Should photographers be paid to work for NGO’s?

Well, YES! And no. I mean, of course! Except…sometimes not.

This is a complicated question.

Fazal Sheikh is an artist and activist based in Zurich, Switzerland. His work has been widely exhibited, in institutions ranging from the Tate Modern to the Princeton University Art Museum to small huts in rural India. He has collaborated with numerous foundations and non-governmental-organizations, and he has won, among many other awards, a MacArthur Prize.

I asked him to do an interview with the PhotoPhilanthropy blog because he approaches collaboration, strategic partnerships and accessibility in a way that I find very inspiring.

“In a war, the normal codes of civilized behavior are suspended. It would be unthinkable in so called normal life, to go into someone’s home, where the family is grieving over the death of a loved one, and spend long moments photographing them. It simply wouldn’t be done.”

Kathleen Hennessy is the Director of Photography at the San Francisco Chronicle and has just joined PhotoPhilanthropy as the Activist Award Director for 2010.

I asked her everything that came rushing into my head. What is your editing process like? And how do you think photography creates social change? And what advice do you have for people submitting photo essays to PhotoPhilanthropy? Here’s what she said.

Street Photography is often characterized as a snapshot in time of a chaotic street scene. However, it doesn’t always need to be on a street, and the principles of capturing a candid situation can be applied to any number of locations. Likewise, when creating a photo essay, Street Photography techniques can be used to capture a photo that conveys a summary of the situation at hand.

Are you a teacher hoping to get your students excited about photography and involved in a good cause? Collective Lens is reaching out to classrooms in an effort to get youth excited about photojournalism and social change.

Nonprofit organizations might be eligible for a free Flickr pro account through the Flickr for Good project.

Zoriah is a freelance photojournalist who recently lost his permissions to be an embedded reporter due to his reluctance to remove controversial photos from his blog.

“When two homeless people pass each other on the street, they may share a look, and in that moment, without speaking, they have knowledge of each others’ lives.”