t’s day three of my fourth workshop in Egypt, this one in Cairo,

and the audience of 20 journalists is angry. They are yelling

at me. They are yelling at each other. They are even yelling

at the guy who brings the Turkish coffee and sweet tea.

The problem is the six-foot photo projected on the wall

behind me. It’s my picture of a pro-war demonstration at

Ground Zero in New York City shortly after the 2003 invasion of

Iraq. The graphically and emotionally forceful image is of a man

holding an American flag and shouting.

The war is clearly a sensitive issue here. I have chosen this

photo as an example of the provocative power of a good image,

and that’s what has the group so agitated. The image has a pro-

war message precisely because it’s so strong, they say. You Ameri-

can journalists tell us we’re supposed to be neutral. Is that neu-

tral? Did you take any anti-war photos? Do you support the war?

They are a smart, aggressive group of journalists, and I have

them exactly where I want them. At least that’s what I tell myself.

My Knight Fellowship has begun during a difficult parliamentary

election and just after a slightly less troubled presidential vote. An

opposition newspaper is closed, opposition candidates and journal-

ists are jailed, and several outspoken judges critical of the elections

are threatened with prosecution. The media in Egypt, which is highly

politicized and opinionated during the best of times, is frantic.

Yet you’d never know it from the photos that appear in most

newspapers each day. Reporters cover the stories, but the accom-

panying images are often Sphinx-like headshots of politicians

or equally emotionless images of press conferences and public

speeches. Photography can be much better than this.

Much to the relief of Mervat, the exhausted translator, I quiet

the group enough to speak. I tell them it’s not my job as a journalist

to convey my feelings about the war. My job is to express his feel-

ings about the war as vividly as possible, I say pointing to the photo.

That’s what this image does. That’s what good journalism does.

Good journalism also informs and encourages debate, and good

photos are among the most powerful tools a newspaper has to do

that. Best of all, a good photo on the front page also increases sales.

Over several months I continued to work with a variety of

news outlets and university journalism programs. The goal was to

give trainees a more structured way to think about news photog-

raphy and an enhanced vocabulary with which to discuss it. I split

my time between photographers and their news organizations,

focusing with the latter on the broader institutional obstacles to

getting better images published.

The hurdles are many. Egypt has little or no history of fine-

art photography, let alone news photography. Editors are reluc-

tant to publish images that show Egypt in an unpleasant light.

Photographers, many of whom use their own outdated equip-

ment, are not thought of as journalists. They don’t attend news

meetings, develop stories or write their own captions. Most pub-

lications do not even have photo editors, and assignments are

made and images selected by text editors, reporters or the layout

department through a process that is little better than random.

The following pictures represent the dedication of the won-

derful photojournalists with whom I worked and the challenges

they face as they improve not just photojournalism, but journal-

ism more broadly in Egypt.

PHOTOESSAY

JOHN SMOCK lives in New York City where he

works as a photographer for the Associated Press

and SIPA Press. He began his career in journalism

in his hometown of Detroit as a photographer,

then reporter and editor. After receiving a degree

from the Columbia University School of Journalism,

he took a job as a consultant for New York Today, the predecessor

to The New York Times Online. Smock teaches photography at the

International Center for Photography in New York and at SUNY-

Purchase. He also has worked as a journalism trainer in several

former Soviet republics, Cambodia and Afghanistan. His training

specialty is visual journalism.

Smock was a Knight Fellow in Egypt and Jordan from October

2005 to May 2006.

PH

OT

O B

Y B

AR

RY

MY

ER

S

I

John Smock sees Egypt through

the eyes of his trainees.

WORTH ATHOUSAND WORDS

INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 200613

Reporters take their own photos at many small newspapers, often with

no training and nothing more than a point-and-shoot camera. The

results are usually less than spectacular. This picture was taken during a

photo workshop for reporters in Alexandria. With my equipment and in

groups, the reporters were instructed to illustrate a social issue.

The press in Egypt does report stories that tackle controversial social

issues or are critical of the government, but editors are reluctant to

illustrate them if such stories tarnish the national image. This photogra-

pher chose to highlight a litter problem. While the picture may not look

like much to a Western audience, it represents a leap for the reporters

in Alexandria. The picture captures a good moment with action, subject

and context.

