Photography for Nonprofits and NGOs

Nonprofit Event Photography and Videography

Kevin Suttlehan — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 19:21:41 +0000

A few months ago, we partnered with Taproot Foundation to document their two-day nonprofit summit, IGNITE 2025, through photography and video.

Taproot connects social causes with skilled volunteers, strengthening organizations and expanding their impact—a mission that strongly aligns with our own.

The event brought together an inspiring mix of nonprofit leaders, corporate partners, academics, creatives, philanthropists, and government officials at the ServiceNow offices at 50 Hudson Yards in New York City. The space offered beautiful natural light and sweeping views of Midtown Manhattan, creating an ideal setting for capturing the energy, connection, and cross-sector collaboration of the event.

Given Taproot’s 20+ year history of serving the nonprofit sector, we were happy to offer our services at a significant discount, and in return, Taproot provided Focus on Good with generous recognition of our contributions to their mission.

Our Deliverables

The two-day event featured a dynamic mix of presentations, panel discussions, and collaborative group exercises designed to spark new ideas and partnerships.

Our deliverables included still photography and video coverage that captured the energy, purpose, and human connection at the heart of the summit.

The details of the engagement were memorialized in a Photography and Videography Services Agreement, a sample of which is available below.

Photography Services Agreement

Our standard agreement defines the scope of work, payment terms, cancellation policies, and image usage rights (copyright) between Focus on Good and our clients. You can download a sample agreement here.

In addition to outlining deliverables and timelines, the agreement addressed contingencies such as last-minute requests for expanded coverage. Just prior to the event, for instance, event organizers asked us to conduct a half-dozen video interviews that had not been previously planned.

We were happy to accommodate, however, and recorded and produced video interviews with senior leaders from three major nonprofits, two financial institutions, and a senior professor from Harvard Business School.

While these interviews required additional on-site effort and significant post-production editing, we recognized the long-term value of capturing these perspectives. The conversations provided Taproot with compelling, high-impact content and gave us the opportunity to connect with inspiring leaders across sectors we were interested in working with.

Photography and Videography Coverage

We covered the event with a two-person team, allowing us to work efficiently while remaining unobtrusive. One photographer focused on still imagery while the other captured video, documenting key moments for the purpose of creating a highlight reel of the event.

For still photography, my partner, veteran humanitarian photographer Marko Kokic, used a dual-camera setup: two Canon bodies—one paired with a 24–70mm f/2.8 lens and the other with a 70–200mm f/2.8. This combination is a standard approach for large events and enabled us to capture both wide environmental shots and close-ups from across the room without disrupting conversations or presentations.

To capture the “energy, connection, and cross-sector collaboration” envisioned by the event organizers for the video, I used a small, lightweight and unobtrusive rig: an Apple iPhone 15 Pro with a small Røde microphone, recording 4K log footage to an external SSD and stabilized on a DJI RS 4 Mini gimbal.

This flexible rig allowed me to move seamlessly between breakout groups and table discussions, capturing authentic, close-up interactions while maintaining a low profile. The result was a more immersive visual story that highlighted the collaborative spirit of the event.

The Results

Still Photography

Video Production

Best Practices for Nonprofit Event Photography and Videography

Here is a quick checklist to use when hiring professional photographers:

Research photographers and study their portfolios. Look for experience with nonprofit, corporate, or live event settings similar to your own.
Request a signed Photography or Videography Services Agreement. This should clearly outline scope, timelines, usage rights, and contingencies to avoid misunderstandings.
Provide a detailed shot list at least one week before the event. This allows the team to plan coverage, prioritize key moments, and prepare the right equipment.
Clarify how you plan to use the content. Let your creative team know whether the photos and videos are intended for your website, social media, donor communications, or future campaigns, and whether you need vertical, horizontal or both formats.
Identify priority participants. If specific speakers, partners, or donors should be featured, provide names along with reference photos in advance. This helps ensure those individuals are captured.
Inform participants during registration and post clear signage at entrances explaining that by attending the event, they consent to be photographed, filmed and recorded, and that by entering the area, they grant your organization permission to use the images and recordings for promotional purposes. For more on this point, see our article here: What Nonprofits Need to Know About Photo Releases

Supporting Nonprofits Through Skilled Volunteerism

Kevin Suttlehan — Sat, 31 May 2025 22:51:40 +0000

Across the United States, many nonprofit organizations are struggling to adapt to significant federal funding cuts introduced during the first few months of the Trump administration. These reductions have impacted most sectors including humanitarian aid, environmental protection, arts and culture, education, and social services.

Like many who care deeply about these issues, our initial reaction to the litany of negative news has been a sort of paralysis. Recently, however, we have moved from standing still to stepping up by seeking ways to volunteer our time and professional expertise to causes we care about.

In doing so, we discovered several valuable online platforms that connect skilled professionals with nonprofits and vice versa. The opportunities include in-person, virtual and hybrid work, and can range from quick written advice to 1-hour phone calls, to weeks-long projects.

The first three volunteering platforms described below, Catchafire, Taproot and VolunteerMatch & Idealist, have similar purposes and functions, allowing prospective volunteers to identify:

the specific causes they wish to support,
their professional skills, and
their preferences for in-person, virtual or hybrid work.

LinkedIn offers prospective volunteers with existing profiles the fastest way to indicate to nonprofits that they are interested in volunteering for specific causes.

Finally, it is worth noting that:

there are other volunteering platforms, such as Points of Light Engage, that offer opportunities to volunteer that do not require any particular skill set—just a desire to contribute, and
you can go directly to the websites of organizations you may already know of, such as the American Red Cross or Feeding America, to search for similar volunteer opportunities in your area.

Skilled Volunteer Platforms

Catchafire

Catchafire is a leading platform for professionals who want to use their expertise to support nonprofit work.

How It Works for Volunteers:

Create a free account.
Set up a profile by linking your LinkedIn page or manually entering experience.
Indicate your skills (e.g., marketing, finance, web development) and causes you care about (e.g., education, climate, human rights).
Receive personalized project recommendations.
Be discoverable by nonprofits actively seeking support.

Types of Volunteer Opportunities:

Quick Advice: Answer questions or give advice in written format.
1-Hour Phone Calls: Offer quick insights on specific topics.
Fully Scoped Projects: Contribute 5–50 hours to tasks like branding, strategic planning, or IT support.
Opportunities are mostly remote work, but can include in-person.

