I work across feature documentaries, narrative features, short films, and videography. Some days I’m developing a six-month commission around a community story. Other days I’m shooting corporate content or an event. The camera changes. The crew size shifts. The budget breathes differently. But the question that keeps coming up—usually from potential clients or people curious about what I actually do—is this: am I a filmmaker or a videographer?

What Does It Actually Mean to Be a Documentary Filmmaker?

People ask me this more than you'd think. Usually at events, usually after I've explained what I do for the third time in a row. "So you make documentaries? Like the ones on Netflix?"

Sort of. Not exactly. Let me explain.

It's a fair question. Weddings dominate the photography market in South Yorkshire, and I'd be lying if I said the money wasn't tempting. But the honest answer is that I've never been drawn to it — not because there's anything wrong with wedding photography, but because it's simply not where my instincts live.  My instincts live in documentary. In real moments. In the kind of image that doesn't ask permission.

Three years into freelancing, I said yes to everything. Wedding videos at 6AM? Sure. Can you edit this by tomorrow? Absolutely. Would you shoot our event for half your rate because "it's great exposure"? Well... okay.

I was drowning in work, making decent money, but absolutely miserable. My 365 photography project—something I actually loved—became a frantic phone snap at 11:58PM most nights. I was too exhausted for creative projects, and worse, I was saying yes to clients I actively dreaded working with.