It’s not every day you get to see the work of some of the greatest photographers of all time in the flesh. Even rarer still is the chance to stand before their original slides, frozen moments that shaped visual history. That’s what makes Magnum: A World in Color such a rare treat for anyone with a passion for photography.
Presented as part of Fujifilm’s Fujikina London festival, at the Fujifilm House of Photography in Covent Garden, the exhibition marks the first public unveiling of a huge archival project that has been dormant for decades.
Hidden away in the late 19th-century Saint-Cyr fort on the outskirts of Paris, France, Magnum’s Paris color library holds over 43,000 slide sheets and more than 650,000 images, dating from the 1950s through to the early 2000s.
Until now much of this work has remained unseen, untouched for over 20 years. Thanks to Magnum’s archive team and Fujifilm’s GFX100 II medium format camera, these slides are now being digitized and brought into the light.
The result is a fascinating portrait of Britain, past and present, seen through the lens of Magnum’s legendary photographers. What struck me most was the sense of process on display: the way the slide series reveals how a photographer worked a scene, the decisions they made, the frames they discarded.
For anyone learning photography, it’s a masterclass in itself. You’re not just looking at finished images, you’re peeking into the working mind of some of the greatest names in the medium.
Adding to this conversation between past and present, the exhibition also features brand-new work from Magnum photographers Olivia Arthur and Mark Power. Both are renowned for their use of large format film, but here they were challenged to respond to the archive with Fujifilm’s digital alternatives.
Power used the GFX 100S II and, during his talk, admitted that he enjoyed it so much he was reluctant to hand it back afterwards. Arthur’s and Power’s images add a contemporary layer to the rediscovered archive, showing how today’s photographers see the UK through fresh eyes while still in dialogue with history.
What stayed with me most was Power’s reasoning for his project: in looking through the archive he felt that Brighton, his hometown, wasn’t represented in a way that matched his own experience of it. His response was to turn his lens back on familiar streets, showing that photographing the places you know, even when they don’t seem glamorous, can be the most meaningful.
It’s a reminder that important work often begins at home.
For me, that’s the real takeaway of this show. It’s thrilling to see Magnum legends in color and up close. But just as valuable is how the exhibition teaches us the importance of looking back, reflecting, and recognising how images connect across time.
Whether it’s poring over your own contact sheets or standing in front of someone else’s, the act of studying photographs deeply is what helps us grow as photographers.
The evening also carried a poignant note. The late Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins, who sadly passed away last week, was honored on the night. His extraordinary archive made up a large part of the exhibition and his images remain central to our visual documentation of Britain.
Magnum: A World in Color is free to attend and open now at the Fujifilm House of Photography, with additional talks and book signings scheduled as part of Fujikina London on September 19 (with Olivia Arthur) and September 26 (with Mark Power). It’s well worth making the time to step inside, look, learn and be reminded of photography’s power to connect past and present.
Magnum: A World in Color is now open at Fujifilm’s House of Photography, London, until October 12.