Nonprofits initiate interviews when they are interested in a match, creating a smooth and direct onboarding experience.

Taproot

Taproot connects professionals from the business world with nonprofits that need strategic or technical help—ranging from HR consulting to data analytics and legal support. Taproot also offers programs for companies to increase their level of corporate citizenship, community engagement, and employee empowerment.

How It Works for Volunteers:

Create a free account.
Set up a profile by linking your LinkedIn page or manually entering experience.
Choose from a list to indicate the causes you care about.
Choose from a list to indicate your professional strengths.
Search for opportunities by doing a keyword search (e.g. “photographer”) and filtering for causes you are interested in (Arts and Cultural, Environment, etc.), and your preferred time commitments (One-hour or multi-week).

VolunteerMatch & Idealist

Founded in 1998, VolunteerMatch announced in January 2025 that it was merging with Idealist.

How It Works for Volunteers:

Conduct a location-based search by indicating your location (e.g. New York, NY).
Volunteer opportunities include in-person and virtual.
Indicate your professional skills by choosing up to 10 from a list.
Search for opportunities by doing a keyword search.

LinkedIn for Nonprofits

How it Works for Nonprofits:

LinkedIn for Nonprofits offers both free and fee-based tools to help mission-driven organizations grow their talent networks and visibility.

How It Works for Volunteers:

LinkedIn recently introduced a feature called “Open to Volunteer,” allowing users to indicate their interest in volunteer or pro bono work directly on their profiles.

How to Enable It:

Click the “Open to” button on your LinkedIn profile.
Select “Volunteer Work.”
Choose preferred causes, list your relevant skills, location preferences, and availability (on-site, hybrid or remote).

Once enabled, nonprofits using LinkedIn for Nonprofits can easily find professionals who are eager to contribute their talents to a specific cause.

Final Thought

Whether you're a nonprofit in need of expertise or a professional seeking purpose beyond your 9–5, these platforms provide accessible, impactful ways to collaborate for the greater good.

We encourage you to explore, connect, and contribute.

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

We are open to pro bono collaborations with local nonprofits.

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography and videography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Learn more

Cover Photo: Midtown Manhattan at sunset.

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What Nonprofits Need to Know About Video

Kevin Suttlehan — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 13:32:56 +0000

There are two primary reasons for your nonprofit organization to embrace video as a communication tool:

When done well, video serves as a powerful storytelling tool that complements an organization’s use of written narratives and still photography to explain, influence and motivate.
On social media, viewers engage with video content more than non-video content and, as a result, the videos are delivered to many more people, including non-followers.

Some key social media statistics*:

89% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.
Users retain 95% of a message watched on video as opposed to only 10% read in text.
Short-form video (less than 60 seconds) delivers the highest ROI (return on investment) compared to other marketing trends and will secure more investment in 2025 than any other format.

*Source: 60+ social media video statistics marketers need to know in 2025

The Project: Encourage More Blood Donations

I recently completed a video project for the American Red Cross in which I quickly interviewed about a dozen people over the course of a few hours on one day. The subject: why people donate blood.

In the past, I had conducted these types of interviews by photographing blood donors and writing up their stories for publication on the Red Cross’s social media platforms.

This time, instead, I created a series of short videos that ran every few days over the course of a month. These were similar to written stories but because these were videos, they reached considerably more viewers in the same period of time.

The Premise: Three Questions

The premise behind this “three questions” approach was to keep the interviews short and to ask all interviewees the same three questions. This would allow each person’s answers to stand alone as a separate video, but also allow us to combine a wide variety of responses together in a “supercut” video, an example of which you can view below.

All interviewees were told that we were going to ask them three quick questions, one of which would be: “What is your name?” In doing so, we emphasized the brevity of the interview.

The three questions:

What is your name?
And when saying their name, we asked each of them to say, “My name is ” to give us the option to not include the voice of the interviewer. For the sake of uniformity and getting to the point of the interview quickly, we encouraged people to use only their first name.
When did you first start donating blood? (and if you have a story about what caused you to start donating, tell the story).
The key to gathering personal stories is to find the truly unique and inspirational ones. By asking this question, we encouraged donors to tell a fuller story, and one they likely wished to tell.
Why do you donate blood?
Here, we got answers ranging from “It’s the right thing to do,” to other, much longer and insightful explanations of why they do what they do. All were good, of course.

The Result

A 26-second interview of a blood donor, in vertical format, with captions. © Kevin Suttlehan/American Red Cross

The Supercut

A supercut is a fast-paced compilation of clips. When used on social media, this style of video has two key benefits:

It quickly grabs the viewer’s attention. According to experts, you have a maximum of about 7 seconds to grab someone’s attention on social media.
It retains the viewer’s attention longer. People will hear more of your message, and social media platforms use this data to “decide” whether or not to keep showing your video to other viewers—your current followers and, more significantly, to non-followers who may have an interest in your organization’s mission.

A 59-second supercut video combining 19 clips from interviews of 11 blood donors. © Kevin Suttlehan/American Red Cross

To donate blood or learn more about the American Red Cross, see: American Red Cross.

A Template for Other Organizations

The following chart offers some examples of how this approach to short video interviews can be used by your nonprofit organization to interview your key constituencies, such as your volunteers, supporters, the people you serve, and even your board members.

“My name is ___.”
“I first started volunteering here after a family member was served by this organization.”
“I continue to give my time because they rely on volunteers and I find the work personally rewarding.”
“My name is ___.”
“We first started supporting this organization when my company announced it was offering to match our donation.”
“We continue to support the organization because we have seen first hand its impact on the community.”
“My name is ___.”
“When my family first moved here we had a really hard time affording decent food—until we learned of this organization.”
“While we are better off now, we are back here today because we still need to supplement our food supply from time to time.”
“My name is ___.”
“I was first asked to join the Board because of my previous fundraising experience.”
“I continue to be impressed by how the organization delivers on its mission year-round, I will stay as long as they will have me.”

Note that this style of collecting and creating content is especially efficient at events such as meetings or fundraisers, where people gather and can afford to step aside to answer a few questions.

For instance, each of our three-question video interviews of blood donors discussed above took less than one minute and were completed in a single take.

