Brian Kosoff is an accomplished master of the photographic process. After spending most of his life in photography he still considers himself a student of the medium. As a teenager, Brian was inspired by his uncle, a serious amateur photographer, and went on to spend 25 years as an award winning NYC advertising photographer. His meticulous work in advertising photography brought him assignments for many Fortune 500 companies and it was the ideal laboratory to lay the groundwork for Brian’s luminous fine art photography.
Brian’s prints can be seen as an image of peace and perfection. Perfection of the entire process such as printing, composition, and tonal range is the singular thread evident in all his work, regardless of the diverse subject matter. In spite of his gallerists and collectors raving about his virtuosity, Brian is rarely satisfied and is constantly motivated to experiment and stretch the scope of his work. “Ironically, the discipline to master the craft gives a photographer the freedom to be creative”.
Though the technical skills Brian brings to his craft are formidable, his motivation to create photographs is quite simple. “When I see a special moment or quality of light, something that moves me, I want to express it photographically. I want my photo to tell a story, have meaning, or have beauty”. Although the places that Brian has photographed are quite common, they have never been seen quite as breathtakingly serene or peaceful as depicted in his photographs. His vision and photographic skill brings an ethereal quality and mood to the images he’s created such as his minimalist, perfectionist’s eye eliminating any element that might break the beautiful mood he sets, by what he’s chosen to show us in the boundaries of the print. “I believe that any element not adding to the design, beauty or meaning detracts from the image and can obscure it’s expression”.
Brian is well schooled in all the classic techniques of the masters of photography, but he has not shunned the use of technology entirely either. Brian uses 4×5 view cameras, Fuji 680 and Fuji 617 cameras, Mamiya 7 rangefinders and Rolleiflex SLR’s. He chooses his equipment based on the destination at hand. Brian heads out for months at a time heavily equipped for the sole purpose of his photographic pursuits. Included with the arsenal of the equipment are night vision, laser rangefinder, GPS, satellite image and topography software, astronomical software to help determine Sun and Moon positions, even equipment and books to help forecast the moment to moment weather.