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The Middle East News Agency (MENA) is a government-run wire service.

Once among the largest news organizations in the region, it’s become in

recent years little more than a factory outlet for financial bulletins, news

translations and government press releases. New management wants to

revive MENA, recognizing that an online presence featuring good photog-

raphy is key.

The staff of six photographers at MENA is professional and well

equipped with digital cameras. But the photographers cover only daily

news — press conferences, sports and the occasional big story, such as

bird flu or street demonstrations.

I encouraged the photographers to work on in-depth features. Egypt is

a tourism hot spot for Westerners and Arabs alike. Smart features would

attract readers from around the world if posted on the website.

Sawsan Amer, a film student and one of the better young photographers

at MENA, chose the Tolba family for a story. Living in Abu Wash, an hour

outside Cairo, the Tolbas — two brothers, their seven wives and almost

60 children — catch snakes and scorpions to sell as pets, medicine and

novelties to foreign buyers.

Sawsan put the project on hold shortly after this photograph was taken.

Newly pregnant, she decided that spending time with snakes and scorpions

wasn’t a great idea.

S M O C K | P H O T O E S S A Y

INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 200615

Al Masry Al Youm is Egypt’s groundbreaking independent newspaper. Its

unflinching news coverage is changing the Egyptian print-media land-

scape, a difficult task. Management is routinely hassled by the authorities

and has its motives questioned by a public unaccustomed to an inde-

pendent press. While I was in Egypt the newspaper was confiscated from

newsstands several times and its reporters arrested almost as often.

Photo editor Hossem Deeb, one of Egypt’s few top-notch photojournal-

ists, and his staff of five photographers work hard to cover the news

visually. In addition to helping them with assignments I spent time

showing them how to use their new digital cameras. Few Arabic-lan-

guage resources for photographers exist; even editing software and

camera manuals aren’t produced in Arabic.

I also encouraged them to feel part of the international community of

journalists by letting them know that their work has the support of col-

leagues around the world.

1. This atmospheric image shows a boy selling cigarettes, lighters and

other sundries to the audience inside a courtroom. Photographer Fouad

Al-Garnousy wanted to demonstrate the disorder within the judicial sys-

tem. He, his colleagues and I had discussed capturing behind-the-scenes

moments at news events.

2. My colleagues and I discussed taking pictures that had strong symbolic

value beyond the narrative. Fouad Al-Garnousy took this photo of the

Holy Koran during a protest against the publication of caricatures of the

Prophet Mohammed in the Danish press.

3. Using close-ups to convey drama is another technique we discussed.

Fouad Al-Garnousy, took this photo of Ezzat Hanfy, an alleged drug dealer,

during his high-profile trial in Cairo.

S M O C K | P H O T O E S S A Y

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INTERNATIONALSUMMER 2006 16

Al Masry Al Youm’s photo coverage of Egypt’s recent parliamentary

election was revolutionary in the country. Violence marred the balloting

in each of its three regional stages, and the paper captured it all.

1. Voters prevented from casting ballots were often passionate about

their rights. Hossam Fadl captured the emotion at a Cairo polling station

sealed off from the public.

2. In this picture, photographer Ambro Abd Allah captures women

trapped between government troops and angry protesters throwing fire

bombs in Cairo.

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INTERNATIONAL SUMMER 200617

1-2. These pictures were taken by two Ahram Canadian University students

participating in a group assignment. Al Ahram is the largest newspaper

company in the Arab world. In partnership with the Canadian government,

it recently established a school of communications and media studies in

6th of October City near Cairo.

The students planned to start a newspaper but none had used cameras

before — except those built into their mobile phones. The workshop

started with five students but grew to 12 as word of my presence got out.

I sent them out in groups of four, with my equipment, first with a minimum

of instruction and then on progressively more structured assignments.

Because of the communications technology that’s developed over the

last decade young people approach the news differently from older gen-

erations. They expect it to be more interactive and visually stimulating.

These pictures, which play on color and movement, give a sense of the

energy and sophistication that this generation of Egyptians will bring to

the media.

S M O C K | P H O T O E S S A Y

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