finding work overseas

[<shooter>]

Howdy all!

Is it just about who you know to get work overseas? I've been considering the peacecorp... But, more importantly I'd love to go somewhere and shoot. I know an old photog buddy who worked for the UN, but I have no idea how to get in contact with him anymore.

Your ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I haven't shot anything for almost a year! I've been an engineer working for the company that does the 1st down yellow line.

I want to go overseas in the next few years though. Again, THANKS!

Shaun

[Anton Saur]

Best bet is to search the web. Also many non-profits (peace corp, red cross, etc) have those needs too. Just send a friendly e-mail to their HR and ask for more info to be sent.

[CWeldon]

Shaun,

Suggest you post this on the Freelance thread too. Lots of guys with international experience over there.

[Lensmith]

For what it's worth...

Working long term overseas, outside of the United States, involves a lot of variables.

The Peace Corp, UN World Food Program, CARE, Save The Children and other such organizations don't have staff photogs. I've worked with all the above and others. Whatever country they want video from is shot by local photographers already in place. I did one yesterday for a Canadian non-government organization. I will also add they pay well below what a photographer in the United States considers a living wage.

News agencies like Reuters, APTN or Spanish language networks also prefer to hire local people already in place instead of flying people in to work. Usually they only fly the on-camera talent and maybe a producer. Crews are local, and again, less expensive to pay.

Long term work in any country in the world involves work permits. No permit, no work. The way around that is to marry someone who already lives there.

The American nets hire freelancers to do the majority of their foreign work. A very few of their bureaus, like Russia, are staffed with Americans but you can count them on one hand. Everyone else behind the camera, from producers and photogs to editors, is local.

You need to know a foreign language. Whether it's to do your job or just live. No language, no work.

The above answers are offered towards the idea you want to be based long term, more than a week or two, in a foreign country.

There is piece meal work. Work done by staff photographers who are sent with a reporter out of the country for a week or two then they come back to the states and return to the usual grind of local daily news. In those cases you might have better luck working for a station with a more diverse audience such as New York, LA, Houston or Miami. I got to do some overseas work while in Miami and a good friend of mine, Rudy Marshall, was sent by my old station to cover the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti. Those opportunities are very rare and even he knows how to speak more than just English.

If you want to work overseas you are going to have to place yourself in a country where there is work. It's up to you to decide where that would be. The days of working for a US broadcast company and then being moved to a foreign land as a staff tv news photographer are long over.

Reuters, as Tippster can confirm, does have staff photogs they fly from country to country on occaision. However those photogs are not US citizens and, again, do not make a US wage w/benefits. Haiti comes to mind. They flew in one of their staff guys who is a Mexican based out of Mexico. They sent him because he's a great news shooter...and he is paid less than an American wage.

It's another example of the global economy we live in. People willing to do the job as well as agreeing to be paid less. They have a lower overhead and no beancounter in their right mind is going to send a higher priced American news photog outside of the US when they can get the same level of quality at a lower price.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade. Simply offering some insight to help you decide which career direction you may want to attempt and some of the requirements needed to succeed...and survive ;o)

Good luck!

[tdelarm]

Back in 97' I had a client, WORLD VISION, who offered me a staff photog job two year contract over in Kena Africa for $40K year doing what WORLD VISION does best...covering starving children.

It was for a great cause but needless to say I had to pass.

They later hired on a local African guy who shot for them occasional using a SONY 1000.