These are awarded to distinguished persons having, from their position or attainments, an intimate connection with the science or fine art of photography or the application thereof. No more than eight Honorary Fellowships may be awarded in any one year; those awarded with the Progress and Centenary Medals, and by tradition to the incoming President, are included in this total. Society Presidents are noted bold. 

Previous recipients of the Honorary Fellowship are:

1980       Sir George Pollock
1981       Harry Ricketts, Jack Coote, Walter Nurnberg, Philip Smethurst, David Young
1982       Charles E Brown, J A Fairfax-Fozzard, E Chambre Hardman, Kenneth Moreman, Dr Guy Stevens, Sue Davies, Dr Leslie Bowcock
1983       Dr Gerand Levenson, Dr G Thomas, Dr Robert W G Hunt, HRH The Princess Margaret, Ray Ruddick, Gerald Thompson
1984       Charles P Hodge, Maurice Broomfield, H Roy Thornton, F J Worton, David Bowen Thomas, Andor Kraszna-Krausz, Chris Roberts
1985      Sam Hanna, Gracie Alison, Bert Hardy, Frank Hawkins, Pat Whitehouse
1986      Heather Angel, Dr I Bowie, Wong Shiu Gun, Prof Ralph Marshall, Dr Douglas Wilson
1987      Donald Barba, Prof Chin San Long, Graham Saxby
1988      H M King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Wellington Lee, Grace Lock, Colin Osman, Chakravarthy Rajagopal, Arthur Downes
1989      Fay Godwin, S K Gajree, Dr Hereward Pietsch, Ray Lunnon, Athol Schmith
1990      Barry Wilkins. Dr Maurice Van de Weyer, Sakda Siripant, Professor John W Gates, Brian Bower
1991      Tim Gidal, Joan Wakelin, Robert Doisneau, Duane Michals
1992      George Rodger, Peter C Bunnell, Willy Ronis, Michael Austin
1993      Professor Ralph Jacobson, Eve Arnold, Jean Dieuzaide, Amanda Nevill
1994      Freddie Reed, Elliott Erwitt, Jim Moorfoot, K F Wong, Bill Wisden, Edwin Appleton
1995      Ian Berry, Bryn Campbell, C T Chang, Hans P Kraus Jr, Grace Robertson
1996/7   Professor Griedrich Granzer, Hiroshi Hamaya, Mark Haworth-Booth, R Phillips, O Winston Link, Robert Moore
1998      John Blakemore, Terry Fincher, Michael Rand, Marc Riboud, Christina Garcia Rodero, John Birkett
1999      David Bailey, Colin Ford, Mario Giacomelli, Frans Lanting, James Nachtwey, Dr Arthur Saunders
2000      Jane Bown, David Doubilet, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Thurston Hopkins, O P Sharma, Carole Sartain
2001      Shahidul Alam, Dr Margaret Benyon, Jill Freedman, Sidney Ray, Richard Sullivan, Cliff Thompson, John Page, Professor Raymond P Clark
2002      Polly Borland, Terence Pepper, Uwe Ommer, Thomas Mangelsen, Rankin Waddell, Joel Meyerowitz
2003      Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Jillian Edelstein, Dr Stuart Franklin, Dr Mike Maloney, Albert Watson, Dr Leo K K Wong, Roger Reynolds
2004      Philippe Garner, Dewi Lewis, Anne McCauley, Terry O’Neill, Aidan Sullivan, Humphrey Spender
2005      Darren Heath, Jenny Matthews, Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, Denis Thorpe FRPS, Art Wolfe, Gus Wylie
2006      René Burri, Brian Griffin, Peter Marlow, Steve Pyke MBE, Yang Shaoming, Tom Stoddart
2007      Nick Danziger, David Goldblatt, Dr Adam Hart-Davis, Barry Lategan, Professor Deng Wei, Barry Senior
2008      John Chillingworth, Joe Cornish, Dr Peter Magubane, Dr Daniel Meadows, Zed Nelson, Ben Osborne
2009       Harry Benson, Dorothy Bohm, Simon Crocker, Paul Graham, Professor Jem Southam, Rosemary Wilman
2010       Sian Bonnell, Keith Cavanagh, Tom Hunter, Ken Lennox, John Reardon, Stephen Shore
2011       Jason Bell, Stuart Blake, John Downing OBE, Simon King OBE, Bob Martin, Mario Testino, Roy Robertson
2012       Doug Allan. Ian Beesley, Rineke Dijkstra, Rinko Kawauchi, Sally Mann, Tim Walker