?

Since the invention of photography, cameras have repeatedly been turned towards poverty, labour, migration and people li...
03/08/2026

Since the invention of photography, cameras have repeatedly been turned towards poverty, labour, migration and people living on the margins of society.

For much of photography's history, making photographs required money, education, institutional support and access. The camera often belonged to those with greater social power than the people standing in front of it.

Photography has changed. Cameras are now widely available, and almost anyone can publish their work. Yet documentary photography continues to return to the lives of those with the least power, while those who govern, police, profit from and administer society remain far less frequently examined.

Words like “childlike”, “naïve”, or “primitive” still appear in writing about Art Brut and so-called Outsider Art.But th...
31/07/2026

Words like “childlike”, “naïve”, or “primitive” still appear in writing about Art Brut and so-called Outsider Art.

But these terms carry histories linked to ableism and colonial thinking.

Problematic:
“childlike drawings”
“primitive expression”
“untrained genius”

Why can this be harmful?

These terms may unintentionally simplify complex practices or reduce artists to stereotypes rather than recognising the depth of their work.

A more respectful approach is to describe what we actually see in the artwork.

For example:

instead of “childlike drawings”
we might describe:
“simplified forms”
“layered symbols”
“bold use of colour”
or
“detailed personal visual language”

Thoughtful language does not remove critique or discussion. It creates room for more accurate, respectful, and attentive conversations about art and artistic practice.

We often hear that documentary photographers should remain impartial. But what does impartiality actually mean in practi...
29/07/2026

We often hear that documentary photographers should remain impartial. But what does impartiality actually mean in practice?

Documentary photography cannot be produced from nowhere. Every photographer works from a particular standpoint. What matters is whether that standpoint is acknowledged or presented as though it does not exist.

Objectivity is often presented as the natural foundation of journalism and documentary photography. In reality, there is...
27/07/2026

Objectivity is often presented as the natural foundation of journalism and documentary photography. In reality, there is a history behind.

Understanding where this idea came from helps us understand why it became dominant, what problems it was designed to solve, and what questions it leaves unanswered.

⭐ 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲!The day we dedicate to women photographers who use documentary photography as a tool for story...
24/07/2026

⭐ 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲!
The day we dedicate to women photographers who use documentary photography as a tool for storytelling.
⭐ Please welcome Davinia Diaz
Davinia R. Diaz ⵣ

➡️ Captions change with each slide

"These images are part of a long-term documentary photography project that explores the different magical beliefs and spiritual paths of people in Scotland. I was drawn to this project because of my personal interest in paganism. I’ve always been a solitary practitioner but when I moved to Scotland I discovered a huge spiritual community that was very much out of the closet. Volunteering at the Beltane Fire Festival helped me meet pagans, druids and witches and I wanted to understand their perspectives, and why so many people here practise so openly. What draws people to walk a magical and spiritual path in a secular, technological and scientific age, which prioritises logic and rationality? I perceived a fundamental human need to connect with otherness, the unknown and the mysteries of the mythical."

Bio:

Born in Tenerife and based in the UK, Davinia R. Diaz is a documentary and fine art photographer exploring themes of identity, culture, the environment and community. Her artistic practice is influenced by anthropology, sociology, activism and spirituality.



Scotland turned out to be the right place for this project as it is an incredibly vibrant and open country in terms of paganism and witchcraft. Edinburgh has a witchy aesthetic built into its bones, from the cemeteries and the buildings to the occult shops and open coven circles I stumbled into. But it goes deeper than aesthetics. Out in the Highlands, folklore, superstition and history are embedded in the landscape, brewing with magic. That energy is felt in the island of Iona, the fairy Glen on Skye, Roslin Glen and in the stone circles all across the country.

While working on this project and spending time with the people I photographed, I realised that we are all seeking the same things: connection with Spirit, with each other, with nature. A wish to be more present, to give our lives meaning, at a time when external circumstances and syste

The term “Outsider Art” is widely used, but many artists and researchers continue to question what the word “outsider” m...
22/07/2026

The term “Outsider Art” is widely used, but many artists and researchers continue to question what the word “outsider” means.

For some people, the term connects to an important artistic history. For others, it can feel distancing because it defines artists through exclusion from the “inside” of the art world.

Other phrases can create similar problems:

“untouched by culture”
“raw creativity”
“outside society”

These descriptions may unintentionally suggest that some artists exist apart from culture, learning, or community.

An ethical approach is to use language that respects different artistic paths without separating artists from wider cultural life.

Depending on context, alternatives may include:

“self-taught artist”
“independent artist”
“artist outside formal art education”

And sometimes the most respectful choice is simply:

“artist”

Language matters because it shapes who is included, who is heard, and how artistic work is valued.

What Barbara Matejčić found reopens a question the Hague tribunal itself raised but never resolved: how does a killer al...
20/07/2026

What Barbara Matejčić found reopens a question the Hague tribunal itself raised but never resolved: how does a killer allow himself to be photographed, in close range, across an entire roll of film? Jelisić told ICTY investigators in 1998 that the killing had been arranged in advance by local police and military officials specifically so that two photographers could stage propaganda images of "Serbian victims." Matejčić corroborated this with multiple sources, including war photographers who found the framing and proximity of the shots impossible to explain as chance reportage.

(Link in the comments)

The people closest to photographers often carry uncertainty, irregular working hours, financial instability, and the emo...
15/07/2026

The people closest to photographers often carry uncertainty, irregular working hours, financial instability, and the emotional impact of witnessing someone else's difficult experiences. They may never visit the places where the photographs are made, but the work reaches them too.

as something that is built through relationships.

Not only the relationship between photographer and photographed person, but also the wider network of care that allows the work to exist in the first place.

Behind every photographer is a community of people whose care, patience, and support are part of the story too.

When we look at documentary photography, we often ask ourselves: What does it show? We might recognise the place, the pe...
13/07/2026

When we look at documentary photography, we often ask ourselves: What does it show? We might recognise the place, the people, the event, or the issue. But we rarely stop to ask another question: Why am I seeing this story?

Every project begins with a series of decisions: what to include, whom to photograph, where to stand, when to press the shutter, how to edit, and how to present the work. Every choice means that something else is left outside the frame. That doesn't make a photograph dishonest. It reminds us that documentary photography has never been a complete record of reality. It's a way of looking at it.

Editors, publishers, festivals, algorithms, funding bodies, and the wider political climate also shape which stories reach us and which quietly disappear.

Being visually literate means recognising that images don't appear by chance. Every photograph has a journey, and every story has a reason for appearing when it does.

So next time you look at a documentary project, ask yourself: Why this story? Why now? What do I learn from what I can see? And what might exist beyond the frame?

Looking critically means paying closer attention, both to the photograph and to the world it invites us to see.

Have you come across a recent documentary project that made you stop and ask, "Why this story, and why now?"



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