VIEW magazine, Issue 5

Recently I was contacted by VIEW magazine who had selected 11 of my photographs which they wanted to publish along side features by several other photographer's in their interactive, I-Pad only, portfolio journal. The images they had chosen, for issue number 5, were from my on-going body of work made in America and were selected from my Flickr photo-stream which covers almost 5 years of largely unedited material. Their final edit was, because of this, an unusual one and personally speaking  it was not entirely the photographs I would have suggested as being truly representative of my overall vision and I understand this must have been a difficult task for them. The selection does cover, though sparsely, the entire 5 years, and I was happy to find that it also included a few of my latest photographs, made in Florida earlier this year, which I intend to write a separate post about shortly. My decision to be part of this magazine was because I have never been involved in this branch of publishing before and find the interactive element and the technology involved exciting with interesting potential(s).

Flamingo City, FL, 2012

Cape Canaveral, FL, 2012

"VIEW is an art photography magazine developed for the iPad by multimedia design studio, FusionLab. Partner and photographer, Alon Koppel, tightly curates this magazine with great works from around the globe by photographers he knows personally or discovers on the web."

Jefferson City, MO

Please follow this link to download this issue of View magazine:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/view-magazine/id422061173?mt=8

Alternatively a non interactive, but free PDF of the entire issue can be seen here, where you will also find the work of the other photographers involved, some of which are excellent:

http://aquafadas.s3.amazonaws.com/VIEW-Magazine-issue-5.pdf

Miles, Overland Park, KS

A short interview with 'One Giant Arm' Magazine.

         Grand Canyon, AZ

Where are you from and where do you currently reside?

I was born in Middlesbrough, England, but raised in Hampshire and Dorset until finally settling in Brighton. later after some years spent traveling I now live in Overland Park, Kansas. I have been in the USA for just over four years.

         Rest Stop, KY

What inspires you to make photographs and what is your process?

Being an outsider America has come as a great inspiration to me photographically. The act of orientation itself still continues to be exciting and insightful, weather it has been exploring the neighborhood where I live, or throughout the country as a whole. I'm interested in both the America inside, which I brought with me from England (with all it's myths and legends) and also the America that I'm actually discovering out on the road now I'm here. I am also inspired deeply by the space, or the mystery, which arises from the ether between the two, where my own personal vision is being created and shaped daily through my experiences.

Lost, KY

Do you work or study as a photographer?

In 96 I attended the BA (honors) degree in Editorial Photography at Brighton Uni and graduated with a 1st. I have not worked much in the field professionally, but I've enjoyed the few private commissions I've had. My true passion though, comes from my own personal projects, of which there have been several.

Panhandle, TX

Broadway, KC

Legends Mall, KS

Do you have any projects, publications, news or events coming up?

The main subject of my work is America, but this is always splintering into various sub-projects which take me down different avenues of exploration. Right now I am working on a psycho-geographical survey of Overland Park, the city in which I live and I am also editing another series called 'American Idol' which is almost ready for publication at 'Get The Picture', the photo collective I am a member of. I also curate a Flickr group called 'Altered States of Agoraphobia' which is a public extension of my personal work here in the U.S. and it is made up of work submitted by what I call it's "Resident Aliens". This group is filled with some inspired photographs made by some very talented photographers, who are also invited to put together features using images from the group pool plus a relevant text. These features have also been published at the excellent photography website 'La Pura Vida'. The ASA group, as it has come to be known, also has it's own blog and is linked closely with my own blog of the same name. Presently I am very close to opening another chapter to the ASA project titled 'American Invasion', which will be an investigation into the influence of America (for better or worse) on the native culture and environment of country's outside the U.S. It's a project I am very excited about.

I also have a photo-book in the works, which will be published by PogoBooks, a publisher and gallery based in Berlin. The final edit for this book is now getting close to being finished and will be titled 'Foreign Bodies'. If all goes to plan it will be published at the end of the summer.

NYC

Logan County, WV

Links:

Original (edited) Interview@One Giant Arm:

http://onegiantarm.com/2012/06/28/simon-kossoff/

ASA(II) Blog:

http://alteredstatesofagoraphobia2.blogspot.com/

ASA@La Pura Vida:

http://lpvmagazine.com/2011/01/altered-states-of-agoraphobia-1-no-drag-like-u-s-drag/

Get The Picture:

http://getthepicture.fr/En/Photographes/Kossoff/index_Kossoff.html

Pogo Books:

http://www.pogobooks.de/

Overland Park (XVI)

Here are more images from my ongoing project based in Overland Park KS.

My on-going project about Overland Park, KS has been my photographic playground since I moved here a few years ago and it has been the source of great inspiration and also personal insight. The "Over-Land Park" has become both a window and a mirror, where I have discovered as much about America as I have about myself and my photographic vision. It is where both place and self are slowly becoming one. The objective gravity of my original and now sober statement about this city is dissolving. This is something which leaves me enlightened and confused equally, every time I leave my home (or not) to photograph it.

Original Artists Statement:

Overland Park has been consistently ranked in the top 10 best cities to live in the United States, by CNN/Money magazine. Additionally, the city was ranked one of the ‘best places to raise your kids’ and also ranked 3rd for ‘America’s 10 best places to grow up’. As a photographer this news comes as an inspiration and something of a shock to me and I have decided to explore what it is that gives Overland Park this status.

To see previous Overland Park posts (of which there are 16, with many other single images scattered throughout this blog) please use the 'search' at the top left of this page.