Summary: Maximizing a Video’s Reach on Social Media

Grab attention in the first 3 seconds.
Capture attention immediately with an intriguing visual, bold text, or a strong opening line.
Shoot in vertical format (9:16 Ratio).
In doing so, you optimize the video for mobile viewing since most users consume content on their phones.
Vertical video takes up the full screen and delivers an immersive experience.
Keep it short and concise (under 60 seconds).
Most social media platforms favor short videos.
Create high-quality visuals with good sound.
Clear, high-resolution videos stand out on crowded feeds.
Whether you are using a professional camera or a cellphone, quality sound will usually require the use an external microphone.
In noisy environments, such as those in featured in the above videos, it is also helpful to use video editing software with voice isolation and optimization features.
Use appropriate music.
Adding music to any video will expand its reach, and the right music can multiply its impact.
Use only licensed music to avoid being flagged by social media platforms for copyright issues. (One source for licensed music is Bensound).
Add captions and text overlays.
While quality sound is essential, many viewers will end up watching your videos without sound. Adding captions and text overlays increases engagement and accessibility. Use bold, easy-to-read fonts to emphasize key points.
End with a strong call to action. Encourage engagement with prompts like “Learn More” and “Give Today.”

Equipment used to film the videos appearing in this article:

Nikon Z6iii, recording in 4K @ 24 fps, N-RAW (12 bit), ISO 800
Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens
ProGrade Digital 325GB CFexpress Type B Memory Card (Cobalt)
SmallRig Camera Cage with Top and Side Handles
Rode Shotgun Microphone

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography and videography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Learn more

Cover Photo: Silhouette image of a video

camera rig with an external microphone.

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Photographic Reflections on the Himba

Marko Kokic — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 13:30:00 +0000

In the early 2000s, I traveled to Southern Africa as a photographer for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to document how drought exacerbated the HIV/AIDS crisis. My assignment also focused on the crucial work of National Red Cross Societies to support local communities with HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

During a trip to northern Namibia, I encountered the Himba people, a fascinating tribe that immediately captured my attention. My background in cultural anthropology compelled me to learn more, and thankfully, Himba volunteers from the Namibian Red Cross Society served as my guides to their community and culture.

Himba father and daughter. © Marko Kokic/IFRC

The Himba are a seminomadic pastoral society deeply connected to their cattle. Their economy, food, and clothing largely revolve around these animals, and daily life centers on tending to the herds. Cattle ownership, a measure of wealth held exclusively by men, plays a significant role in their social structure.

The Himba practice polygamy, with men often having multiple wives. Older men with larger herds tended to have younger wives, sometimes monopolizing them.

Namibia’s semi-arid landscape necessitates dispersing herds to find adequate grazing and water. This responsibility falls to the wives, who often manage separate herds, presumably far from their husbands' direct supervision, and it is not uncommon for these women to have younger lovers.

Himba woman crafting traditional jewelry. © Marko Kokic/IFRC

In one location, my Himba Red Cross guide and I happened upon a group of Himba women seated elegantly beneath a tree. Upon speaking with them, we discovered they were three generations of the same family: a grandmother, her daughters, and a granddaughter.

Three generations of Himba women. © Marko Kokic/IFRC

During our conversation with the matriarch, she readily admitted to having three lovers. My Himba guide explained that their culture doesn't stigmatize children born outside of marriage. Any child born to a married woman is considered hers and her husband's, regardless of biological parentage. Children born to unmarried women become the responsibility of the woman's parents, considered her brothers or sisters. I was struck by the sophistication of this system, designed to avoid the strife that sometimes plagues my own, monogamous society. I shared with the matriarch that infidelity in my culture often leads to jealousy, even violence and murder. She was astonished to hear that we sometimes kill each other over sex.

This conversation offered me a powerful glimpse into their culture. The stark landscape and setting sun illuminating this family of women sitting under a tree made for a perfect environmental portrait. They agreed to be photographed. The available light illuminated the matriarch's face while casting intriguing shadows on the rest of her family. I wanted a candid shot, so I avoided posing them directly. As I often do, I spent time talking with my subjects. Eventually, in a quiet moment, the novelty of my presence wore off, and they resumed their natural interactions. I captured this photo when their attention was briefly diverted behind me.

The photograph, which I named “Generations,” was the winner of the Life category of the World Health Organization’s “River of Life” international photo competition in 2004.

Taken on Kodak Portra 400 color negative and Fuji Velvia 100 color reversal film (I later transitioned to digital photography), these images remind me of the discipline instilled by shooting on film. Limited by the number of exposures, each shot was carefully considered, especially since development wouldn't happen for several weeks. Although I shot it in color for the IFRC, I converted my scans into black and white for my own use, finding the result more compelling.

Later in my travels through Namibia I learned that intermarriage with the neighboring Zemba tribe, who sometimes venture into mainstream Namibian society before returning to their traditional ways, was a possible factor in HIV/AIDS transmission among the Himba. The Himba’s practice of polygamy, extramarital relationships, and the dispersal of herds during droughts could all contribute to their vulnerability.

Namibian Red Cross volunteers, including Himba members, worked tirelessly to educate their community about HIV/AIDS. Their efforts focused on prevention, safe sex practices (including condom distribution), and the importance of seeking antiretroviral treatment. They also worked to combat the stigma surrounding the disease.

Disclaimer: This account is based on my personal experiences and observations during a brief period with the Himba people. While I have anthropological training, I did not conduct a formal, in-depth study. My analysis is anecdotal and should not be considered an expert or comprehensive assessment of Himba culture or the complexities of HIV/AIDS transmission within their community.

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Learn more

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A Look at Ice Flows on the Hudson

Kevin Suttlehan — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 14:15:02 +0000

The recent plunge in temperatures across New York has prompted many photographers to share images on social media of ice flows accumulating in the Hudson River along Manhattan's west side.

So what does the Hudson River look like up north, where colder temperatures and less saltwater would presumably create even more ice?

I recently traveled 100 miles north to photograph a 65-mile stretch of the river from Hudson, New York to the Bear Mountain Bridge.

Here are the images.

Cover Photo

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Learn more

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A Look at New York’s Reservoirs

Kevin Suttlehan — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 14:35:18 +0000

Most of the Tri-State area, including New York City, is now in a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

On November 15, 2024, the NYC Water Supply System was at 61% of its capacity. The normal level for November 15 is 79%.

Aerial view of Cross River Reservoir, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

If you have ever driven past a reservoir during a drought, you know how severe the images can be.

As photographers, much of our previous work has been the result of natural disasters resulting from extreme weather—tornados, hurricanes and floods.

Recently, we travelled to upstate New York to photograph the effects of the current drought on New York City’s two reservoir systems:

the Delaware System, a network of six reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains and
the Croton System of reservoirs in Putnam and Westchester Counties.

