Creative Director of Photography & Visual Storytelling (Volunteer)

Creative Director of Photography & Visual Storytelling (Volunteer)

PromiseStudios | Photography, Visual Storytelling & Creative Production

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromiseStudios

Department: Photography & Visual Storytelling

Location: Remote with NYC-based production as needed

Type: Volunteer Creative Leadership Role

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6-month commitment required

Works Closely With: PromiseStudios Leadership, Photographers, Filmmakers, Producers, Editors, Creative Directors, PromiseBrands, PromiseVoice, PromisePublic, and Program Teams

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit supporting children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, literacy, education, social-emotional learning, creative expression, storytelling, and community-centered opportunity.

MAP believes visual storytelling can do more than document what happened. Done thoughtfully, photography can preserve history, communicate dignity, reveal humanity, and help audiences understand stories and communities more deeply.

About PromiseStudios

PromiseStudios is MAP’s creative production and storytelling division, bringing together professionals across film, photography, illustration, animation, motion graphics, audio, and multimedia production.

Our goal is to create work that is visually compelling while remaining thoughtful about whose stories are being told, how people are represented, and why an image is being created in the first place.

Role Overview

Mentor A Promise is seeking an experienced and imaginative Creative Director of Photography & Visual Storytellingto lead the creative direction of MAP’s photography work and help build and develop our Photography & Visual Storytelling team.

This is not simply a photographer position.

The Creative Director will establish the visual vision, lead photographers and visual storytellers, develop concepts, direct productions, review work, mentor creative talent, and help create a distinctive photographic language across PromiseStudios.

The role may support:

• Documentary photography
• Editorial storytelling
• Portraiture
• Program and community storytelling
• Campaign photography
• Fashion and product photography
• Events
• Behind-the-scenes documentation
• Organizational storytelling
• Photo essays
• Publications
• Digital and social storytelling
• Special creative projects

We are looking for someone who understands both sides of exceptional photography:

the technical discipline required to create the image and the human responsibility that comes with capturing someone else's story.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Direction & Visual Strategy

• Establish creative direction for photography and visual storytelling within PromiseStudios.
• Develop a distinctive and recognizable photographic point of view for MAP.
• Translate stories, campaigns, programs, and creative briefs into compelling visual concepts.
• Develop shot direction, visual references, mood boards, treatments, and photographic approaches.
• Determine how photography can best communicate emotion, context, character, and meaning.
• Maintain exceptional standards for composition, lighting, storytelling, authenticity, and execution.

Build & Lead the Photography Team

• Help recruit, onboard, mentor, and develop photographers and visual storytellers.
• Build a team with complementary strengths across documentary, portrait, editorial, event, fashion, product, and other photographic disciplines.
• Assign photographers to projects based on experience, style, and project needs.
• Establish clear expectations, workflows, and creative standards.
• Lead critiques and portfolio reviews.
• Provide thoughtful, specific, and actionable creative feedback.
• Identify and develop emerging creative leaders within the team.

The goal is not simply to build a roster of photographers. It is to build a creative community where photographers learn from one another and continuously strengthen the quality of the work.

Photography & Production Direction

• Direct photography productions from concept through final image selection.
• Collaborate on locations, environments, lighting, styling, composition, and visual approach.
• Create or review shot lists and production plans.
• Provide on-set creative direction when appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with subjects rather than treating them simply as visual material.
• Guide image selection and sequencing to ensure photographs work individually and collectively as stories.

Documentary & Human-Centered Storytelling

• Help develop thoughtful approaches to documentary and community photography.
• Ensure photographs provide appropriate context rather than relying on stereotypes or simplified narratives.
• Prioritize dignity, agency, authenticity, and respectful representation.
• Help photographers understand the responsibilities involved when documenting children, families, and communities experiencing housing instability.
• Challenge imagery that unintentionally sensationalizes hardship, poverty, trauma, or vulnerability.
• Look for photographs that communicate not only challenges, but also identity, relationships, creativity, resilience, joy, ambition, and everyday humanity.

Visual Story Development

• Develop photo essays and long-form visual storytelling projects.
• Help photographers move beyond individual images toward narrative sequences.
• Collaborate with writers, filmmakers, editors, designers, and producers where photography forms part of a larger story.
• Identify opportunities to document MAP's history, programs, people, partnerships, and impact.
• Help build a thoughtful visual archive that preserves important moments in MAP's development.

