Amateur Photographer – 25 August 2026

Summary

Dean Chalkley's portrait of actor Rhys Ifans on the cover leads the 25 August 2026 issue of Amateur Photographer at GBP 5.99, with the central theme of tribal identity running through Chalkley's documentation of British music and fashion subcultures (page 30), Aneesa Dawoojee's two-year behind-the-scenes project on the Notting Hill Carnival at 60 years (page 38), and the APOY Round 3 Animal Kingdom winners on page 42.

The Dean Chalkley interview (page 30) by Peter Dench covers three decades of shooting Britain's边缘 communities — Rude Boys, Northern Soul followers, banger racers and bodybuilders — united by shared passion rather than commercial fashion. The 60 Years of Carnival feature (page 38) by Aneesa Dawoojee documents Europe's biggest street festival, founded by a small Caribbean immigrant community to share their culture with a predominantly white, often hostile local population; today over 2 million people attend annually from every background. The Animal Kingdom winners (page 42) present APOY Round 3 wildlife photography winners. Picture Perfect (page 26) features three boudoir photographers discussing their best shots. What's New (page 8) covers Sony's new FE 100-400mm F5.6-8 OSS at GBP 799 (September release), a compact, lightweight telezoom at 654g and 164.5mm long, with 0.41x maximum magnification and support for 30fps on the Sony A7 V and 120fps on the A9 III, plus CIPA June shipment data showing total camera shipments dropping to 713,059 units from 834,497 a year earlier.

Equipment tests include Andy Westlake on DxO PureRAW 6 (page 50), Amy Davies on the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 (page 55), Angela Nicholson on the DJI Lito X1 entry-level drone (page 58) and Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 (page 61), plus an OM System photo walk with the OM-3 on the South Bank (page 64), the Chuzelblad — a Hasselblad replica at GBP 35 (page 67), and the 3 Legged Thing Ultra Clamp (page 69). Regular features include Your Best Photos (page 20), Blast from the Past on the Glunz Ingo by John Wade (page 70), GuruShots macro and street winners (page 72), Emerging Talent profile of Muhammad Amdad Hossain documenting Bangladesh floods (page 74), Inbox (page 78), Best Buys (page 83), and Final Analysis by Peter Dench on a recreation from football's golden age (page 98). The 30th Anniversary Ricoh GR since 1996 is flagged.

Editor's Take

The 25 August issue is the most thematically ambitious of the three, and it mostly works. The strongest feature is Aneesa Dawoojee's Carnival project — two years behind the scenes at Europe's biggest street festival gives it documentary weight that the other features lack. Dean Chalkley's interview is solid but covers ground regular readers will have seen in his previous AP features. The weakest element is the equipment section: the Chuzelblad GBP 35 Hasselblad replica test is a one-joke novelty that takes up three pages, and the DJI Lito X1 is too entry-level for the AP readership. The Sony 100-400mm news piece is well-reported with detailed specs and pricing. This is for documentary and street photographers who value the human-interest features over the gear tests.

Strengths
• Aneesa Dawoojee's 2-year Notting Hill Carnival project is the issue's documentary highlight
• Sony FE 100-400mm news piece includes full specs, pricing and real-world performance context
• Strong thematic linking between tribal identity, subculture and celebration features

Weaknesses
• Chuzelblad replica test is a 3-page novelty that adds no practical value
• DJI Lito X1 is too entry-level for AP's core readership

Verdict: Recommended — The Carnival documentary feature alone is worth the cover price for photography students.