
Making Your First Professional PhotoBook | Part I | Print Research
It costs a crapload to produce a high quality photo book. Which is relative, of course, if you have that silver spoon then drop that cash. I

How to Get Bigger Budgets for Freelancers - Negotiating with Networks
The assets and variables that you, as a freelancer, can use to your advantage when negotiating larger budgets are 1) Experience & Quality of

Cómo Redactar Propuestas y Vender Historias a Cadenas Internacionales.
El contacto directo es lo de menos. Con un portafolio decente y un buen "pitch" cualquiera puede vender historias a las cadenas más importantes del mundo. Cuadro de un próximo promo. En un previo post "Entre lo Trivial y la Tragedia y Cómo Sobrevivo en Ambas" hablo sobre la masiva producción de contenido original por parte de publicaciones internacionales (tradicionalmente asociadas con televisión) y sobre cómo acceder a plataformas que nos conectan directamente con los edito

Entre la Tragedia y lo Trivial y Cómo Sobrevivo en Ambas
"En Venezuela voy de la tragedia a lo trivial porque en ambos escenarios hay historias que contar" Desde el más particular punto de vista de un periodista (con ansias de que "algo siempre ocurra") un país como Venezuela está lleno de regalos. En cada esquina una historia que, con absurda potencia, llama la atención de incluso los más "antaños" locales (residentes) de la zona. Siempre hay alguien jodiendo, alguien haciendo, alguien naciendo y muriendo de la manera más absurda

My Arepa Recipe Got Rejected...
"Have you ever shot a recipe video before!?" A few months ago a network with a Tasty-like online recipe content plan asked me to produce a quick Arepa recipe - the popular Venezuelan toasted patty meal. And I did. Bought the ingredients, set up the camera and thought "maybe I don't even need lights for this, natural lighting will do." Here's some quick advice... always use artificial lighting on your silly recipe videos. "Have you ever shot a recipe video before!?" wrote the

How to Get an Interview With Your Local Criminal... If You're in Venezuela
"I know someone from the BBC who went to an interview with nine bottles of whiskey" In Venezuela, if you're a journalist covering a protest in plain daylight, you will most likely be teargassed, mazed, shot at or detained. At the very LEAST your equipment will be taken away by "authorities" and you'll go to wherever the hell you came from with nothing but bruises and a shitty story. I'm a fatalist. And, by the way, if you're American, they hate you here (the authorities... no

The Story that Was Never Published About Venezuela
"The story was no longer about the border, it was about corruption, and the news network got scared as fuck" I'm not going to name names, because that's tacky... and childish. Problem is, I'm childish. So I'll call her: G. Also, because of a confidentiality agreement I am bound to, I can't disclose the name of the news network that bailed on airing this story. So, unfortunately, I'll have to refer to it as "The Network." It was August 2015 and stupid-out-of-his-mind-garbage m

Pasรฉ una tarde con una prostituta... que estudia leyes en Venezuela.
"Tu te imaginas cuando mi hijo esté grande y yo le diga 'hijo, yo era prostituta' ... lo mato." A Patricia, que así quiso la llamase, la conocí un día mientras terminaba de grabar una historia para Discovery sobre alguna prostituta transgénero de 19 años que "vivía" en el Hotel RORA del Rosal en Caracas, Venezuela. La vi cansada. Eran casi las 5pm y tenía cara de no querer hablar con nadie. Me acerqué y le ofrecí un cigarro. "No chico, no fumo, gracias." Y solo con cinco pala