Here are the images.

Low water levels and a wildfire in the hills overlooking Rondout Reservoir, November 8, 2024. © Marko Kokic

In the Catskill Mountains, 100 miles from New York City, we were a short distance from Rondout Reservoir when we first saw smoke ahead of us in the mountains. As the winds picked up, roads were closed down and firefighters from nearby towns began to arrive to fight a wildfire that was making its way up a hill overlooking the reservoir.

A rowboat sits tethered well above the waterline at Neversink Reservoir, November 8, 2024. © Marko Kokic

Nearby, at Neversink Reservoir, we saw the most extreme views, resulting from a combination of:

the current drought, and
the intentional lowering of the reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains in advance of the final phase of a decade-long, $2 billion tunnel repair project to fix underground leaks. You can learn more about that project here.

Aerial view of Neversink Reservoir, November 8, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

The Croton System

Fishing boats tethered along the shoreline of West Branch Reservoir, which appear to be at full level, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

In Putnam County, the West Branch Reservoir was the only reservoir we visited that appeared to be full.

This is how the remainder of the visited Croton System reservoirs looked:

Aerial view of the dam and shoreline of Titicus Reservoir in the Town of North Salem, Westchester County, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

The shoreline of Muscoot Reservoir, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

Aerial view of Cross River Reservoir, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

“I’ve lived here 30 years and have never seen it this low”—a passerby commenting on the water level of Cross River Reservoir, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

Part of the Croton River waterway at New Purdys, New York that eventually feeds into the New Croton Reservoir, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

New Croton Dam, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

Aerial view of the shoreline of New Croton Reservoir at New Croton Dam, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

The spillway of the New Croton Dam, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

New York City uses about 1 billion gallons of water a day. To see current water usage and reservoir levels, go to: Reservoir Levels, NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

Close-up image of the spillway of the New Croton Dam, November 14, 2024. © Kevin Suttlehan

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Learn more

Cover Photo: Neversink Reservoir, November 8, 2024. © Marko Kokic

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The Story of Tompkins Cove Quarry in Photos

Kevin Suttlehan — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:42:54 +0000

Some stories can only be told from the air. This giant hole, for instance, sits along the Hudson River about 40 miles north of New York City, but few people know of its existence.

That is because the surrounding terrain obstructs a clear view of the pit from every angle, except from above.

The hole, the Tompkins Cove Quarry, is a 199-acre former rock quarry in New York’s Rockland County.

It sits 300 feet from the Hudson River and its bottom is 280 feet lower than the surface of the river.

It was first mined for limestone rock in the 1800s to build New York City’s infrastructure. Limestone is a key ingredient in cement.

The quarry is adjacent to Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, which marks the location of one of the last battles fought in the northeast colonies during the Revolutionary War in 1779.

The Stony Point Lighthouse, built in 1826 and de-commissioned in 1925, is the oldest lighthouse on the Hudson River.

This section of the Hudson River is known for its natural beauty and for its abundance of American Bald Eagles, especially in winter.

When mining operations at the quarry ended in 2012, the plan was to keep it fenced off and let it fill with water in perpetuity (forever).

Today, the water in the quarry appears deep blue due to the surrounding limestone, which not only keeps the water clear but also deters the growth of organisms such as algae.

A Proposal to Reclaim the Land

In 2019, Hudson River Resources, an affiliate of a Staten Island-based company that specializes in land reclamation, proposed to turn the site into a public green space by filling the quarry with recyclable materials, including construction and demolition (C&D) materials. The materials would be brought in by river barge, similar to the way that limestone had been removed from the site over many years.

According to that plan, the process of filling the quarry would take 16 years, with an additional 2 years to turn the space into a riverfront park. You can read more about that plan here.

In response to Hudson River Resources’ plan to reclaim the land, the environmental group Riverkeeper published their objections to the plan here: A Landfill Masquerading as a Park.

Ultimately, the state Department of Environmental Conservation would have to approve any plan to reclaim the land and there has been no news about the site in recent years.

For now, the old quarry is out-of-sight, out-of-mind, in perpetuity—at least until someone younger, smarter, or more creative comes up with a better idea.

That might be the case with a Columbia University student in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In the fall of 2022, pursuant to course work, the student examined the geological history of the site and proposed “new ways of thinking about waste disposal.” You can read about that here: De-Mining Tomkins Cove.

About Us

As photographers, we don’t get to solve the world’s problems, but we are happy to tell the stories of those who are trying to do so.

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

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What Nonprofits Need to Know About Photo Releases

Kevin Suttlehan — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 13:20:28 +0000

When considering whether to use a photograph to promote your organization, you need to evaluate two things:

Copyright (Do we have the right to use the photograph?)
Publicity Rights (Do we need a photo release for individuals or property shown in the photograph?)

In our last article, which you can find here, we discussed copyright basics, including when you have the right to use a photograph not created by you or someone working for your organization.

The following discussion of publicity rights offers some guidance to nonprofits in the United States about when they should obtain a photo release for individuals or property depicted in a photograph that the organization intends to use for promotional or “commercial” purposes.

We’ll also discuss a second type of use—“editorial use”—that does not require a photo release.

Commercial Use

Individuals have rights in their identity—known as “publicity rights”—and any unauthorized use of a person’s identity for commercial purposes violates these rights.

Two obvious illustrations of commercial uses of photographs:

Images on a billboard selling a product or service
Images on a product’s packaging

For nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), commercial uses include other circumstances which are both less obvious, and more common, than the above examples. They include photographs used for:

Promoting the organization
Marketing
Soliciting donations
Thanking donors or corporate sponsors
Soliciting volunteers

Editorial Use

Of course, not all photographs are used for commercial purposes. Some are used for editorial purposes, such as to illustrate a newsworthy or human-interest story.

Photographs used for these “editorial” purposes do not require photo releases. Editorial uses of photographs include those that illustrate:

Educational texts
Critiques
Information of public interest
Stories*

*Note that while “stories” are commonly listed as an example of editorial writings where the accompanying photographs would not require photo releases, stories about a nonprofits’ clientele, volunteers and supporters are usually commercial in nature—because these stories are frequently used to solicit funds, recruit volunteers or otherwise promote the organization. If so, photographs accompanying such stories would require photo releases.

