In the world of photography and filmmaking, where images can document lives, preserve memories, and bring overlooked stories into focus, Jason Mulikita approaches his craft with a deep curiosity about people and place. Working across documentary and commercial storytelling, his work is rooted in the belief that powerful stories do not always need to be loud to matter. Sometimes, they simply need to be seen and seen truthfully.
From documenting small-scale fish farmers across six districts in Luapula Province to telling stories of rural resilience and changing livelihoods, his creative journey has been shaped by patience, trust, and a willingness to look beyond the expected. Whether through a still photograph, a moving image, or an aerial frame that reveals the bigger picture, his work consistently places people at the centre of the story.
Today, we sit down with Jason Mulikita to explore his journey into documentary and commercial storytelling, the realities of building a sustainable creative career, and the responsibility that comes with documenting other people’s lives. He also shares his thoughts on the opportunities available to Zambian creatives and why photographers and filmmakers should be bold enough to tell their own stories to the world. For young creatives still finding their voice, this conversation offers a valuable reminder: your creativity is the thing people are actually buying.
Let’s explore their journey, perspective, and vision for the future of photography and filmmaking.
BEFORE BECOMING KNOWN FOR DOCUMENTARY AND COMMERCIAL STORYTELLING, HOW DID YOUR CREATIVE JOURNEY BEGIN? WAS THERE A DEFINING MOMENT THAT MADE YOU REALISE THIS WAS THE PATH YOU WANTED TO PURSUE?
It began as a curiosity about people and place rather than a technical interest in cameras. There wasn’t one defining instant so much as a realisation, project by project, that a photograph could carry weight a written report couldn’t, and that people often trusted the image in a way they didn’t always trust the paperwork.
DOCUMENTARY WORK REQUIRES PATIENCE, CURIOSITY, AND TRUST. WHAT DRAWS YOU TO REAL-LIFE STORIES, AND WHAT HAVE THOSE EXPERIENCES TAUGHT YOU ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES YOU’VE DOCUMENTED?
Documentary work requires patience, curiosity, and trust. What draws you to real-life stories, and what have those experiences taught you? Real-life stories resist a script; you have to earn access. Working across six districts in Luapula Province with small-scale fish farmers, for instance, has taught me that the story you arrive expecting is rarely the one that’s actually there, and that showing up more than once matters far more than showing up with the right lens.
YOU WORK ACROSS BOTH DOCUMENTARY AND COMMERCIAL PROJECTS. HOW DO YOU BALANCE CREATING WORK THAT’S CREATIVELY FULFILLING WHILE ALSO MEETING THE GOALS OF CLIENTS AND BRANDS?
The two feed each other rather than compete. Commercial and development briefs bring discipline: a clear ask, a deadline, a message that has to land, while documentary work keeps the eye honest. The throughline is the same regardless of client: get close, be patient and let the story belong to the person living it.
AS SOMEONE WHO WORKS WITH BOTH STILL PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILMMAKING, HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHEN A STORY SHOULD LIVE AS A PHOTOGRAPH AND WHEN IT NEEDS MOTION TO FULLY COME ALIVE?
It comes down to what the moment is doing. A single frame holds stillness and dignity well; a story built on process, conversation, or change over time needs motion to be understood properly. Aerial work adds a third register and helps bring out the scale and context a ground shot simply can’t give.
ZAMBIA HAS INCREDIBLE STORIES, TALENT, AND CULTURE. WHAT STORIES DO YOU THINK DESERVE MORE GLOBAL ATTENTION, AND HOW DO YOU HOPE YOUR WORK CONTRIBUTES TO THAT CONVERSATION?
Everyday resilience and ingenuity in rural livelihoods – small-scale farming, fishing communities adapting to a changing climate- rarely reach a global audience because they’re not framed as newsworthy. I hope my work contributes by treating these communities as the subject of the story, not the backdrop to someone else’s.
MANY CREATIVES STRUGGLE WITH TURNING THEIR CRAFT INTO A SUSTAINABLE CAREER. WHAT’S ONE LESSON YOU’VE LEARNED ABOUT BUILDING A CREATIVE BUSINESS THAT YOU WISH YOU’D KNOWN EARLIER?
Price for the gap, not just the day rate. Insurance, taxation, currency risk, and the quiet weeks between shoots all have to be built into what you charge from the outset, not retrofitted once you realise the margins were never really there.
THE AFRICAN CREATIVE INDUSTRY IS GAINING MORE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION THAN EVER BEFORE. WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DO YOU THINK ZAMBIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FILMMAKERS SHOULD BE EMBRACING MORE BOLDLY?
International clients are increasingly looking for local storytellers rather than flying in outside crews. Zambian photographers and filmmakers should be pitching directly to global NGOs and agencies rather than waiting to be discovered through intermediaries.
YOUR WORK OFTEN CAPTURES PEOPLE AT MEANINGFUL MOMENTS. WHAT RESPONSIBILITY DO YOU THINK PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FILMMAKERS HAVE WHEN REPRESENTING OTHER PEOPLE’S STORIES?
The camera gives access, not ownership. Responsibility means representing people as they are, not as the story needs them to be; making sure context is accurate, consent is real, and the finished piece is something the subject could look at and recognise themselves in.
WHAT’S A PROJECT, STORY, OR CREATIVE AMBITION YOU’RE EXCITED TO PURSUE NEXT, SOMETHING THAT FEELS LIKE THE NEXT CHAPTER OF YOUR JOURNEY?
I’d like to spend more time on personal projects, outside of client assignments. I’m surrounded by some of the most remarkable people in this country, and I want to tell each of their stories.
FOR YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FILMMAKERS IN ZAMBIA WHO ARE TRYING TO FIND THEIR VOICE, WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WISH SOMEONE HAD GIVEN YOU WHEN YOU WERE STARTING?
Your creativity is the thing clients are actually buying. Don’t spend years trying to be someone else.
