Eyewitness Collective
An international collaboration founded by Laurin Strele, Ethan Swope and Roberto Flores, bringing photographers together through field-based workshops, exhibitions, mentorship and collaborative visual storytelling.
We create spaces for serious documentary practice and for photographers who want to develop a deeper, more responsible relationship to people, place and story.
Our work combines field experience, visual discipline, ethical reflection, editing, sequencing, access and mentorship — the long process of turning encounters into meaningful visual narratives.
Eyewitness began in 2025 following a joint workshop in Cuba and has grown into an international platform for workshops, field labs, exhibitions and collaborative projects.
Stories are built through proximity.
Documentary development, from fieldwork to presentation.
Workshops
Field assignments, access, editing sessions, group critique and direct mentorship.
Field labs
Research-led programmes for photographers developing long-term projects in unfamiliar environments.
Collaborative storytelling
Projects connecting photographers with communities, writers, editors, artists and cultural partners.
Exhibitions
Public presentations of documentary projects, workshop outcomes and collective visual narratives.
Conversations
Podcasts and discussions about ethics, conflict, fieldwork, visual journalism and career development.
Project support
Editing, sequencing, project statements and preparation for grants, awards and open calls.
Ethan Swope, World Press Photo winner.
Eyewitness co-founder Ethan Swope was awarded in the 2026 World Press Photo Contest for his story Los Angeles on Fire, photographed for Associated Press.
His recognition reflects the field experience, visual discipline and journalistic seriousness that shape the collective.
Supporting emerging photographers.
The Eyewitness Program supports dedicated photographers who may not yet have equal access, financial resources or an established professional network.
Scholarships, reduced-price workshop places, mentorship and portfolio support help photographers build stronger bodies of work and take meaningful next steps.
Photographers working in the field.
Laurin Strele
Austrian documentary photographer focusing on human experience in conflict zones, cultures in transition and places shaped by crisis and resilience.
Instagram
Ethan Swope
American documentary photographer working with people, place, crisis and social reality with visual precision and journalistic discipline.
Instagram
Roberto Flores
Documentary photographer contributing field coordination, local knowledge and production experience grounded in people and place.
Instagram
Bear witness. Tell the story. Protect the truth.
For photographers who approach the world with seriousness, humility and courage.