Here are two examples of editorial uses of photographs by nonprofit organizations:

A disaster-response organization responds to a local flooding disaster and posts on social media photos of their volunteers assisting victims of the disaster, along with a narrative explaining what happened and how many people received assistance. The individuals shown in the photos did not sign photo releases.

Was this a commercial or editorial use of the photos? Most likely, this was an editorial use because the nonprofit is providing information of public interest about a recent incident without soliciting donations or otherwise seeking to promote the organization.
An organization dedicated to finding a cure for a specific type of cancer posts on social media photos of people at a symposium in connection with an article describing a recent discovery in the field of cancer research.

Was this a commercial or editorial use of the photos? Again, most likely, this was an editorial use because the nonprofit is providing information of an educational nature without soliciting donations or otherwise seeking to promote the organization.

In each of the above examples, what would change the apparent editorial use of the images to a commercial use?

A solicitation for donations
A promotional narrative touting the good works of the organization

In all cases, it depends on context and how the photograph is used.

Sample photo release language.

Photo Releases: A Step-by-Step Guide

What is a photo release?

A photo release is a document signed by a person who is consenting to the use of their image or likeness for a commercial purpose.

What does a photo release cover?

A photo release documents a person’s consent to use some or all of the following:

Their likeness
Their statements
Photos of their property (such as their home)
Photos of their minor children (if they are present)

Some releases cover all of these, such as the sample release shown above.

When do you need one?

It depends on how you are going to use the image.

Is your intended use commercial or editorial?

If editorial, you do not need a release.
If commercial, it depends on who and what is in your image.

Are there “identifiable people” in the image?

If yes, you should get a photo release before using the photo for a commercial purpose.
When considering whether you have an “identifiable” person in the image (as opposed to someone who is in the backround of the image, and not directly facing the camera or out-of-focus), it is sometimes helpful to consider whether the person would recognize themselves if they saw the image.

Is there “identifiable property” in the image, such as someone’s home or business?

If yes, you should get a photo release from the property owner before using the photo for commercial purposes.

Are there trademarks in the image, such as a sports logo on someone’s shirt or a brand logo on an automobile?

Trademarks are intellectual property, and some companies will not consent to any use of their trademark—even in a nonprofit organization’s promotional materials. You can ask, but plan on finding another photo if your intended use is commercial.

Getting the Photo Release

In our experience, most people gladly agree to sign a photo release allowing the organization to use their likeness for all purposes.

This includes a nonprofit’s staff, and its volunteers and supporters. Some of the most important photographs documenting a nonprofit’s mission, however, include the individuals served by the nonprofit.

Here, remember that there can be many legitimate reasons why certain people do not wish to be photographed, including:

Survivors of domestic abuse and other violent crime
Undocumented immigrants
Survivors of recent disasters, still dealing with the stress of their experience

In these and similar situations, we rely on a nonprofit’s staff or volunteers—who would best know their clients—to identify individuals who might be willing to be photographed.

For those individuals willing to be photographed, they simply read and sign a photo release, either before or after they are photographed.

Some additional points:

Immediately after a person signs a photo release, it is very helpful to to take a quick cellphone photo of the individual holding the photo release so that you can match their name with the photos in which they appear (making sure the text of the release is legible in the photo).
In the United States, releases should be printed and available in both English and Spanish, and possibly additional languages, depending on the communities you serve.
In the case of an adult who cannot read but who has agreed to be photographed, it is possible to videotape someone reading the contents of the photo release followed by the consenting individual’s verbal response. Store the resulting video as you would store copies of all written photo releases (which are best stored electronically, after photographing or scanning).
Note that outside of the United States the rules vary, but in some countries, the privacy protections for individuals exceed that of the U.S.

Best Practices for Nonprofits

Have procedures in place for evaluating:
- Copyright (do we have the right to use the photograph?)
- Publicity Rights (do we need a photo release for individuals or property depicted in the photograph?)
Ask staffers and volunteers to sign photo releases when being onboarded, and periodically thereafter, especially prior to major events that will be photographed.
Consider investing in branded clothing, nametags or pins for staffers and volunteers. Ask them to wear these branded items at events that will be photographed or, at a minimum, to avoid wearing clothing that contain prominent logos of other brands.
At major events such as fundraisers, inform all participants at the time of ticket purchase or registration and by posted signs near entrances, that the event will be photographed and videotaped.
Honor requests by anyone at any time not to be photographed.
If anyone complains about your use on social media of a photograph that includes their likeness, take it down (or archive it) immediately, even if you think you had a right to use the photo as you did. Follow up and speak with the individual to minimize reputational harm to your organization. Some may even change their mind.
When in doubt, seek independent legal advice to avoid any potential liabilities.

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Cover photo: © Kevin Suttlehan/American Red Cross

What Nonprofits Need to Know About Copyright

Kevin Suttlehan — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:56:58 +0000

Photographs can be effective storytelling tools for nonprofit organizations.

They illustrate your nonprofit’s mission, demonstrate how you are impacting people’s lives and, when used correctly, can help you raise the funds necessary to continue your mission.

When considering whether to use a photograph for these purposes, however, you need to evaluate two things:

Copyright – Do I have the right to use the photograph?
Publicity Rights – Do I need a photo release for individuals or property depicted in the photograph?
- We’ll cover publicity rights and photo releases in an upcoming article.
- Subscribe below to receive future articles directly by email.

Copyright is a form of protection that was first established in 1790 by the United States Constitution and promotes intellectual creativity by allowing the author of a work to reap the fruits of that work.

Since then, this principal has been applied to photography as follows:

In most circumstances, the creator of the original work—the photographer—is the author and the original copyright owner.
A photographer can sell or give the copyright to another person, but most often merely grants a license (gives permission) to others to use the photograph for a particular purpose.
For photographs created since 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the photographer plus 70 years after the photographer’s death.

Common Myths

The symbol © informs viewers that someone is claiming copyright of the image but it is not required to enforce the copyright.
For more information, see see this helpful overview by the U.S. Copyright Office: https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/
If you are looking at a photograph you need to assume that it is protected by copyright.
Best practices:
1. Find out who created the photograph.
2. Contact the photographer and explain how you would like to use it.
3. Request permission to use the photo as you have described.
When communicating your request, do so in writing via email or direct messaging, and save the conversation, especially the response.
"What about that share button on Facebook (and other social media sites)?"
Using the share button is permitted by Facebook’s terms of service, but for any other type of sharing of someone’s else’s content, read Facebook’s warnings about copyright here: https://www.facebook.com/help/1020633957973118
Seems like a nice thing to do, but it does not allow you to use the photograph. Contact the photographer following the steps outlined under Myth # 2, above.
You most likely received a non-exclusive license to use the photograph in a certain way—on your website or social media accounts, or in your annual report— but you have not purchased the copyright. If you need to own the copyright for some reason, be prepared to sign a written agreement and pay more for the photograph.
The cost of purchasing the copyright will be based on the value of the “uses” that all copyright owners retain under the law: the right to make, sell or otherwise distribute copies, and the rights to adapt the work and publicly display the work.

