Through the Lens: Photographing OUTSOUTH 2026 at the Carolina Theatre of Durham
In the Carolina Theatre’s 100th year, one of Durham’s most celebrated film festivals returned for its 31st.
From August 13–16, 2026, the historic Carolina Theatre of Durham welcomed filmmakers, artists, movie lovers, and members of the community for the annual OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival—four days celebrating storytelling, creativity, representation, and connection through film.
The Image & Light Studio had the privilege of being there to help document it.
Celebrating 31 Years of OUTSOUTH
OUTSOUTH began in 1995 as A Salute to Pride and was known for many years as the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Over the decades, the festival has continued to evolve while remaining committed to bringing audiences together and presenting a diverse range of LGBTQ+ stories and perspectives.
The 2026 festival featured an impressive 145 films from around the world, including 14 feature films and 20 short-film programs. The programming gave audiences an opportunity to experience stories encompassing drama, comedy, documentary, history, relationships, identity, community, and many other aspects of queer life.
But OUTSOUTH is about more than what appears on the screen.
The conversations between screenings, reunions between friends, filmmakers meeting their audiences, guests posing together for photographs, and spontaneous moments throughout the theater are all part of what gives the festival its character.
Those were the moments we wanted to capture.
Photographing More Than an Event
Event photography is about more than documenting who was there.
For us, it is about preserving the feeling of being there.
Throughout OUTSOUTH, we photographed individuals and groups against the festival’s Step & Repeat backdrop, along with candid interactions and moments throughout the event. We also turned our cameras toward the Carolina Theatre itself, capturing architectural details and the atmosphere of a building that has been welcoming audiences in downtown Durham for a century.
Our goal was to create a collection of photographs that would work together to tell the story of the festival: the people, the place, the celebration, and the connections taking place between them.
Some photographs are carefully composed portraits. Others capture expressions and interactions that lasted only a fraction of a second.
Both are important.
Together, they become a visual record of an experience shared by a community.
A Historic Setting for a Meaningful Celebration
There was something particularly special about photographing OUTSOUTH at the Carolina Theatre in 2026—the theater’s centennial year.
Since opening in 1926, the Carolina Theatre has become an important part of Durham’s cultural landscape. Generations of people have walked through its doors to experience film, music, performing arts, and community events.
One hundred years later, those spaces continue to bring people together.
Photographing OUTSOUTH within that environment created a wonderful contrast: the architectural character and history of the theater surrounding a contemporary festival dedicated to sharing stories and voices from around the world.
For a photographer, it is difficult to ask for a more interesting combination of people, history, architecture, light, and emotion.
The People Make the Photographs
One of our favorite parts of photographing an event like OUTSOUTH is seeing what happens once people step in front of the camera.
Some arrive ready to pose. Others are a little more reserved. Friends pull one another closer. Couples smile. Groups laugh. Personalities emerge.
And sometimes the photograph taken between the planned photographs becomes the one that says the most.
Photography gives us the opportunity to preserve those moments long after an event has ended.
Our hope is that when someone looks back at these images months or years from now, they remember more than simply what they looked like that evening. We hope the photograph brings back something about the experience—the people they were with, the conversations they had, the films they saw, and what it felt like to be part of OUTSOUTH.
Thank You, Carolina Theatre
The Image & Light Studio is grateful to the Carolina Theatre of Durham for the opportunity to photograph OUTSOUTH 2026 and to contribute our time and photography to an organization that has played such an important role in Durham for generations.
We also want to thank everyone who stepped in front of our camera. Whether we photographed you individually, with a partner, with friends, or as part of a group, you helped us create a visual record of a very special weekend.
Congratulations to the Carolina Theatre on 100 years, and to OUTSOUTH on 31 years of bringing audiences and communities together through film.
We were honored to capture a small part of that history.
View the Photographs
Explore our complete collection of photographs from the festival:
View the OUTSOUTH 2026 Photo Gallery
To learn more about the festival and the Carolina Theatre of Durham: