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kodak.com
presents
Jodi Cobb, National Geographic Photographer
Author of “Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art”
February 08, 2001
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Pup:
The lighting in your work being displayed today is awesome; you capture a lot of emotion through it. Did you plan this lighting situation, or just work with the available light?
Jodi Cobb:
This photo is Miss Universe in her bedroom the night before she won. It was from a story on beauty that ran in the January 2000 issue in which I tried to explore cultural notions of beauty around the world, and the sometimes bizarre ways that people try to achieve it, prolong it, and exploit it. This photo was from the same story. Tattoos have been around for 4500 years, at least, and have been in every culture since the beginning of time.
This man's homage to Stephen King was a particularly dramatic tattoo. I went to 10 countries around the world from Papua, New Guinea where the Huli Wigmen were the most glorious species of men that I had encountered. Men are definitely the flamboyant sex in Papua, New Guinea. Then, I went to China and photographed the bound feet of the old women. The Chinese bound the feet of their women for 1,000 years in a practice that only ended in 1957. I'd never seen photographs of the unwrapped, bound feet before, as the women never show them in public. Even their husbands mostly never see this deformity. That fascinated me.
Betty:
Do you prefer black and white or color photographs? Which is easier to catch more detail with?
Jodi Cobb:
I love black and white and color photography. I think each has its own special beauty. I started out as a black and white photographer and had never shot color before I started working for National Geographic. It was a difficult transition for me, as I found that I tried to simplify my photographs in order to organize the color in a coherent way, but now I see in color. I love photographing in color, but I do think it's more difficult. It's more difficult to do it well, and I wish I could shoot more black and white.
Grn Hornet:
What is the most remote place you ever photographed in the U.S.?
Jodi Cobb:
I did a story on the zip code of Mentone, Texas, which is the largest county in the country with the fewest number of people. Seventeen people live in the town, which has no running water, no school, and no movie theater. It has only a gas station, a café, the courthouse, and the post office. I loved it! It was pure Americana. As a photographer, when you get a dog, a pickup truck, and a cowboy hat in one picture, that pretty much sums up the American way.
Women In Photography:
Have you ventured to use the digital camera for fast turn-around and delivery to the Magazine?
Jodi Cobb:
I've never used a digital camera. The magazine's deadlines are usually measured in months, rather than minutes, so we haven't really had the urgent need to do it. I'm just an old film person. I'm sure this old dog needs to be taught some new tricks. (smile)
Sonny:
I was intrigued by "The Enigma of Beauty" in a recent issue of National Geographic. Would you comment on that?
Jodi Cobb:
I just did earlier when I was talking about the Miss Universe pictures. Here are more pictures from it. For the beauty article, I photographed in more than 10 countries, from the most remote areas of Ethiopia, to the runways of New York, to the American South, where I photographed a children's beauty pageant. This is where young girls come for a weekend of competition. The age groups are from age 0 to 6 months, and they go up to 26 years. I also photographed the scientists who are studying whether the recognition of beauty is innate or acquired, which took me into the delivery room at a hospital maternity ward, and to the most remote areas of Ethiopia where the women still put the large, clay plates into incisions in their lips. I was surprised to find that cultural notions of beauty are quite standard around the world, and that what men and women find attractive in each other are the same in most cultures. It's a project that I would love to continue working on, and I find that everyone is fascinated by it.
GS Photo Guy:
Do you have any advice for the young women I work with in the Girl Scouts who might want to follow in your footsteps?
Jodi Cobb:
Photography is a very simple field to enter, because all you really need is a camera and some film. It is very difficult once you become a professional, as the competition is enormous, and the standards in the professional world are incredibly high, but it's enormously satisfying and fulfilling. I think it's important to decide as early as possible in your career what you want to specialize in, how you can be unique, and what special vision and voice you can bring to the profession. There are a lot of different avenues of photography--commercial, fashion, photojournalism, etc.--and all have their rewards. I think the most difficult thing that I hear from young women who want to enter the profession is how to balance a personal life with a professional life that makes so many demands on them. There are a lot of women who are doing it successfully now, but it requires an enormous commitment.
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