To learn more about copyright, see this helpful overview by the U.S. Copyright Office: https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/

Still Unsure About Copyright?

If you are still unsure about copyright and whether you have the right to use a photograph for any purpose, seek independent legal advice to avoid any potential liabilities.

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

Focus on Good Now Registered to Do Business with U.S. Government

Kevin Suttlehan — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 16:41:28 +0000

Focus on Good LLC is now registered with the U.S. Small Business Administration for the purpose of providing photography services to the U.S. Government.

Why?

The U.S. government is the largest customer in the world. It buys all types of products and services— including photography services— and is required by law to consider buying from small businesses.

The government is required to buy from small businesses for several reasons, including:

To ensure that large businesses don’t “muscle out” small businesses
To gain access to the new ideas that small businesses provide
To support small businesses as engines of economic development and job creation

How it Works

Federal agencies must publicly list their contract opportunities. They do so on one website: SAM.gov.

Some of these contracts are set aside exclusively for small businesses.

In some cases, these so-called set-aside contracts might consist of certain types of tasks on larger contracts. In others, entire contracts may be reserved for small businesses.

Contracts Awarded for Photography Services in FY 2023

According to USAspending.gov, a total of $3,886,573 in federal contracts for photography services was awarded in fiscal year 2023.
71% of that amount ($2,774,146) went to small businesses.

About Us

We are a New York-based photography services company specializing in crafting visual narratives for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Our expertise:

Documentary-style photography
Drone photography and videography
Disaster response photography
Visual campaigns for fundraising and advocacy
Event photography
Headshots and environmental portraits

We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

We are registered as a U.S. Small Business Enterprise under NAICS codes 541922 and 541921.

Dance Photography: Applied Learnings

Kevin Suttlehan — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 18:52:26 +0000

A former New York Times dance photographer, Andrea Mohin, once explained dance photography as follows: it’s like sports photography in the dark, without the benefit of knowing where the players are headed. There is no end zone, no basket and no way to predict where the dancers will move next.

That was the extent my knowledge of dance photography when I agreed to spend several months photographing the studio rehearsals of a NYC dance company leading up to their public performance in February of 2019.

I jumped at this opportunity, however, in order to learn three things:

how to consistently capture publishable photos of fast action in low light,
the limits of my cameras and lenses in such an environment, and
how to use multiple off-camera flashes to freeze action (in those rare situations where flash is permissible).

Why this is Hard

Even modern cameras and lenses have their limits when shooting fast action in low light.

Cameras are limited by the increasing levels of grain in their photos at high ISO’s (the numerical camera setting from about 64 to 52,000+ that controls the amount of light a digital camera lets in).
Even the best low-light prime lenses with wide apertures (e.g., f/1.4) have a weakness: low depth of field when shooting at the widest aperture. That’s ideal for portraits or shooting one dancer in the air, but not a group of dancers where half of the group could be out of focus.

Many photographers also shy away from using off-camera flash. It requires investments in equipment, learning and practice, and it is not always clear when such investments are worthwhile.

Then there is the “timing” thing: how do you freeze a dancer at the peak of their jump— not on the way up or down— especially if you did not know they were about to jump?

Until this point, I thought “timing” was the easy part. What I had enjoyed most about photographing people was the ability that I had acquired over many years to capture the instant when key action occurs, whether that was physical activity or, more importantly, the candid interactions between people that can tell a story.

Photographing fast action in low light, however, presented both challenges and an opportunity to learn.

Image created without flash. Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company in Affront at The 92nd Street Y. Choreography by Daniel Gwirtzman.

I created the following image during one of the dance company’s many rehearsals, where I could experiment using off-camera flashes.

For this image I mounted 2 flash units on light stands in the corners of the studio, to the left and right of the camera position, and was able to freeze all dancers in the air while maintaining a low ISO (100), resulting in a very high image quality.

The Final Performance

Come the day of the performance, of course, flash photography was out of the question, and the lighting was ever-changing, requiring several changes in equipment and camera settings. The following image was my best of the day: all six dancers were perfectly synchronized and three were frozen without blur at the peak of their jumps.

Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company in The Oracle at The 92nd Street Y. Choreography by Daniel Gwirtzman. © Kevin Suttlehan 2019

Applied Learnings: When Efforts Pay Dividends

Candid and action photography is still very much a mechanical activity— your brain may know how to photograph a scene, but your hands need to be able to manipulate the settings on the camera in reaction to changing lighting, the movements of your subjects and the optimal depth of field.
“Timing” remains the single most important skill in candid and action photography.
For both 1 and 2 above, regular practice is required to keep skills sharp. This sometimes requires venturing into new territory when opportunities arise.

Here’s where these skills matter most in our line of work serving nonprofits and NGOs:

Documentary-style photography

Event photography

Climate Change in Focus: The Story Behind the Image

Marko Kokic — Wed, 29 May 2024 12:40:22 +0000

I believe that there is a symbiotic relationship between painting and photography, an exchange of ideas.

The techniques, concepts, and inspirations from one medium often influence and enrich the other and in my photographic work, I sometimes draw upon what I have observed in paintings.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, a category 5 hurricane that struck the Florida Keys in 2017, I stumbled upon a scene in the fading light: a deer, lifeless in the path of nature's fury.

Vision

Despite the chaos surrounding it, the deer seemed to have found peace amid the tangled vegetation. I envisioned this scene as a painting and set out to photograph it in a way that evoked the spirit of a once-popular genre— the haunting tranquility of "still-life paintings of dead game."

Technique

I used several in-camera and postproduction techniques to achieve the desired aesthetic:

I framed the shot deliberately, highlighting the contrast between the tranquil deer and the turbulent backdrop.
I used the deer as the point of focus and further drew the viewer’s attention by surrounding it with some vignetting, darkening toward edge of the frame.
Using low depth of field, I blurred the vegetation in both the foreground and background and created the illusion of soft brushstrokes on canvas.
While editing, to reproduce the ambiance of dusk and evoke a distinct mood of melancholy and contemplation, I muted the scene’s colors with a colder cast and dimmed the overall brightness.

