Accomplished photographer James Rodríguez will unpack the difficulties around sustaining long-term projects by illustrating how to create a unified vision, how to build and maintain relationships with communities, and how to seek various avenues of funding and support for the same project over time—whether through assignments, grants, or outside sources such as NGOs, commercial work, fixing, and video assignments. In this session, James will divulge his tips and tricks for achieving success with ongoing projects and how to create continuity and avoid burn-out.

James Rodríguez is a Guatemala-based documentary photographer and filmmaker focusing on post-war processes, human rights abuses, migration, land tenure, and social conflicts in Mexico and Central America, but particularly in Guatemala, where his long-term project stems back to 2004. James, who holds a B.A. in Cultural Geography from UCLA, is represented by Panos Pictures and is a proud community member of The Everyday Projects, Diversify Photo, and Frontline Freelance Mexico. Currently working on a separate long-term project in the Yucatan peninsula funded by the Mexican National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA), James has worked for publications such as National Geographic, Le Monde, The LA Times, The New York Times, NPR, Vogue, and The Guardian, among others. James also collaborates regularly with NGOs, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, UNDP, CARE, Justice in Motion, Rotary International. Follow James, also a member of @EverydayLatinAmerica, on Instagram at @mimundo_org.