Bob Caputo

Freelance photographer and filmmaker for National Geographic

Bob Caputo, 60, Kennett Square
Freelance photographer and filmmaker for National Geographic

» Books on his night stand: The Emperor’s New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11 by Richard Ben-Veniste, who was on the Watergate Committee and 9/11 Commission. You get a more human look at what these people were like.

» iPod album on repeat: Leonard Cohen’s Closing Time. I’ve liked him since I was in college. There’s something about the lyrics of his songs that ring true.

» Personal heroes: I’ve done a lot of work in Africa, South America and places like that, and I was in Somalia when it was a real mess there, before the Marines went in. My personal heroes are the people who work for aid organizations and non-governmental organizations—who go to some faraway place to help people they’re not related to and often put themselves in harm’s way.

» One thing he knows for sure: The Marx Brothers will always cheer you up.

» Very own vici: Showing Americans people and places that are far away and that they may not know much about.

» Zen destination: Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It’s peaceful, and has an enormous variety and number of creatures that cohabit the planet with us.

» If he had an extra hour each day, he would: Spend more time with my kids.

» Pet peeve: Selfishness.

» Life view: chance or fate? When I go out on assignment, you have to get pictures and you have to put yourself out there for something to happen to you. I also believe in serendipity—but that you have to make yourself available to it.

» Most marked characteristic: I’m tall (6-foot-4).

» Quality he admires most in others: Compassion.

» Mantra: The world is what it is.