The Key Deer and Climate Change

With most of the Florida Keys barely above sea level, there was necessarily a climate change thread woven into this photo.

Research later revealed the vulnerability of this deer subspecies:

The endangered Key deer, the smallest subspecies of the North American white-tailed deer, are only found in the Florida Keys.
By the 1950s, poaching and the loss of habitat had brought the Key deer to the brink of extinction with only a few dozen remaining.
Since then, conservation efforts have helped their numbers grow to close to a thousand.
Like all endangered species, Key deer remain vulnerable to climate change, including the severe weather and rising sea levels it brings.

This photo was a finalist and received honorable mentions in three prestigious international photo competitions in 2018: the Head On Photo Festival, ND Photo Awards Contest, and Fine Art Photo Awards.

Harnessing the Power of Photography for a Humanitarian Advocacy Campaign

Marko Kokic — Thu, 16 May 2024 15:27:06 +0000

Executing a successful photography campaign demands not just technical proficiency behind the lens, but also experience working with others who have diverse backgrounds and skills. In fact, capturing great images is often just the culmination of a herculean effort involving many people over an extended period of time.

One example from my own experience took place in 2019, when UNICEF asked me to develop the content for a campaign advocating for the protection of children living in war.

Planning

For this campaign, I envisioned a series of twelve distinctive, lit environmental portraits featuring children from three different countries grappling with armed conflict: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

Consistency was paramount: each scene would be carefully lit, framed, and the subjects would be posed similarly to create a unified aesthetic across the entire series.
Opting for full-body shots, I would ensure that each subject maintained their gaze directed at the camera, accentuated by a catchlight.
Locations and backgrounds would serve as part of the narrative.

Equipment

In choosing camera and lighting equipment, I prioritized portability, power, quick setup, and robustness against potential damage.

My kit comprised lightweight, battery-operated lighting equipment stowed in a suitcase for checked luggage, complemented by a compact carry-on camera bag for additional gear.
I also created a digital post-production workflow, similar to a recipe, using retouching software. This ensured consistent color grading and a uniform “look and feel” throughout the series of images, despite having created them at different times and places across three continents.

Afghanistan

Ehsanullah, aged 11, in a classroom at his secondary school in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. Despite suffering heavy damage from fighting between insurgents and US forces in 2007, the school continued to function. ©Marko Kokic/UNICEF 2019

In Afghanistan, security loomed as a chief concern. Spring brought a surge in hostilities, requiring careful planning with UNICEF colleagues stationed in-country. Prior to my arrival, weeks of groundwork went into selecting child subjects, finding safer locations, and securing permissions from government authorities, community leaders, parents, and schools. Once on the ground, armed escorts in separate vehicles accompanied me as I traveled between locations in an armored SUV.

To minimize the risk of attack or kidnapping attempts, we were restricted to one hour and a half per location. There was no time to lose. During each shoot, I instructed that my translator, doubling as a lighting assistant, keep track of time and provide updates every twenty minutes for the initial hour, and then every ten minutes for the remaining half hour. As we approached the final ten minutes, I wanted to start packing up and be on our way by the deadline.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, logistical challenges demanded we fly using UN helicopters to remote villages in Borno State, bypassing perilous roads vulnerable to ambushes. Despite the protection of the Nigerian army in each village, we didn’t linger, aware of the lurking threat of surprise attacks.

Mohammed, aged 12, sits in a classroom at Banki Primary School in Borno State, Nigeria. He and his family fled their village in 2017 when it was attacked by an armed group, resulting in the destruction of his school and the killing of his schoolteacher. ©Marko Kokic/UNICEF 2019

The Philippines

Travelling to the strife-torn island of Mindanao in the Philippines posed its own set of hurdles. Marawi, a city ravaged by months of fighting and left devoid of people, stood as a poignant backdrop for our campaign. With access limited to a mere hour, pre-scouting locations was not possible, compelling me to improvise on-site by bringing the child subjects along and having my driver double as a lighting assistant.

Farlea, aged 17, amidst the ruins of Marawi city on Mindanao Island, southern Philippines. The city was devastated during months of intense urban warfare in 2017, when armed groups seized control before being ousted by the Philippine Armed Forces. Farlea fled the city during the fighting to seek refuge with relatives in a safer part of the island. ©Marko Kokic/UNICEF 2019

Results

Despite formidable challenges, these missions were successful.

The signature portraits and accompanying stories:

were used to spearhead UNICEF's campaign advocating for the protection of children living in war,
were featured on UNICEF's many digital platforms,
earned recognition from the organization’s leadership,
resulted in widespread publication across mainstream media outlets, and
the content was shared and used by other advocacy organizations championing a similar cause.

One portrait from this series, not shown above, also received recognition in an international photography competition.

The Story Behind the Image: The Fight Against Measles in Africa

Marko Kokic — Wed, 01 May 2024 10:01:00 +0000

In 2003, measles was killing close to a million children around the globe each year. Half of these deaths were in Sub-Saharan Africa. Children were dying even though an effective vaccine had existed for 40 years and at the time cost less than $1.00 (US) to administer.

That year, in Zambia 1,800 Zambian Red Cross volunteers mobilized to vaccinate five million children against this deadly disease - all within a one-week period.

I was assigned to cover the vaccination campaign by the Canadian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. My job was to document with images and stories the extraordinary work of Red Cross volunteers during this epic public health campaign.

Red Cross volunteers had the critical role of getting as many children as possible to vaccination sites that were spread throughout the countryside. To rob the disease of enough hosts and halt its spread, at least 80 per cent of children between the ages of six months and 15 years needed to get vaccinated.

Red Cross volunteers had to convince parents and community leaders that the vaccine was safe and effective. They accomplished this through critical grassroots activities, including community theatre, music, singing, dance and speaking to individual households. As is often the case, Red Cross volunteers were trusted members of the same community they served. "People see us bringing our children for vaccination and in most cases that's all the proof they need,” explained one volunteer.

My mission was to somehow tell this complex story visually - ideally in one photo. After several days traveling hundreds of miles from one vaccination site to the next, it had yet to reveal itself.

