Photographer

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

The incumbent is responsible to deliver the following:

• About 600 photos (30 photos per day).
• Material distributed to international media via photo agency and credibly pitched to high-impact international media.

Work Location

Yemen (Sanaa – and other governorates)

Expected duration

4 Weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

Background:

Under the supervision of the UN Communications Group (UNCG) Yemen leads and with overall direction from the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator’s Senior Communications Advisor and coordinated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the incumbent will ensure the highest quality photographs and accompanying narrative of the UN’s critical work in Yemen and maximum international exposure of the expected outputs.

Provide the highest quality professional photographs and accompanying narrative of the United Nations’ work in Yemen, including the humanitarian situation and UN and partner’s response, UN project to prevent an oil spill from the FSO Safer and communities that would have been affected by a spill (access permitting), and other key UN activities.

The purpose of this assignment will be to show the situation in Yemen and the actions taken by the UN, partners, and authorities to respond to the needs of Yemen’s people. This will include the impact of the war and the economic decline, as well as the positive impact of the truce, development work, and other UN activities.

The photographs collected and produced on the Assignment will be used to raise awareness of the situation in Yemen and for resource mobilization, including to scale up humanitarian response and close the FSO Safer funding gap, demonstrate the resilience of the people of Yemen, and call for support to foster development and support the peace process.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The consultant photographer will produce high-resolution photographs, b-roll, and written interviews of the utmost technical quality and aesthetic caliber for inclusion in a broad variety of UN products, including for UN OCHA, as well as dissemination to media outlets and partner organizations.

1- “Reportage” visual storytelling with captions & quotes

The consultant photographer will generate professional photojournalistic/documentary imagery focused on affected people. In compelling images, the photographer will tell the story of an individual/ a family/ a community, capturing moments that allow audiences to empathize and engage with the subjects' lives and experiences. This form of visual storytelling includes captions and first-person quotes, amplifying the narrative. When photographing, consultant will collect details about subjects’ lives in order to make them relatable. Emotional content resonates well with audiences and promotes further sharing. When possible, the work will show the impact individuals, the UN and our partners can make. The photographer will highlight the resilience of people portrayed as much as possible, especially women and girls and vulnerable groups.

2- Formal, environmental and conceptual “Portraiture"

The contracted photographer will capture posed and spontaneous photographs of the profiled subject(s) taken from a variety of situations and distances. Ideally the photographer should capture images in a variety of moods, ranging from light-hearted to serious, and there should be a mix of eyes-to-camera and looking out of frame images. Environmental portraits show the individual in the context of their environment and are generally taken with a wider angle of view.

3- The United Nations in action

The consultant photographer will capture United Nations/partner staff in action, as they are responding to disaster, crises and other situations. Focus should be on local staff as much as possible, as well as local communities themselves. They are the first responders in most situations. Highlighting the work of UN staff, and giving UN visibility, is also desired when possible. (please make sure you ask accompanying UN colleagues to wear relevant vest/t-shirts with appropriate agency/entity visibility). All photos should respect OCHA guidelines (adapted as necessary for each UN entity) and respect the dignity of the subjects at all times. UN actions will be documented in a variety of governorates in Yemen.

In addition to people-focused pictures, the consultant photographer will produce additional material as requested by each UN entity.

The UN communications group in Yemen leads will agree on the specifics of the mission with the photographer ahead of the visit.

Themes/subjects to be covered during the assignment may include: • FSO Safer site. • Hospitals, health centres. • Displacement sites. • Food insecurity (malnutrition centers, food distributions…) • GBV projects • Shore-line communities. • Evidence of climate change • UN visibility • Etc

Qualifications/special skills

A first level university degree in photojournalism or related area is required.

All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in photography with international exposure required. Previous reporting experience in conflict zones and other difficult contexts is required. Proven excellent writing/storytelling skills and ability to write in journalistic style is required. Experience producing high-quality photographs with accompanying narratives used in international fora and UN headquarters platforms or equivalent is required. Knowledge of Yemen and of the humanitarian situation in the country is required. Practical experience in visual and multimedia content production, practical experience in international journalism, and practical experience in photo editing is required. Advanced knowledge of Photoshop, Lightroom, and/or other photo editing software is required.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.

For this position, fluency in English is required.

Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.