Jacob Foko
Visual Journalism

Four years ago, Jacob Foko came from Cameroon, Africa to the U.S. unable to speak the language. Yet, unlike many of his native contemporaries, he may have had much more to say.

Like many fellow Brooks’ students, Jacob’s interest in photography first started in high school. His hobby of taking photos of his classmates quickly evolved into an income-generating vocation.  With this early confidence, Jacob began to pursue this career path more fervently, eventually earning the unofficial title of Cameroon’s first photo journalist.

In 1991, Jacob honed his craft as a staff photo reporter at Cameroon Radio and Television National Television.  A few years later, he met the publisher of Libre Afrique Magazine, a liberal international publication that translates as “Free Africa”, where he became a staff photographic reporter. It was during these years, Jacob’s interest in humanitarianism flourished. He then went on to travel and document for Africa Express and then Jeune Afrique Economie, headquartered in Paris.

In December 1999, his assignment: “Cameroon’s 100 faces of Poverty” became a high-profile, national exhibit. Each of Cameroon’s 10 states simultaneously exhibited 10 images from the collection. This publicity brought Jacob more notice from the Cameroon government. This continued, aggravated intervention and interrogation eventually lead Jacob to pursue a less invasive career path of freelance humanitarian photojournalism and to found the Cameroon Association of Humanitarian Photojournalists, which also voted him President in 2002.

As Jacob continued his quest to document the perils of poverty, poor education and the aids epidemic that threatened his people, especially the young, his efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

He was then invited in October 2002 by the United States Embassy in Cameroon to speak about the challenges of photographically documenting poverty in Cameroon and discuss the power that photography has in raising awareness and educating the world on poverty, health, education and aids issues.

In 2003, Jacob was a nominee at the humanitarian photojournalism contest organized by the Global Health Council, the world’s largest membership alliance dedicated to improving global health. Later, while still in Washington D.C., Jacob met a member of the American Society of Media Photographers and became a member. It was there where he also met a Brooks Institute alumnus. It was this chance meeting that lead Jacob to pursue a new career in Visual Journalism.

However, Jacob was still only French-speaking. So before enrolling at Brooks, he spent the next nine months learning and practicing his English language skills in preparation for his journey to California.

In July 2005, Jacob left all that was familiar on the East Coast to pursue a new life in California. He is now a second-year Visual Journalism major. He continues to freelance for many of his former employers in Cameroon and France. Jacob plans to pursue a global freelance career after graduation. Thanks to his newfound skills as a multimedia and digital guru, he says he can work anywhere and hopes it will continue to be in Santa Barbara. Someday he may even teach at Brooks Institute.

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