Cody Cobb

PHOTO . November 6th, 2012

What an island evokes for you ?

The feeling of being suspended in a watery void.

In which kind of town and housing are you born ?

I grew up in a small town in the northwest corner of Louisiana towards the end of the 20th century.

Where do you prefer to walk ?

The American West has exposed me to such incredibly diverse landscapes. I can walk along rugged coastlines, glaciated valleys, exposed ridgelines, dense old-growth forests, lava tubes, rivers, deserts, glaciers, canyons, etc. I prefer the more isolated and remote areas but even popular places like Yosemite NP are exciting to me.

What type of camera do you use ? and do you apply any computer modifications ?

I carry either a Yashica T4 or Ricoh GR1s and a Fuji X100 (with a 28mm adapter when paired with the Yashica T4). I think they really compliment each other. Both digital and film have specific advantages and disadvantages so it has been important for me to understand what format is appropriate for the available light.

I do apply standard adjustments in Lightroom for both my film and digital shots. My film workflow is a hybrid of analog and digital techniques. Once I get the roll developed I scan as a 48-bit RAW TIFF and treat it the same as I would a digital capture, shaping tone curves and managing noise and sharpness levels.

Your pictures represent all the beauty and strength of the nature in a really intense way. You must be often on the road (or on trails) to find these various environments, shapes and colors ?

I spend half of the year immersed in nature (living out of a tent or car) and the other half in Seattle, WA working as a motion designer to fund my travels. I haven’t figured out how to make money with my photographs, but my current system is sufficient for now. It’s just a bit confusing for my body to go from constant physical activity to sitting at a computer for hours at a time.

Do you have specific projects at the moment or for the future ?

I am heading down to Utah next week for further exploration of the Canyonlands. I’m also hoping to visit the strange town of Colorado City. The architecture of fundamentalist Mormon polygamists is oddly fascinating.

Beyond that, my list of destinations continues to get longer. Right now I’m really interested in documenting the Arctic death camps in Siberia. The Butugichag Corrective Labor Camp is one of the darkest monuments of suffering in human history and it sits alone, crumbling in a remote and beautiful valley.

I’m also interested in exploring happier places but I can’t think of any right now.