CCN photographers welcome “special” Panos Pictures collaboration
Graduates of the CCN Visual Storytelling Course have welcomed the new Clean Cooling Media Library, describing it as “a very positive thing” which will help to “shine a light” on sustainable cooling issues.
The media library provides a curated, open-access library of cold-chain-related images. Developed in collaboration with the London-based picture agency Panos Pictures, it will serve to bring the work of CCN-trained photographers to the attention of major international media outlets.
Chris de Bode, the CCN’s Visual Imagery Lead, said: “The moment that clients visit the Panos database looking for a photo about refrigeration, our pictures will pop up. We are aiming at getting assignments and trying to financially empower our photographers through marketing their work.”
He added that he hopes the database will be a “powerful” tool for education and advocacy, while also helping his students to build their careers as documentary photographers.
Chris has taken two cohorts of photographers through the CCN’s Visual Storytelling Course, which aims to help students become confident storytellers with knowledge of the cold-chain sector. A third cohort is due to start in 2026. “As a photographer who has worked a lot in Africa and also realises that my role as a photographer is ending, it has been a very nice thing to share my experience with them,” he said.
Chris explained that the crucial roadblock for local photographers is often access to markets. “There are lots of workshops going on, and people get educated over and over by photographers who fly in – like me,” he said. “But the whole thing is making sure they can actually get assignments in the future.”
Mireille Isimbi, a student from the first cohort, spent years attending photography workshops and trying to carve out a niche before stumbling across the CCN course. After the course, she covered various ACES events as a freelancer before becoming a permanent staff photographer in February 2025.
“I think having photographers who know about cold-chain is a must,” she said. “You need to understand the organisation and their vision so you can address that with your photography. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, you’re always asking people to smile – but you can’t photograph someone with their rotten tomatoes and be telling them to smile.”
Mireille said she often gets caught up in her work, spending hours covering events and editing images, and forgetting to appreciate her efforts. She explained: “You can be working and delivering without understanding the value of things, but seeing the database, I am really proud of what I have accomplished.”
She added: “As a woman working in a male-dominated industry, it has been a long journey and we are not given many opportunities despite our capacity. I trained as a photographer alongside 34 other women, but none of them have stayed in the industry. At ACES, I feel supported – I love the way they value things, and I feel like my photography is really impacting society.”
Chris said he is “really proud” of his students. “They all had a very steep learning curve,” he said. “Now, to see their pictures up on the database meant a great deal for me; it was a very emotional moment. It can be a real struggle for photographers to get their pictures out there, and we have made that possible for them.”
“I believe that stories happening in Rwanda – and Africa in general – should be told by African photographers wherever possible,” he added. “It’s important to highlight that these photographers are telling their own story.”
Benjamin Mugabo, a photographer from the Visual Storytelling Course’s second cohort, said the new media library and the collaboration with Panos Pictures is “a very positive thing”. “For my photographs to go in a good database is very important,” he explained. “I feel proud to show my family what I’m working on.”
He said he loved the course for introducing him to a “new world” which he had “no idea about”. “We make it easier for everybody to understand what’s going on at ACES, because with a picture you don’t need to explain,” he said. “People will see it and they’re going to feel something, and know what’s going on.”
Adrian Evans, the director of Panos Pictures, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the CCN on their Clean Cooling Media Library project. At Panos Pictures we have always believed in the power of visual narratives to engage audiences and effect change especially when shining a light on complex and poorly understood issues.”
He said the CCN’s initiative will “help build capacity” and “empower the students to ask the right questions”.
He added: “We look forward to sharing their work with our media partners and to raising awareness of the importance of cold-chain in our increasingly overheated world.”
Click here to access the Clean Cooling Network Media Library.