Laura Pannack

Laura Pannack (born 1985) is a British social documentary and portrait photographer, based in London. Her work is often of children and teenagers. Pannack received first place in the World Press Photo Awards in 2010, the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society in 2012, and won the Portfolio category in the Sony World Photography Awards in 2021.

A book, Youth Without Age and Life Without Death, was published in 2023.

Early life and education
Pannack was born in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London.

She gained a degree in editorial photography at the University of Brighton; studied a foundation course in painting at Central Saint Martins College of Art, London; and studied a foundation course at London College of Communication.

Career
Pannack works commercially and on self initiated personal projects, her subjects often being "young people and teenagers". Her work has been a feature in magazines. 

Her personal projects include The Untitled, Young Love and Young British Naturists, For her personal work Pannack largely uses a film camera, at one time a Bronica 645 medium format camera and more recently a Hasselblad 6×6.

In 2011 Pannack was included in Creative Review's Ones to Watch list and in 2013 in The Magenta Foundation's Emerging Photographers list.

Publications by Pannack

 * Against The Dying of The Light. Collection du Prix HSBC pour la Photographie. Arles, France: Actes Sud, 2017. ISBN 978-2-330-07743-3. With a text in French by Christian Caujolle, translated into English by Thyago Nogueira. Published on the occasion of the Prix HSBC Pour La Photographie 2017.
 * The Cracker. Multistory, 2019. Magazine format. Edition of 25 copies.
 * Youth (Vol. 1). Polite, 2023. Postcard set.
 * Youth Without Age and Life Without Death. Guest, 2023.

Publications with contributions by Pannack

 * Hijacked III: Australia / United Kingdom. Cottesloe, W.A.: Big City Press; Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2012. ISBN 9783868282856. Exhibition catalogue.
 * Great Britons of Photography Vol.1: The Dench Dozen. Eastbourne, UK: Hungry Eye, 2016. ISBN 978-0-9926405-2-1. Edited by Peter Dench. With photographs by and transcripts of interviews between Dench and Pannack, among others. 160 pages. Edition of 500 copies.

Exhibitions

 * A Collection, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, 2011
 * Young British Naturists, One and a Half Gallery, London, 2012
 * Young British Naturists, White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, 2013
 * Youth Without Age, Life Without Death: Chapter 1, Francesca Maffeo Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, 2016

Awards

 * 2008: 1st place, Hotshot International Next Perspective Award
 * 2009: Winner, Magenta Foundation award
 * 2009: 3rd prize, UK Single Image, LensCulture Award
 * 2009: Finalist, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, for "Gemma"
 * 2010: 1st place, Portraits Singles, World Press Photo Awards, for "Graham"
 * 2010: Best in Show, Foto8 Host Summer Show, for "Shay"
 * 2010: Winner, Magenta Foundation award
 * 2011: 1st place Fine Art Nudes category, International Photography Awards, Lucie Foundation, for Young British Naturists
 * 2011: 2nd place Professional Advertising, Other, International Photography Awards, Lucie Foundation, for Children Do Not Separate
 * 2012: Vic Odden Award, Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK
 * 2014: John Kobal New Work Award, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London for "Chayla in Shul"
 * 2017: Winner, with Melanie Wenger, Prix HSBC pour la Photographie, HSBC France.
 * 2018: Women Seen By Women award, Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, for Purity, a long-term project on people in an Orthodox Jewish community
 * 2021: Winner, Portfolio category, Sony World Photography Awards
 * 2023: Camera Clara Prize