Hazel Thompson is a multi-award winning photojournalist based in London. After beginning her photographic career with a local newspaper in South London, Hazel currently works freelance on assignments worldwide for leading international publications including the New York Times, the Observer Magazine, Le Monde 2, Politiken, amongst others. Hazel’s passion is to photograph social and humanitarian subjects; her central themes include injustice towards women and children, as well identity within religion.

Working closely with NGOs she often tackles sensitive and sometimes controversial subjects. In 2005 Hazel was a key part in the Global campaign & report on ‘Kids Behind Bars’ (as seen on ITN & CNN) where, posing undercover as an aid worker, she was able to capture exclusive images of children illegally imprisoned inside Filipino jails. Most recently her essay on the UK’s teenage runaways, “Home & Away” evolved from an assignment for the Observer Magazine and grew into a three-part news series for channel FIVE news. Here Hazel reported on the situation and presented the story on camera while her still images were used to illustrate the very moving issue.

Hazel was also selected by The British Council to represent the best of British Photojournalism as an arts ambassador to Uzbekistan. This relationship evolved into a more recent commission for Hazel to document the role of women in Qatar and Bahrain as part of an international project called “My Father’s House”, an exhibition that will tour the region for the next three years. She was named a Hero of Photography by American Photographer and has received numerous awards including CARE International Award for Humanitarian Reportage-Visa Pour l’image/Perpignan, PDN Annual Winner 2006 “Kids Behind Bars,” twice The Sunday Times Ian Parry Award and three times The Observer Hodge Award for her various photo stories. Clients include: Time magazine, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Le Monde 2, HQ Australia, Jubilee Campaign, The Children’s Society, Days Japan, The Sunday Times Magazine, FIVE news, The Observer Magazine, Elle magazine, Global Angels, and the Sunday Telegraph. Commercial clients include HSBC, Phillips, The British Council, FIVE News, Big Wave Productions, Communities and Local Government (UK), Boston Consulting Group, Jaguar, Sainsbury’s and Tarmac Plc. Hazel loves to travel is available for assignments worldwide.

www.hazelthompson.com