Day 57: Interviewing the American Photographer Who Shot Saddam Hussein
I’ll be interviewing former European Pressphoto agency photographer Stefan Zaklin on Friday.
My thesis is that Stefan is a more valuable employee today because he had an untraditional career.
Today, Stefan works for a medical devices company — which is a thousand worlds apart from his photojournalism days.
To think that Stefan and I suffered through accounting together at Tuck and I never knew lots of these happenings from his former life.
Some context
Stefan Zaklin was a staff photojournalist for the European Pressphoto Agency. He covered several historical figures and moments including the war in Iraq, the Saddam Hussein trial, the White House for two presidents, traveled on Air Force One, covered Formula 1, major league baseball, and the NFL.
He’s also earned several awards for his photography including:
3rd Place, General News for the 2004 World Press Photo
First Place, 2002 Magazine Portrait and Personality
The NPPA Best of Photojournalism Award and others
Yet, he is most known for his striking image of a man in Tikrit, Iraq, detained by US soldiers who was kneeling in his yard before being taken away for questioning.
Meanwhile, he is infamous for a 2004 image of a dead soldier, who was shot and killed in Falluja, in a house used as a base by insurgents.
My plan is to cover the following ground and ask him these questions:
Tell me about your career in photojournalism. Why did you get into it?
What was a highlight for you as a photojournalist with incredible access to presidents, athletes and/or a front-row seat to historical moments, etc.?
What was a lowlight? Any moment when you questioned why you got into your field in the first place?
Why did you get out of photojournalism? What do you miss most? What don’t you miss?
In what ways have you used the same strategic thinking skills you did while working for the European Pressphoto Agency for the work you do today working for a medical devices company?
What life lessons did you learn witnessing what was going on in Iraq?
Tell me about what it was like to cover the Saddam Hussein trials.
How did your European Pressphoto Agency experiences shape you as a people leader today?
In what ways are you nurturing your original love of photography?
Why were you willing to put your life at risk to cover the types of events that most people run away from?
How would you define a life worth living given what you’ve seen?
What was it like to be in the White House? What’s your take on how the media is interacting with or not interacting with our current President?
How would you describe what you used to do to your two little girls?
Back then before Tuck, you felt most fulfilled as a photographer when…
Today after Tuck, and after turning your love of photography from a career to an interest or hobby, you feel most fulfilled when…
Do you see a way given your current employer where you can really add value by bringing your photography skills to the table? OR Could there be a way to infuse your photography skills into your work?
What would you say to someone in corporate whose hobby is photography…yet they wish they could make it their FT work?
Job Interview Question
Help me understand how you would address the changes that are wide-spread across media. For ex. we have several content aggregators such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. As a result, it’s getting harder for content producers to monetize content. What’s your thinking on this topic? You’ve been on both sides as a creator and person in charge of the commercialization of products. How should we be thinking about this?
