We are photojournalists who’ve worked around the world with faith-based and humanitarian groups for decades. We’ve learned what works – and what doesn’t – in telling the story of how your organizations assist and empower people at the margins. Although there’s no shortage of images from many areas, we’ve long heard the need for quality material you can actually use. So our goal is simple: deliver compelling visual content that meets your specific needs.
We love our work and the people who bless us by allowing us to tell their stories. The more those stories are faithfully told – whether in words, images, sound, or video – the greater their chance of achieving justice and the abundant life that we believe everyone deserves.
We are photojournalists because we want to make a difference. And we want to help you make a difference.
Who we are
Each of us brings a unique history and set of talents to our new cooperative.
Sean Hawkey has spent years documenting the lives of people in the Fair Trade movement, and has accompanied migrants on their difficult journeys toward new lands. He’s passionate about climate change, having documented its effects in communities around the planet, and has produced compelling video conveying the stories his clients need to tell.
Albin Hillert has navigated with ease through the ecumenical and interreligious world, documenting how people of diverse faiths come together to courageously confront injustice and hatred. A wise student of new technologies, he’s become quite accomplished at taking a holistic approach to his photography, making sure there’s not just a photo to show, but a story to tell.
Paul Jeffrey has long covered political change in forgotten corners of the world, focusing especially on how women organize to defend themselves and how faith groups offer hope amid violence in war-torn places like South Sudan. Intentionally not an early adapter, he loves leading workshops about composition and other classical elements of photography.
What we do
We could continue to work independently, but we believe there’s an exciting synergy in joining together to serve you.
By combining our images in one online archive, we give you a one-stop shop for the visual content you need for your website, annual report, and fundraising materials. And when you insert some keywords and hit the search button, you won’t have to wade through boring or out of focus photos. We deliver quality, compelling images. And with one of our convenient and economical subscription plans, your graphic artist can instantly download one of the tens of thousands of images available there. This speeds up production and gets faster results.
If you need to gather new material about your work, talk with us about an assignment. We’ll respond with a concrete proposal of how we’d cover your program or campaign in an effective, timely, and economical manner. In addition to photography, we offer feature writing and video production.
Want to help your field staff learn to take usable photos while they’re working? Talk with us about conducting training sessions in the field, where we’ll explain some basics of visual communication, then send out your staff to capture images, coming together again to discuss and evaluate what they’ve learned.
We care about what you do
If we wanted to make a lot of money, we’d have become celebrity photographers. Instead, because we believe in the same values you do, we’ve dedicated our lives to documenting social change and humanitarian action. We’ve slept in muddy refugee camps, been tear-gassed and beaten, and gotten sick from more than our share of exotic diseases. But it’s always been a privilege for us to be there with you, serving those at the margins of global economies, those victimized by racism and injustice.
We want to continue accompanying those communities and you who serve them, and by forming Life on Earth Pictures we believe we can do it more effectively than ever before. We can help you do your job by providing compelling visual elements you can use to inform and encourage your supporters.
How to get involved
At the heart of what we offer is access to our photos with an innovative subscription model that quickly gets you the image you need without breaking the bank. But we also bring to the table a wealth of knowledge in the field of visual content production and management. Whether you’re a faith-based organization or a media outlet, we are here to help.
So sign up for a subscription, and start making our images work for you.
Follow us in social media and read our monthly email updates, so you’ll be aware of where we’re heading in coming months. Let us know your needs, and we’ll help you get what you need to tell the right story.
Help us make Life on Earth Pictures work for you.
Sean, Albin, and Paul
