Audio Interview: Ben Camacho on Photography, Journalism, the IWW Freelance Journalists Union and FJU Legal Committee Work
Photography. Freelance journalism. Legal committee work in a semi-autonomous branch of an international, democratic and member-run labor union.
Ben Camacho wears several hats, and he rocks them all rather well, with unique style buttressed by a contagious commitment to solidarity and a steadfast refusal to sit idly by as people experience economic exploitation and endure dignity-denying repression from authorities.
In addition to making a living in part by doing event, wedding and documentary photography, Ben engages in various form of visual storytelling. He also freelances for the nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA.
I met Ben when I joined the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union in 2021.
He had already played a critical role in establishing the IWW FJU legal committee. Ben and I have continued that committee work by trying to help defend and assert the rights of freelancers, by endeavoring to assist fellow freelance workers in challenging contractual injustices and by documenting instances of intimidation, harassment and abuse of freelance journalists at the hands of law enforcement and state institutions.
As a relevant aside and as regards that latter aim, our committee created a Police Accountability Form we encourage freelance journalists, whether or not they’re FJU members, to fill it out and submit if they wish to report law enforcement interference in their work. We use submissions to keep an internal record of cases and to figure out how we can best help; we also try to follow up with everyone who submits.
While we admittedly have limited capacity, that’s just a sample of some of the work we do. And it’s only a small slice of the work Ben does.
When I interviewed Ben a few days ago, we discussed how he started freelancing, his background in photography, the cameras and equipment he likes to use, how he got involved in the union, how and why he jumped into IWW FJU legal committee work, what the legal committee has done thus far, what he’d like for us to do as a committee and as a union going forward, how folks can get involved and how people can follow his work.
You can find the embedded audio recording of our conversational interview beneath the following picture of Ben photographing a demonstration.