Anyone who is interested in learning to tell ‘better’ stories can join a Storytelling Expedition. This trip is designed for working professionals who are seeking training and/or experience in documentary storytelling. No previous documentary experience is required.

You determine how you want to participate and contribute on the Storytelling Expedition. You can choose to join the Photography Team, Filmmaking Team or Producing Team, depending on where your interests lie. Each team will be made up of 2-6 people.

• If working on the photography team, you may produce stories individually or in partnership with others. These will become photo essays, portrait series, or behind the scenes galleries.

• If working on the filmmaking team, you will produce several micro-documentaries over the course of the trip. You can take the lead as Director or Cinematographer for at least one of the stories and then serve in other roles for the others.

• If working on the producing team, you collaborate with the Actuality producer. Expect to provide story, strategy and logistical support to both the photo team and video team.

We focus on solutions oriented human interest stories, that bring increased awareness to the work of social impact organizations in the communities we visit. These could take the form of micro-documentaries, photography essays, interviews in a variety of styles, portrait photography, audio recordings and more. The exact stories that we document in each community will be determined when we arrive there on the day. Only after we meet our collaborators in person and establish a connection, do we decide what kinds of stories we are interested in creating.

No. We will have guides and translators provided for each storytelling project. 

Each storyteller should bring a digital camera they are comfortable using for photography. Any kind of digital camera can be suitable, even most smart phone cameras. The most important thing is that you already know how it use it.

Actuality Abroad will provide video production equipment including cameras and sound recording equipment. If members of the video team would like to bring personal video cameras to utilize or accessories, you are welcome to.

You can also bring a laptop computer to review your media each day, but Actuality Abroad will have laptops for downloading, duplicating and processing on site. 

Everyone will need a 4TB+ hard drive to back up and bring their data home.

We highly recommend purchasing personal property travel insurance to cover loss or damage.

All the content produced on the Storytelling Expedition that features the people or work of the social impact organization that we collaborate with will be licensed under Creative Commons (with attribution) so that every stakeholder can benefit from sharing it. Additionally, this content will need to be approved by all stakeholders (especially the individuals depicted in imagery) prior to any kind of distribution, including sharing on social media. We practice radical informed consent. 

Actuality Abroad retains the official copyright in order to ensure that the above standards are implemented and and maintained. Additionally, our program participants often come from around the world but with Actuality Abroad holding the rights, we can assure that our media makers are protected by the Fair Use doctrine of the United States.

For every approved piece of content, each storyteller is encouraged to share/submit freely. Using the content for any value-aligned commercial or money-making purpose could be considered, but will have to be discussed and approved by all stakeholders in advance.

If you create any media outside of the Storytelling Expedition’s scope of work, you retain all rights to that content.