October • 2022
Jim was a joy to work with! Would definitely recommend - he completed the project in it's entirety and provided the finished product quickly!
Jim V.
Chicago, IL 60607, USA
2 reviews$600 - $25000 / Day
About
Jim Vondruska (b. 1989) has been working as a freelance photographer/photojournalist since 2013. Born and raised on the west side of Chicago, Jim saw first-hand the corruption and associated trauma that persists still today within the United States’ third largest city. This circumstantial introduction sparked his initial interest into researching and understanding the underlying issues surrounding conflict and its victims. More importantly, it invoked his personal emotional connection to them. With no traditional schooling in photography he dropped out of college and quit his job to pursue his dream of being a photographer. Over time, he began to craft his unique style of shooting and found joy in showing life at its most intimate and unadulterated form through photography. He has since discovered love with this form of work and a passion in telling stories whether they come from conflict zones, everyday life, or simply a brief glimpse into someone’s day.
Top Services
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
- 1 review
- Event Photographer
- 1 review
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- 1 review
Clients
Top Reviews
June • 2023
Jim was great to work with and the final products turned out great. Would be happy to work with him again.
Top Projects
5.0 Produced for Smile Train
Every Day After Screening
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Event Photographer
Produced for The Guardian
Water Crisis and a Racial Divide
Bobbie Clay first realized something was wrong a few years ago. The water at her Benton Harbor, Michigan, home had started coming out of the tap looking “bubbly and whitish”. When she filled a glass with it, she could see matter floating around inside. “I became very concerned,” she recalled in a recent interview. She wasn’t alone. For years, residents of this small, struggling city in south-west Michigan had been having similar problems. When Carmela Patton turned on her sink to make coffee, the water came out brown. When Emma Kinnard ran hers, it came out the color of tea and “sizzling like Alka-Seltzer”. Rasta Smith said his water looked normal, but had a “horrible” taste and a smell that reminded him of rotting sewage. “It’s bad, man,” he said. “It’s real bad.” Finally, in 2018, they found out what was going on: tap water samples tested that summer revealed lead levels of 22 parts per billion – well over the federal lead action level of 15 parts per billion and higher, even, than the 20 parts per billion nearby Flint averaged at the height of the crisis that made that city a national symbol of environmental injustice. Local activists, led by the Rev Edward Pinkney, president of the Benton Harbor Community Water Council, have mobilized to fill the gaps they say have been left by institutions and local officials, working to raise awareness of the crisis among the city’s 10,000 residents, to advocate on their behalf and to ensure access to bottled water and filters. Words by Eric Lutz and Erin McCormick // Shot for The Guardian
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
Produced for The Wallstreet Journal
Muslim Life Post 9/11
In the years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the nation’s Muslim population has grown to reach an estimated 3.85 million, or a little more than 1% of the U.S. population, according to the Pew Research Center. That is up from 2.35 million in 2007, and the trend is expected to continue, Pew researchers say, eventually surpassing the U.S. Jewish population by 2040. That forecast predates the expected influx of refugees to the U.S. from Afghanistan. The U.S. today has 2,769 mosques, up 129% from 2000, according to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Washington, D.C., think tank focused on Muslim issues. The change has been particularly noticeable in places like this Midwestern city, 235 miles northwest of Chicago and set on the banks of the Cedar River. Twenty years ago, refugees and immigrants from Bosnia had helped build a Muslim community here. In the years since, Waterloo’s Muslim population has grown to include immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries who arrived in Iowa to work in factories, hospitals and other local businesses. Eastern Iowa struggled in the 1980s with a declining population and deep job cuts at factories tied to farming, including the closure of a large meatpacking plant that employed thousands. To rebuild its workforce, communities launched programs to help refugees, including Muslims, resettle. Other Muslims moved to the area for work or school. Today, minarets stand over sections of Waterloo, population 67,000. Nearby Cedar Rapids is home to a halal inspection company and halal meat wholesaler, which follow religious butchering practices and forbid pork consumption. Iowa now has 23 mosques, and the National Register of Historic Places recognizes a small mosque opened in 1934 in Cedar Rapids, south of Waterloo, as the first official building constructed specifically for Islamic worship in the country. Waterloo had one small mosque in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now the largest of its three mosques, the Masjid Al-Noor says it counts about 3,000 families as members. It opened a new building in a residential neighborhood in 2011. Words by Cameron Mcwhirter // Shot for The Wall Street Journal
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
Produced for The Guardian
Kenosha Civil Unrest 2020
I covered the civil unrest that unfolded in Kenosha, WI in 2020 after police shot Jacob Blake. I documented the clashes between protesters and police, as well as the city's efforts to rebuild. We interviewed community members and took portraits while there was peace in between the nights of unrest.
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
5.0 Produced for Smile Train
Chicago Photographer / Videographer
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
Equipment
Video
- Multiple cameras
- DSLR or equivalent
Video
Audio
- Shotgun mic
Audio
All Services
Production Support
- Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
- News Shooter / Video Journalist
- Event Photographer
Production Support