Recap of the 2025 CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit: Photographic Memory

This May, CatchLight hosted its fifth annual Visual Storytelling Summit, and every year we’re astonished by the growing enthusiasm, attendance, and strength of community that springs from our flagship public event.

Throughout the day, more than 800 visual practitioners, patrons, and enthusiasts gathered at KQED in San Francisco to see presentations by industry leading photographers, who opened unique avenues for viewers to explore our 2025 theme: Photographic Memory.

Our lineup was co-curated by Kathy Ryan, a living legend who guided our visual understanding of the world for over three decades as director of photography for The New York Times Magazine. Ryan’s keynote address was a visual tour of memorable moments, from the poignant to the magical, throughout her illustrious career.

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We experienced works by Binh Danh, a photographer, educator, and the inventor of chlorophyll printing. With this technique, Danh casts images on plant life as unique representations of collective memory of historical places and events, from his family’s war-torn homeland in Vietnam to the grandeur of U.S. national parks.

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Pablo Unzueta, a CatchLight Local Fellow, shared images from “The Memory of Our Skin,” an exploration of his heritage and calling as a photographer through visual remembrance of the 1973 Chilean military coup and the 2023 mass shootings of farm workers in California, traumatic events that took place a half-century and a continent apart but are connected across space and time by the grief and resilience of the surviving communities.

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CatchLight Global Fellow, Harlan Bozeman, presented works from “Out the E,” a long-term documentary photography project he is developing as a collaborative archive with the youth and elders of Elaine, Arkansas, a town remembered—and misremembered—for its history of racial violence against Black residents. Bozeman discussed what it means to be present as a photographer to fulfill one’s role as a catalyst for change.

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Elinor Carucci shared works that spanned her career photographing the vulnerability, joy, and intimacy of her everyday life. She reminded us of the power of images to preserve memories of our personal experiences that can be so easily lost to time.

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Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson, known for his reporting from war zones and political upheavals, brought us on his photographic journey of pain and violence, grief and exhaustion, and punctuative laughter. He shared works that go beyond the battlefield to illustrate the consequences of war and the vital importance of photographs as historical documents.

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We also heard valuable insights from funders in visual journalism. In a panel conversation with Jeff Cohen of Arnold Ventures, Inés Familiar Miller of the Kresge Foundation, and Dawn Garcia of Stanford University’s John S. Knight Fellowships, photographers gained a better understanding of what it takes to accelerate their work with philanthropic partners.

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And due to popular demand from our past summit participants, this year’s program included new elements curated to promote learning and strengthen connections within our community.

On the eve of the summit, we hosted a workshop in partnership with WonderLab, a creative studio in Berkeley, California, founded by National Geographic Explorer, Anand Varma. WonderLab combines science and storytelling, teaching workshop participants how to use macro photography technology to capture images that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

On the morning of the summit, we saw max attendance for workshops covering an array of topics selected based on guest feedback. In a partnership with Cameras + Coffee Club, co-founder Pablo Circa presented works from his street photography project, “Legacy Archive,” before leading a photo walk through San Francisco’s historic Mission District.

Meanwhile back at KQED, more workshops were underway.

For participants who are looking for publishing and funding support, our education partners at PhotoWings assembled a panel of visual editors for a session on “perfecting the pitch” for portfolio reviews. Natalia Jiménez (Washington Post), Elizabeth Krist (Visual Thinking Collective), and Danielle Scruggs (CatchLight) led an interactive workshop with peer reviews and offered tips for photographers to make the most of their face time with curators and editors.

In a session hosted in partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists, Kerry Paterson, Chief of Staff for CPJ, and Jenny Stratton, Executive Editor for CatchLight Local, walked participants through various protective measures for photojournalists, including physical safety, digital security, and mental health and post-assignment care.

Finally, we were honored to publicly announce and formally welcome to the CatchLight community our 2025 Global Fellows. Rehab Eldalil, Federico Estol, and Adam Perez were awarded for producing stunning visual works that challenge the traditional documentary approach, collaborating with the people they photograph and centering community voices in both process and impact.

Read the press release→

The CatchLight team is proud to have hosted a successful and meaningful gathering of visual storytellers—one that reflects the needs and interests of our community. If you attended this year’s summit, please remember to take our guest survey to help us improve the experience.

In the year ahead, we’re expanding our live events to engage community members nationwide. The Night of Photojournalism tour premiered with a special kickoff event after the summit. Now, this immersive visual media experience will be presented at photography and media events across the U.S. Upcoming tour stops include Photoville in Brooklyn (June 7), the Online News Association conference in New Orleans (September) and the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin (November).