Head On Photo Festival

Head On Foundation is Australia’s leading non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting photography through a year-round program and the internationally renowned Head On Photo Festival. Our mission is to make exceptional photography accessible to all, breaking traditional gallery boundaries through free outdoor public art installations and inclusive programming. We deliver the internationally recognised annual Head On Photo Festival, alongside year-round workshops, webinars, a digital magazine, and touring projects.

Each year, the Festival attracts over 400,000 visits and showcases the work of around 900 Australian and international photo-artists in venues across Sydney. Celebrating all genres of photography, from photojournalism and commercial work to fine art, mobile phone photography, and multimedia, Head On activates a wide range of spaces, including galleries, museums, parks, cafes, and large-scale building illuminations. This positions the Foundation as a major platform for discovering new talent and exploring new ideas and technologies through exhibitions, workshops, discussions, and collaborations.

Through the Head On Photo Awards (Portrait, Landscape, and Exposure), the Foundation has distributed over one million dollars in cash and products, supporting both emerging and established photographers. We select work for the Festival and Awards through a blind judging process, choosing photos without seeing artists’ names, an ethos that has earned us a strong international reputation for fairness and inclusivity.

Head On Foundation is committed to fostering cultural diversity, creativity, and community connection through the power of photography, ensuring broad public access to high-quality visual arts and meaningful engagement across Australia and beyond.