Cross-Division Collaboration

The Creative Director will lead photography as a PromiseStudios discipline while collaborating across MAP.

This may include working with:

• PromiseBrands on fashion, product, merchandise, and brand campaigns
• PromiseVoice on editorial and communications storytelling
• PromisePages on books and publications
• PromisePublic on public-facing campaigns
• PromisePrograms on program-related storytelling
• Other PromiseStudios creative teams on multidisciplinary productions

When photography is required for another division's initiative, PromiseStudios retains leadership of photographic production while collaborating closely with the requesting team's creative and strategic leadership.

Youth Photography, Consent & Safeguarding

Photography involving children and families requires particularly careful judgment.

The Creative Director will help ensure that applicable MAP requirements are followed regarding:

• Parent or guardian permissions
• Youth assent where appropriate
• Image and likeness releases
• Privacy
• Safeguarding
• Location and identifying information
• Appropriate storage and access
• Publication and distribution
• Sensitive or vulnerable circumstances
• Respectful representation

A technically beautiful photograph is not successful if obtaining or publishing it compromises someone's dignity, privacy, safety, or trust.

Ideal Candidate

Strong candidates may bring experience in:

• Photography
• Creative direction
• Photo direction
• Documentary photography
• Editorial photography
• Portrait photography
• Photojournalism
• Commercial photography
• Fashion photography
• Visual journalism
• Visual storytelling
• Multimedia production

The strongest candidates will demonstrate:

• An exceptional photography or visual-direction portfolio
• Strong visual and narrative judgment
• Deep understanding of composition, lighting, framing, and photographic technique
• Ability to develop visual concepts and communicate creative direction
• Experience directing or mentoring photographers
• Strong editing and image-selection ability
• Sensitivity when photographing people and communities
• Excellent communication and collaboration
• Ability to balance creative ambition with ethical responsibility
• Strong organization and production judgment
• Commitment to MAP's mission and dignity-centered values

What Success Looks Like

Success means:

• MAP develops a strong and recognizable photographic language.
• PromiseStudios builds a talented and collaborative photography team.
• Photographers receive meaningful direction, mentorship, and opportunities to grow.
• Photography becomes more intentional rather than simply documenting activities.
• Major projects begin with clear visual concepts and production plans.
• MAP develops compelling documentary, editorial, portrait, and creative photography.
• Visual storytelling reflects people with complexity and dignity.
• MAP's photographic archive becomes an increasingly valuable record of its programs, people, history, and impact.
• Photography works effectively alongside film, illustration, design, writing, and other storytelling disciplines.

Why This Role Matters

A photograph can become the way a moment is remembered.

That creates both an artistic opportunity and a responsibility.

MAP does not want to photograph children and families simply because their circumstances create an emotional image. We want photography that allows people to be seen as whole human beings—with personalities, relationships, ideas, talents, aspirations, challenges, and stories that belong to them.

The Creative Director helps establish that standard.

Build the team. Find the frame. Protect the dignity of the story. Create images worth remembering.

Commitment

• Approximately 5–10 hours per week
• Minimum 6-month commitment required
• Remote leadership with NYC-based production as needed
• Regular participation in creative reviews and production planning
• Timely, professional communication and follow-through
• Completion of applicable MAP onboarding, safeguarding, privacy, and organizational requirements

What You'll Gain

• Leadership of a growing Photography & Visual Storytelling team
• Opportunity to recruit and mentor photographers
• Creative direction experience across documentary, editorial, portrait, campaign, and multidisciplinary projects
• Collaboration with filmmakers, designers, writers, producers, and other creative professionals
• Opportunity to help establish MAP's long-term photographic language and visual archive
• Portfolio-building and creative-credit opportunities where appropriate
• Professional references and letters of recommendation
• Meaningful opportunity to use photography in service of thoughtful, human-centered storytelling

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply directly through Idealist and submit:

• Resume or CV
• Photography portfolio or visual-direction portfolio
• Brief statement of interest

Please highlight relevant experience in photography, photo direction, documentary work, editorial storytelling, portraiture, photojournalism, creative direction, or leading photography teams.

We are looking for someone who can do more than recognize a beautiful photograph.

We want a creative leader who understands why the photograph should exist, how it should be made, what story it tells, and what responsibility we carry when we share it with the world.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Mentor A Promise. At this time, volunteer opportunities are limited to individuals based in the United States due to legal, safeguarding, data-privacy, compliance, and programmatic requirements. We appreciate your interest in our mission and your understanding of these requirements.