What was the inspiration behind starting PRISMA?

The whole thing started at university, during my second year, back in 2022. At the time, I was working for the main student newspaper, had been since first year, and really enjoyed the process of planning and designing a publication every week. However, our newspaper didn’t have much of a focus on photography. It was only one spread per issue, and this was also a reflection on the general lack of photography outlets across the wider student publication landscape of St Andrews, where I studied. The shortcomings of this became particularly obvious to me during my one-semester stint as the photography editor for this student newspaper I was part of, as I saw the interest that was flowing in from students wanting to showcase their photography, but without being able to offer them all a chance as our one-spreader was all the space I had to work with. So I saw a pretty big gap in the market, and started thinking about how it could be filled.

What really solidified these thoughts, though, was the experience of being granted accreditation to photograph the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo through the student newspaper I worked with. This type of coverage, of large international events outside St Andrews, was not something our student newspaper usually dealt with, not least due to the seemingly very low chances of being granted accreditation in the first place as such a small outlet, but something in me decided it was worth a go. ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen’, and all that jazz. So, when I received the news that our application had been accepted and went to photograph this spectacular show on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle, I had been given a real eye opener and a spark inside me was born. Before, I always thought you would have had to be a professional photographer for years and work for a national outlet to photograph these types of events, and now I realised that wasn’t the case. At least not always.

So, knowing this wasn’t the type of coverage our student newspaper focused on, but something I now had a newfound excitement to pursue, I started thinking more seriously about creating something that might possibly allow me to get to these events more frequently in the future and, more importantly, something that could also create a space for showcasing the amazing work of up-and-coming photographers in St Andrews and beyond that far too often goes unnoticed. So, I sat down with my pen and paper, friends, and coffees, and started to map out this idea, and that is the story of how PRISMA came to be.

How has PRISMA evolved in the past four years?

So we created PRISMA with the goal of one day covering bigger events, but what I didn’t realise was how quickly we would actually be able to get there. The Edinburgh Tattoo was obviously the main event that inspired me to create PRISMA in the first place, and realistically I thought it might take us 3-5 years of building the magazine until we would be granted accreditation to cover it ourselves. Still, sticking to my previous mantra of ‘what’s the worst that can happen’, I applied to cover the Tattoo with PRISMA the summer after we launched, so only six months in, and we were accepted! I really did not expect that and was over the moon, and then I think that success of gaining accreditation to a huge international event within a year of us starting out just spurred me on even more to to find other events that we might already be able to cover if we put ourselves out there and started applying. So, that is what we did, and I would say a big part of our evolution across these years is the wide range of events that we have been able to cover as a result.

Some of my personal favourites include the King’s Birthday Parade in London -Trooping the Colour - as well as the multiple five star international equestrian events I have been able to attend with PRISMA, including the Longines Global Champions Tour. For those who aren’t as much of an equestrian nerd as I am, this is like the top of the top of equestrian sport so for PRISMA to have been part of the accredited media there this summer feels really special. Equally, the rest of the team have also been able to cover some incredible events and concerts with our magazine over the past years, so we’re really getting to a point where we’re properly establishing ourselves as an outlet on the sports and events scene across the UK, which I am really proud of. But then, there are also the range of photographers we have been lucky to work with, which is arguably the much more important part of our growth. With this interview coning out, we celebrate 30 issues released, and as part of getting to this point, we have worked with just shy of 200 photographers from 38 countries across the world.

The amount of different stories we have been able to publish with the help of these creators are incredible, and their contributions that span genres and varying photographic perspectives is really what makes PRISMA unique as a magazine. There is always something new to read, and that is thanks to them. So, in short, I am very proud of where we have come as a magazine in the past years, and am incredibly grateful to everyone who made it happen.