Inside Story Award-winning Photojournalist, on His Own Terms
A coal miner climbs a shaky ladder 400 feet to day- light in Meghalaya, India — a photo only possible with the extreme sensitivity of digital photography in the extremely dim lighting conditions.
Photo: © Robb Kendrick
“The soot that covers the coal-industry subjects featured in Robb
Kendrick’s photographs practically spills off the page,” judges commented in unanimously awarding top photojournalism honors to the Texas-based freelancer in SEJ’s 14th Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment last year. Kendrick’s five-image entry entitled “Coal’s Visible Impacts” originally appeared in National Geographic. Working on three different continents, the photographer, who is also known for his work in the historic tintype process, endured some of the most challenging conditions of his career to bring back the winning pictures. In a recent conversation with SEJournal photo editor Roger Archibald, Kendrick elaborated on the as- signment, his background in photography and his life beyond the Geographic magazine. SEJournal: Tell us a little about how you
came to be working for National Geographic. Robb Kendrick: I attended East Texas State University studying photography, and got an internship at the Geographic in 1986. When I wasn’t photographing something they as- signed me, I was showing my portfolio to any- body I could — photographers, editors — for feedback, and just worked hard and tried to make a positive impression. SEJournal: What did you do following your internship? Did you immediately start working for the Geographic? Kendrick: As soon as that internship was over, I started my own freelance business, and
A young boy carries a chunk of coal in the min- ing camp where he lives in Jharkhand, India. Those in the community too poor to afford fu- nerals also utilize the mine to cremate de- ceased family members, Kendrick learned.
13 SEJournal Spring 2016
got assignments from [National Geographic’s] Traveler magazine and from the book division, but I was also working for a lot of mag- azines. I was very fortunate. Probably the first six months I was in business I was working twenty-two days a month. It was crazy right away, and I was also doing a little bit of commercial work, like an- nual reports. but that was pretty boring. In 1989, the Geographic photography director called me, and asked if I wanted to do a story on the Gulf Coast from Florida all the way down to Mexico. And I told him I needed to think about it. At the time I was twenty-five, and it was going to be like a seven-month assignment. That was back in the days when these assignments were incredibly long. And I just told him, I really ap- preciate the confidence, but I really don’t have enough interest in the Gulf Coast of the U.S. to devote seven months of my life to it. It was probably the hardest thing to do, to be young and have a carrot right in front of you. As soon as I hung up the phone, I was thinking: I hope that wasn’t a mistake. But six weeks later, they called again and said, ‘How about going to Nepal and doing the first all-Sherpa ascent,’ and I said, ‘That sounds like something I’d like to do!’ To this day, I want to be interested in what I’m doing. The second job, [National Geo-
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