Kenneth Kobre: Good photojournalism has to have content, technique, and art in it

The most widely-published author on photojournalism Kenneth Kobre, also know as the “Author of the Photography Bible,” is professor in photojournalism to the San Francisco State University. His students have been awarded Pulitzer, World Press, and other prestigious awards. During his visit to Bulgaria he gave an interview for Focus News Agency.

Focus: Prof Kobre, is this your first visit to Bulgaria and what are you going to teach to Bulgarian photographers attending your seminars?
Kenneth Kobre: This is my first time here, in Bulgaria. They have found my book and want to translate it now. I came because they invited me to do a workshop event. And I thought: “I have never been to Bulgaria, I must go there”. I want to show Bulgarian photographers what people in the profession do elsewhere around the world. I also want to discuss the new developments regarding video and what the future of multimedia might turn out to be.
Focus: You have been in Bulgaria for 24 hours now. What has caught your eye?
Kenneth Kobre: I spent most of the last 24 hours inside and I am still to take a closer look at Sofia and Bulgaria.
Focus: Where in America do you live?
Kenneth Kobre: I live in San Francisco.
Focus: And what do people in San Francisco know about Bulgaria and about Eastern Europe as a whole?
Kenneth Kobre: Very little. They hardly know anything about America and let alone Bulgaria. Most of them could not locate Bulgaria on the map. But this is because of the bad education we have received, it is not our fault. The reason is in the bad education in America.
Focus: What is the key to winning the Pulitzer prize for photojournalism?
Kenneth Kobre: If I knew the key, I would have won the prize myself[Prof Kobre was nominated for Pulitzer in 1999]. You have to be on the right place at the right time. To be with the right lens and press the button. One of my students won a Pulitzer award, but I do not know if she can win it again. It is a remarkable achievement. Her picture shows a young girl who is drowning and a man going to her rescue. And yet, I do not know the secret.
Focus: Where is the border between paparazzi pictures and photojournalism – the pictures that win you a Pulitzer?
Kenneth Kobre: The difference is that the paparazzi are mostly interested in celebrities, while photojournalism has nothing to do with ‘stars’. If a photojournalist takes a picture of a celebrity, it would be because the ‘star’ had allowed the photographer to get into their personal life. Paparazzi are people who try to capture the scene although the ‘star’ refuses to be shot on camera. And these are two different things. So, if you are thinking of paparazzi, you should think about celebrities.
Focus: Are photojournalists independent in the way they shoot military conflicts or are they actually dependent of the media that sent them there?
Kenneth Kobre: The first question here is whether photojournalists need support. In most cases, photographers work for a magazine, a newspaper, or an agency, when they go to cover a war. Sometimes they do it independently, but more often there is a media sending them, since the initiative is quite expensive. According to me, media believe that the photojournalist will go there, see the situation, and manage to take the best picture. They do not want a particular type of picture. I think that photographers have the freedom to take whatever picture they want. And they do it. The big question is not about the media, but about whether the military and the army will censure the picture. The army allows them to publish the pictures journalists want to, if the relatives of victims would allow it, if the parents want the media coming up with the story that their son or daughter has been killed. If the relatives of the victim have been informed, photographers can release any picture they want. The family should be informed of its relative’s death before the newspaper publishes the picture. The army wants to make sure it has enough time to inform relatives of victims.
Focus: How important is the question about the ethical balance in media?
Kenneth Kobre: The first thing in photojournalism is that you take pictures. You could worry if it is ethical or not later. If you worry about ethics before you take the picture, you will not take the shot the way you like to have done it. So, photojournalists should first take the picture and only later discuss if it is ethical to publish it. It is one thing to take a picture and completely another – to publish it. Ethics concern publishing and distributing the picture, while photojournalism is about taking the picture now, at the very moment.
Focus: Is photojournalism a craft or an art?
Kenneth Kobre: It is neither a craft, nor an art, it is more of a journalism. This is something different. A craft is about making a good table but there is no content there. It is not an art, as pictures should not necessarily be beautiful or aesthetic. Good photojournalism should have content, technique, and art. All of these are needed to make an excellent picture. With no content, there is no photojournalism.
Focus: Most photographers find it hard to make a living out of photography. How do you manage the balance between taking good pictures and financing them?
Kenneth Kobre: According to me, the future lies in video. It might not be today or tomorrow, but in the end short video stories will be selling well and earn their authors money. The whole Internet world is changing. I think there is a way for photographers to be paid well for good video stories.
Focus: Who is going to pay for them?
Kenneth Kobre: This would be people who are willing to watch them. They will pay small sums but there would be a lot of people watching. There are still experiments going on in the field and I do not know the final solution. I do not think advertisements could generate profit. It is more likely that people will pay 5 cents or even less for watching different programmes. This would be the future in my opinion, but I am not 100% sure yet. Nobody is.
Focus: And how do you see the future of journalism?
Kenneth Kobre: Some sites on the Internet require payment for such services. I doubt if this would work out. I do not think this is the answer. Nobody knows. What is clear is that things are changing. It is hard to figure out how things will function in the future. Things we did not think would succeed have proved to be a huge success. Take the website www.huffingtonpost.com, for example. It is a news site that gains a huge amount of money. So everything is possible.