CHRISTIAN BOBST VISUAL STORYTELLING
Photographer, Art & Creative Director
I am often asked what my heart really beats for, whether it is more for photography or for advertising. The answer is simple: my heart beats for compelling storytelling and eye catching visuals, both in advertising as well as in photography.
During more than 25 years as an art director I wrote concepts for print advertising and TV commercials and worked in teams with copywriters, photographers and film productions. Nowadays I don’t only work as a photographer and art director, I also shoot video and I produce multimedia content and interactive stories for websites and social media channels.
If you’d like me to find a term that sums up my many years of expertise as a concept developer, art director, graphic designer, photographer and videographer, I’d say I am a visual storyteller.
Biography
My own story started 1971 in Switzerland. After school I studied graphic design. In 1996 I started an internship at Wirz, a major advertising agency in Zurich, where I was employed and worked as a graphic designer and junior art director. From there I then moved to Advico Young & Rubicam, where I was soon appointed Art Director. My career in advertising really took off with my move to Jung von Matt Spree in Berlin. Back in Switzerland I became a Creative Director at Advico Young & Rubicam. In total I worked for advertising agencies in Switzerland and Germany for almost 15 years.
In 2010 I became self employed and started working as a freelance Art & Creative Director and photojournalist. Since then, I have not only worked as a freelancer for all major agencies in Switzerland, but have also produced numerous photo reportages in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America for magazines and newspapers such as GEO, Stern, DIE ZEIT and NZZ. National Geographic, the Guardian, CNN, among others, published my stories on their websites.
Awards
I have received numerous awards at home and abroad, in advertising as well as in photography. Among the prizes in advertising were several Cannes Lions, awards at Clio, D&AD, One Show, Eurobest, ADC Europe, ADC Switzerland and more. The most important awards in photography include the World Press Photo Award, the POYi, NPPA, PDA, the Swiss Press Photo Award, vfg and ewz Selection.