Then, along a lonely stretch of highway in north-eastern Zambia, I came upon Zambian Red Cross volunteer Anton Chilufya pushing his bicycle, followed by nine children from nearby villages. The children were being escorted to Pintu Immigration Post, five miles away, where they would get the measles vaccine. Parents had allowed Anton and other Red Cross volunteers like him to take their children in their place.

This scene was the photo I was looking for. It spoke volumes about community trust and the resolve of Anton and the Zambian Red Cross to leave no child behind. I composed the photo to show the long road behind them and how far they had come. The afternoon sun was in front of them, revealing their faces while casting shadows behind them. Anton stoically looking forward showed his determination. All these elements combined to tell the story of this extraordinary vaccination campaign.

Postscript: While the scourge of measles has rebounded in Africa in recent years, a few short years after taking this photograph I read with some satisfaction a report that measles deaths had been halved across the continent.

Drones and Nonprofits: Providing a New Perspective

Kevin Suttlehan — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 12:34:31 +0000

Aerial photos can offer transformative views of places we thought we knew well. They can inspire us and even change the way we think about these places, or give us close-up views of places we otherwise had no hope of reaching.

Today, drone photography is also a safe and affordable way for nonprofits and NGOs to provide their audiences with a new perspective on their mission. This is especially true for large organizations with expansive missions, but it can also be helpful for smaller organizations to emphasize what they are accomplishing with fewer resources.

Here are six things nonprofits and NGOs need to know about drone photography:

1. You need to use an FAA-certified drone pilot. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has many rules governing the use of drones. This is the most important rule and it applies to your nonprofit organization even if your pilot is not charging you for the service. To verify that your drone pilot is FAA-certified, insert the pilot’s name here: FAA Inquiry. He or she must have a “Remote Pilot” certificate with a “Small Unmanned Aircraft System” rating.

2. Your pilot’s drone must be “Remote ID compliant.” Remote ID is the ability of a drone in flight to provide identification and location information that can be received by other parties through a broadcast signal. That allows authorities or anyone with one of several new cellphone apps to identify who is flying the drone and where they and the drone are located.

3. The FAA controls the airspace where drones and other aircraft can fly, and it can impose temporary restrictions on short notice. The airspace around airport and military bases are the obvious examples here, but as I write these words, the FAA posted a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for the otherwise unrestricted airspace above my location in Westchester County. The reason: “Temporary flight restriction for VIP movement” (which coincides with an announced presidential visit to the region).

4. In some locations, drone takeoffs and landings are restricted by state and local government agencies. While most locations do not have restrictions, some towns and cities restrict take-offs and landings to private property where the property owner has consented to the flight. Other locales have instituted a permit-issuing process.

In July of 2023, for instance, New York City announced that it was initiating a process by which organizations could apply for a permit to launch or land a drone in New York City. Understandably, the requirements here are extensive— but are not insurmountable.

Unfortunately, there is no official public database of local regulations governing drone take-offs and landings. We keep our own list, however, and check local laws prior to accepting drone assignments.

5. Weather can affect a planned flight. Drone flights require a minimum visibility of 3 nautical miles and must maintain certain minimum distances from clouds (staying 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally). Conditions can also change rapidly—either forcing you to reschedule or allowing you just enough time to get a planned photo shoot done.

6. There are special rules that govern flying at night, flights over people and flights over automobiles. If your plans involve these scenarios, discuss them with your drone pilot. FAA-certified pilots must pass an extensive knowledge test to receive their initial certification and must keep their aviation knowledge up to date by completing an online training course every two years.

Permalink

Five Nonprofit Photography Best Practices

Kevin Suttlehan — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 13:07:00 +0000

As a nonprofit or nongovernmental organization (NGO), your most valuable photos will show how you are delivering upon your promise to serve others.

Here are 5 essential characteristics of great photography for nonprofits and NGOs.

Image quality: Viewers are deluged with a flood of good images, thanks to advancements in camera technology, and there is no excuse for using low-quality photos. Use photos that are properly exposed, focussed and composed.
Identity: Your most valuable images will be those the viewer immediately associates with your organization. While you may be accustomed to adding graphics or narratives to accompany your images, remember that you are competing for the viewer’s attention and the more informative images will always win out. Whether it is a logo, a color combination or the presence of key personnel, viewers should be able to recognize that a photo comes from your organization before they read its caption.

3. Context: A nonprofit’s photos should illustrate what the organization is doing and for whom, especially when the photo is used for fundraising. If the organization serves children, for instance, it is usually not effective to show just a close-up photo of a child. Instead, consider illustrating what you do and how you do it by providing context.

4. Authenticity: The most compelling images are candid and unscripted, and they tell true stories. While posed images can play a role in visual storytelling, they must not be used in a way to suggest they are candid photos of real events or genuine interactions between people.

5. Capturing genuine human interactions: Behind all great organizations are great people. Ideally, an organization’s photography will capture the interaction between these people and those who are benefitting from the organization’s mission. To make these sort of photos, and to do so in an unscripted way, a photographer needs to let subjects know what he is doing and either gain their consent to be photographed or allow them to decline. Those that consent will ultimately get comfortable with the photographer’s presence and even forget he’s there, allowing him enough time to craft a visual narrative of the organization’s work.

Learn more about what we can do for your organization.

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Final Thought

What Nonprofits Need to Know About Video

The Project: Encourage More Blood Donations

The Premise: Three Questions

The Result

The Supercut

A Template for Other Organizations

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Spotlights on Donors and Other Supporters

Success Stories from the People You Serve

Board Members

Summary: Maximizing a Video’s Reach on Social Media

Photographic Reflections on the Himba

A Look at Ice Flows on the Hudson

A Look at New York’s Reservoirs

The Story of Tompkins Cove Quarry in Photos

What Nonprofits Need to Know About Photo Releases

What Nonprofits Need to Know About Copyright

Myth 1: If it does not have a ©, it is not protected by copyright.

Myth 2: I am free to use a photograph if it is publicly available on the Internet or social media.

Myth 3: As long as I give the photographer credit, I am free to use it.

Myth 4: If I paid the photographer to create a photograph, then I own the copyright.

Focus on Good Now Registered to Do Business with U.S. Government

Dance Photography: Applied Learnings

Climate Change in Focus: The Story Behind the Image

Harnessing the Power of Photography for a Humanitarian Advocacy Campaign

Afghanistan

Nigeria

The Philippines

The Story Behind the Image: The Fight Against Measles in Africa

Drones and Nonprofits: Providing a New Perspective

Five Nonprofit Photography Best Practices