Alyssa Schukar, a faculty member for the fourth time at this year's Missouri Photo Workshop, is a freelance photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. Her work is rooted in a love for people, and is propelled by a desire to name the larger forces that affect people’s lives. Schukar is often on assignment for national publications and is a contract storyteller at the nonprofit Feeding America.

Freelancing isn’t easy, she says, but these tenets guide Schukar’s career and help her find success.

Run your business

“If you’re a freelancer, you’ve got to have business skills,” Schukar said.

Seventy percent of the job is running the business, and, every now and then, taking pictures. This entails creating a budget with weekly or monthly targets and yearly goals; managing insurance; being savvy about contracts and photo rights; and more. On slow weeks, Schukar is contacting editors, thinking about assignments, researching projects and doing what she can to drum up work.

“It’s a full time job, sometimes more than a full time job,” she said.

Diversify your income

Freelance photojournalists also need to work with a varied client list to meet their financial goals. Schukar doesn’t just work for news organizations — she photographs for nonprofits that she aligns with. A lot of photojournalists also do commercial work, event photography or weddings.

“The essential thing about diversifying your client list and your source of income is that you can then do project work that is more on the fulfilling end and less on the financial income side, and have a better sense of power there,” Schukar said.

Shoot what inspires you

Photographing what you’re interested in doesn’t just feed your soul; it’s also necessary for shaping your business.

“The biggest favor that young photographers can do for themselves is work on stories that they’re passionate about,” Schukar said.

Schukar spent three years working on “The Most Industrialized City in America,” documenting a community in Indiana that is surrounded by polluting industry. That project led to more work from national publications because editors saw the effort that Schukar put into the photos.

“If you want to get hired for a specific kind of story, you have to first create that body of work so editors will see the work and understand what you’re passionate about,” Schukar said.

Build your community

A classic stereotype of the freelancer might be a lone wolf figure — but Schukar debunks this myth.

“If you are trying to do it on your own, it’s going to be harder, and you’ll make mistakes that you don’t have to make because you’re not learning from other photographers,” Schukar said.

You have to create the kind of community you want to be part of, she said. That’s why Schukar and her colleagues came up with the Prism Photo Workshop, which helps young freelancers from Chicago with business and pitching skills. That way, stories being told in Chicago come from a place of knowledge.

“Find a community of photographers who will support you emotionally, through edits, by sharing assignments,” Schukar said.

That core of people will be how you’ll find sustainability.

“Without supporting each other, it’s a really difficult endeavor to take on freelance photography.”

As a self taught photographer, MPW was an essential part of my photography foundation. The concept of flying into a new town, in a rural part of the country (I am a native New Yorker), and finding stories on my own is equally challenging and exciting. I was out of my comfort zone in many areas. Being the only Black student in a town that didn’t have many Black residents was extremely challenging. I had to consider many factors regarding my safety. I attended the workshop at the height of Trumps presidency. I was uncomfortable in Mountain Grove. As a journalist, I was forced to tap into my people skills before my photographic skills. It was important that I learned to establish a commonality with the person I was photographing in order to build trust. Whenever he brought up topics regarding race, politics, religion or any other potentially polarizing subjects, I steered the conversation back to sports, family, and other subjects where shared something in common.

Overall, MPW taught me how to see without the camera. I learned how to observe my surroundings. I learned how to make portraits of people without asking them to look at the camera - not without their permission, but in a more natural way without their attention or awareness of the camera.

While my photography career has shifted from photojournalism more into documentary, lifestyle and commercial photography, I still apply the lessons learned at MPW. I have created a short documentary video and many of my clients hire me for lifestyle and commercial assignments because of the way I see the world. And a lot of that is rooted in my experience at MPW. I would love to attend the workshop again as tine reminded of how to be more human behind the camera.