How I make money with my documentary work (I don’t)
I guess you’re expecting a detailed or at least an eyeballed list of things I do to earn money with my documentary photography. The answer is a lot sadder than the title implies. I don’t. Ever since I started documenting stories that feel important to me back in 2017 I always funded everything from my own paychecks. Every travel ticket, all of my kevlar, fixer fees, camera gear, insurance, the conflict photography training and more has been paid by me. I’ve never sold any image to any media corporation, I haven’t accepted any sponsorship by any brand to promote their product. I haven’t even put my stories behind a paywall.
I’m currently in the process of planning another trip to Ukraine to capture stories for my TFW series. This one will be the fourth continuation of that story called The Foul War. I should be leaving in roughly two weeks via trains and buses to Odessa from which I shall be travelling further east. I do not yet know where exactly is this trip going to take me but there is one thing I do know. It is not going to be cheap.
I have been talking to a few friends of mine who are covering the same war through their eyes and one thing they all have in common is the way they fund their endeavours. Apart from a small donation back in 2018 all of my stories were fully self-funded. Being independent and not backed by a large media house has its perks like being able to go wherever I feel like going, I don’t have to chase the newest and hottest stories nor do I have deadlines to follow. But I don’t have a team of professionals helping me with planning, travel, equipment, insurance, or budgets. I’m on my own. For better or for worse. And my family budget can only take so much.
I am willing to spend my own money to cover this war as it feels incredibly important to me and I feel incomplete when I’m not. Telling these stories, and being a voice for these people is the only way I feel like I am not wasting my time on this gorgeous planet of ours. But after talking to the aforementioned “colleagues” I have finally come to a simple realisation. There are good people out there willing to help you cover the stories that need telling. There are people out there who realise that documentary work is not cheap and are willing to support it.
Until now I wasn’t too sure whether I’d feel comfortable accepting donations from other people. But I finally realised that if it comes from people who genuinely want to help and see what you can bring them you do not need to feel like a sellout. It took me a while to come to terms with this and so I finally did it.
I set up a donate button in the header of my website as well as at the end of this blog post. I even put one in my social bios. Do not feel pressured. My trip in two weeks is still happening and I will come back with a series of images and a story to tell regardless. Everything will still be available on my website for everyone to see. But if you or anyone you know is willing to support independent photojournalism I would be incredibly grateful as it would help me tremendously. If I manage to collect at least 200 Euro my travel costs would be greatly reduced.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I’ll see you in a few weeks when there is a new story here on my website.
