Head On Photo Festival Perth 2026

Don’t miss our wonderful podcast interview (at the very foot of this post) with Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, the Festival’s founder, creative director and lead curator.

The Head On Photo Festival began in Sydney in 2004, and, for the first time, in 2026, it’s on show, right here in Perth, right now! And the good news is, it’s on until 1 March.

You don’t need to be a declared lover of photography to attend the Festival, but if you are, you will love it. And if you aren’t, you soon will be!

The Festival is considered Australia’s premier photography event, showcasing the work of international and local photographers of all genres and career stages.

And the Festival also includes events and workshops.

Moshe Rosenzveig’s own career spans over 40 years as a photojournalist, commercial photographer, educator and an award-winning television producer/director at SBS Television. His work has been screened, published and exhibited in Australia and overseas.

Head On Photo Festival Perth 2026 was launched last Saturday night at the Northbridge Piazza on a perfect early evening at the cooler end of a 40 degree day.

Invited guests and interested Festival goers were pleased at first to mingle and then to be beanbagged as the formal proceedings got underway.

Credit Johannes Reinhart

After opening speeches including by Bruce Reynolds, Lord Mayor of the City of Perth – the major sponsor of the Perth Festival – Moshe got the Festival on the road!

The Festival offers something for everyone, as a quick peek at the Festival program and the winners of the WA Life Photo Awards 2026 go to prove!

And here are the WA Life Photo Award photos, respectively by Nic Duncan (Overall Winner), Oliver (Youth Winner), Lidia D’Opera (Runner up) and Stephen Pidgeon (Runner up).

Our Editor, Michael Barker, was very pleased to catch up with Moshe Rosenzveig this week (with him back in Sydney and our Ed here in Freo, by Zoom) to make this podcast (that you’ll find at the foot of this post) in which Moshe discusses how Head On came to be, the state of photography in the 2020s and, of course, the Head On Photo Festival Perth 2026, what you will find on show, and how best to enjoy it all.