NGO videographer to cover school feeding programme | On Assignment with WFP

I was hired to work as an NGO videographer for World Food Programme (WFP) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The video was to highlight the ongoing activities of World Food Programme’s (WFP) school feeding programme and the support that they receive from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The programme has helped to build infrastructure at schools. This includes gardens the children are responsible for tending to, where they grow healthy, green vegetables that are a vital source of nutrition in the meals that the school provides for them. They have also built handwashing stations, so that the children can wash their hands before eating. Having a facility such as this and training children in washing their hands with soap regularly is very important and has been shown to improve attendance rates.

Another key aspect is upgrading the cooking and the food storage facilities. This allows the school cooks to prepare food in a more hygienic environment. After getting up before the break of dawn the cooks trek across the rice paddies in the dark to make sure that the school children have a healthy, nutritious meal that helps them to stay healthy and improves their concentration when studying.

It’s always rewarding providing WFP with videography services and it’s great to see responsibility for the programme being handed over to the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Below are some frames from the video I shot. You can see other examples of my work as an NGO videographer for WFP here and here.

NGO Photographer in Siem Reap | On Assignment for Kiva

It was a great opportunity to work as a photographer and videographer with international NGO Kiva in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I spent two days photographing and filming a series of case studies about people who have taken out loans offered by Kiva to buy a cooking stove made by the social enterprise ACE. It was my first job through Storyhunter and will hopefully be the first of many.

The ACE stove is a great invention. It’s very efficient and within no time at all after turning the stove on and adding the biomass fuel there is a roaring fire that is hot enough to cook rice, stir fries and soups. The stove comes with a solar panel, so it perfect for people living off grid. It also has a USB port so it can be used to charge phones and other battery-powered electric devices and it’s smoke-less, so it’s a cheaper, quicker and healthier alternative to using charcoal which is commonly used in Cambodia.

It’s great to see how such a seemingly small thing can help improve people’s finances, save them time (if they collected fire wood) and contribute to improving their lives. The kind hospitality of the Khmer people is second-to-none. Everyone of the people we filmed and photographed invited us into their homes with open arms, were patient and had a good laugh. It really is one thing about Cambodia that makes the job easy, rewarding and fun.

Below are a selection of images from the couple of days I spent filming case studies and taking photos. You can see more examples of my work as an NGO photographer here and here.

Innovations Against Poverty – An NGO video for SNV

I was commissioned to work as a videographer on this video showcasing the support that SNV provide to entrepreneurs in Cambodia.

The video focusses on WeVenture, a startup that provides clean, piped, drinking water to people living in Prek Chik commune. It was great to see how providing this water to people has a positive impact on their lives in many ways. Hopefully, WeVenture will expand their operations, as planned, and provide safe water to people all over Cambodia.

Working as a camera operator and photographer for World Animal Protection

Nicolas Axelrod kindly recommended me to work as a camera operator and photographer for World Animal Protection.

After spending almost 4 years working in Mondulkiri on Last of the Elephant Men, it was great to go back to Sen Monorom to catch up with everyone and document the great work Elephant Valley Project are doing.

It was my first time working as a camera operator and a photographer at the same time. It was challenging, but overall good fun. I look forward to doing more of this in the future.

Working as a videographer for Digital Divide Data - Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitization Project

I worked as a videographer to document the work DDD has been doing preserving and digitizing the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum’s archives. 

It was fascinating to see the work that they were doing and the training that the local team had received to meticulously preserve and digitise the archive. It was also great to see the museum advertising the video on Facebook to get more people to visit the museum.  

I was working alongside Simon Toffanello a Phnom Penh based photographer, who kindly put me in contact with DDD. You can see a selection of his images here.