Englishman Simon Kossof currently resides in Kansas City. He brings an astute Martin Parr/Stephen Shore sensibility to the American landscape.
Visit his blog Altered States of Agoraphobia.
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Blog Redesign
December 9, 2010 – 12:56 am
Welcome to my new website design. My blog is now a part of my online photography portfolio. Please use the sidebar to the left to select pages to view. My photography projects are now contained in this website rather than the previous arrangement using Apple’s MobileMe galleries. There are a number of projects online for the first time.
The last of the tomatoes
September 29, 2010 – 7:23 am
The end of tomato season is another sign of the change of seasons, which I enjoy. I like to see signs of time passing. It was a great summer with the mildest weather I’ve ever experienced in summer. This bush has regenerated itself for the last three years in a row. Tomatoes aren’t supposed to be perennial and this probably isn’t but it has dropped so many on the ground that there must be many seeds waiting for the right conditions. I won’t be living here next year but I hope the new owners will let it bloom.
Getty Museum
October 31, 2009 – 10:33 am
I went to the Getty recently to see the Irving Penn exhibition, which I recommend, especially if you are interested in printing black and white photographs. But that’s another post. I’m always annoyed by the decision to use the reflective Travertine marble as a pavement, because it makes the plaza so bright. You need to wear spf 45 sunblock just to cross from one building to the next. So I guess that put me in a high-key mood…
After the rain storm
October 15, 2009 – 9:48 am
Yesterday the storm finished in the late afternoon. One of my first reactions was to go out and see what the light was like and make some pictures. This is one of the perks of photography – inspiring us to explore and to be curious about our environment. Then when walking on the trail, my senses were in that heightened state of looking for pictures, not just walking and generally enjoying myself.
Embrace the blur…
iPhone pictures
October 14, 2009 – 4:09 am
I’m still evaluating what the iPhone is good at.
Exterior daytime is pretty good although I had to open the shadows in post-production.
The interior white balance isn’t bad. Not much dynamic range – the windows are blown out.
An overcast day looks good.
This had a greenish color cast which I fixed.
This was taken under mixed lighting – not bad colors which can be improved with a white balance.
Japanese photobooks
October 12, 2009 – 10:19 am
From an interview with Ivan Vartanian, author of “Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and 70s”
“It’s very different from western photography, which has this idea that photographs must exist as a print. Japanese photography, in its ultimate form, is the photobook. [...] It’s like an edition in and of itself; the book becomes an original print. No one image is more important than the other and in the photographer’s eyes, the prints themselves, which are going to make the book, are useless. They have no value other than the reproduction at the printing plant. So the photographs as a collection don’t exist beyond the book. This can be true of non-Japanese photobooks as well but it’s taken to an extreme with Japanese photobooks.”
Thanks to Jeorg Colberg for the tip.
Dawn
October 10, 2009 – 12:28 pm
I woke at dawn this morning and decided to try and capture that unique light. However, there was an overcast cloud layer which was reflecting street lights, so the light was very diffuse. I think it would read more as dawn if the light was breaking on the horizon.
I like the warm glow of the window light. Nice contrast with the lavender.
An illuminated tree.
More of a night look, not so much dawn.
New Topographics exhibit coming to LACMA
October 9, 2009 – 6:27 pm
From the LACMA web site:
New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape
October 25, 2009–January 10, 2010
The 1975 exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape brought together nine photographers—Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel, Jr.—at the International Museum of Photography. Signaling the emergence of a new approach to landscape, the show effectively gave a name to a movement or style. New Topographics has since come to be understood as marking a paradigm shift with the artists thoughtfully engaged with their medium and its history in different ways. This version of New Topographics will also include some thirty prints and books by other relevant artists—clearly distinguished by physical presentation from the primary works—to provide additional historical and contemporary context. Relevant artists include key figures such as Timothy O’Sullivan, Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Robert Smithson, and Dan Graham. Curator at LACMA: Charlotte Cotton, Photography.
Vermont Ave.
April 4, 2008 – 9:04 pm
I’ve been working with reflections on store-front windows.
I’m not entirely happy with any of them.
I found good signage on Vermont Ave., but I will have to return to try again.
Store-front and small-office Acuptuncture clinics are common.
This florist shop has possibilities, but I didn’t get the exposure right. Another re-shoot.
I love the colors in these piñatas, but the photo seems cliched.
This guy has a pretty trick motorcycle. A shame the picture isn’t better. This photo was taken on Sixth St., not Vermont Ave.
