Remembering Why We Freelance

Kelsey Doyle: I’m in Sumatra, Indonesia, shooting a documentary about a wildlife veterinarian and conservationist, Gabby Wild. She is working with the local mahouts and Sumatran government to encourage more direct action to protect these critically endangered Sumatran elephants — there are only between 1,200 and 1,400 of these small elephants left in the world. (You will rethink the Sumatran coffee you drink or the palm oil peanut butter you eat after watching this documentary.)

My camera assistant took this still of me just as the burnt orange sun was setting over the Indonesian jungle. Whenever I loose momentum or question why I am doing what I do, I think that from here on out I will just look at this photo and that feeling of bliss will flood back to me. It’ll help me remember why I am a video journalist — we have the power to document and influence the world.

Kelsey Doyle is a documentary filmmaker, video journalist, and photographer from the redwood mountains of Santa Cruz, California. After working in the film industry in Los Angeles and San Francisco, she started her our production company, Hawks Peak Productions.