We are Betsy Brill and Ken Kobré, based in San Francisco. We have been on the road of life together for 40 years. And we have traveled LOTS. We always prefer staying in a home than in a hotel.
Ken is retired from teaching photojournalism and videojournalism at San Francisco State University. He continues to practice videojournalism independently. His documentaries “Walk, Walk, Walk: The Story of StandProud,” and “Who’s Ida?” have been featured in numerous film festivals. He is the author of “Photojournalism: The Professionals’ Approach,” now in its SEVENTH edition, which Betsy edited and designed, and “Videojournalism: Multimedia Storytelling.”
Betsy is a retired independent writer and editor. In addition to producing six editions of “Photojournalism” together, we have collaborated on many projects, including a year-long journey in 1997 through Egypt, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia to compare different approaches to microfinance – banking for the poorest of the poor. Betsy wrote and Ken photographed “The Power of Small Change,” which eventually was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.We also wrote and photographed together in the Democratic Republic of Congo to support the tiny non-profit, HandUp Congo in its efforts to raise the quality of life in the remote village of Lotumbe, and to improve the quality and reach of medical care in Congo through the highly respected Université Protestante au Congo.
In 2001-2002, we were on sabbatical in France. The dollar was the strongest it had ever been (or has been since), we had rented out our home in San Francisco to cover our mortgage in our absence, and we were to receive substantial royalties for revising the 7th edition of the classic photography textbook, "Photography." We decided to commit those royalties and the rent we would have paid in France to buy our own place in Provence. We would rent out our sweet village house when back in the US to offset expenses, and our home in San Francisco when in France and beyond. We joke that people pay to sleep in our bed… when we aren’t in it!