Team CoBB

Jodi Cobb

Jodi Cobb has always been an explorer. Before turning twelve she had circled the globe with her family; since then she has worked in more than sixty-five countries, using her camera to ask questions about the human condition in an increasingly interconnected world. As a staff and freelance photographer with National Geographic for more than three decades, Cobb photographed over thirty stories and developed an international following for her visually powerful work. She received the prestigious Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, was the first woman named White House Photographer of the Year, and one of her photographs is on the Voyager Spacecraft, out in the universe forever. Cobb received her Master of Arts and Bachelor of Journalism degrees from the University of Missouri, and an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Corcoran College of Art and Design. She now lives in Washington, D.C.

You can read more about her career here.

Faculty Mentors

Gabrielle Lurie

Raised in Washington D.C., Gabrielle Lurie picked up a camera at 17-years-old. She learned photography in the darkroom as a high school senior. After graduating she moved to New York City where she studied art history and fine art photography at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In 2014 she moved to San Francisco to start her career as a freelance photojournalist.

In 2016, Lurie joined the staff of The San Francisco Chronicle where she has been pursuing both stills and video. Most recently she began organizing the Bay Area Women Photograph group where photographers in the San Francisco area gather for events, to share ideas and collaborate on work.

Lurie was twice recognized as Photographer of the Year by Pictures of the Year International. She was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize.

Randy Olson

Randy Olson is a photographer in the documentary tradition. Randy’s more than 30 years working on National Geographic projects have taken him to almost every continent. National Geographic Society published a book of his work in 2011 in their Masters of Photography series. Olson was the Magazine Photographer of the Year in the 2003 Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition, and was also awarded POYi’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 1991 — one of only two photographers to win in both media in the largest photojournalism contest operating continuously since World War II.

In 2011, Randy founded The Photo Society. The purpose of the organization is to find economic opportunities and provide exposure to members as the economics of print dwindles. While working as a newspaper photographer at The Pittsburgh Press, Olson received an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship in 1995 to support a seven-year project documenting a family with AIDS, and a first-place Robert F. Kennedy Award for his story on problems with Section 8 housing in 1991. He was also awarded the Nikon Sabbatical grant and a grant from the National Archives to save the Pictures of the Year collection.

Photographers