Cody Cobb WEST

Cody Cobb’s background in design affects the way he sees color and shapes in landscapes. “I see structure where there is no structure,” he says. “I find these alignments.”

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Cobb has spent the last 12 years working in animation and visual effects in Seattle, Washington. Until a few months ago, photography was just a hobby. Every year, he spent time hiking around Colorado, Utah and Arizona in what he calls the “quintessential American West.” He always brought along his camera. “I don’t want to call the images I took road-trip photos,” he says. “They were photos that happened while I was exploring.”

Cobb’s landscapes are both earthly and otherworldly, with shapes, shadows, color and texture that push them into the realm of the fantastic. “They’re almost accidental,” he says. “I’ll have a spot in mind, and these photos come from seeing these things on the way to these places.”

The images in his series “West” are largely unaltered in post-processing, he notes. “I try to be as faithful as I can to what I remember feeling.”

Cobb's work has circulated among indie publications such as If You Leave and AINT - BAD, and he also published a small book, Cascadia, with Another Place Press last year. With a growing list of group exhibitions, open calls and zines under his belt, he decided to devote himself to photography full time. Recently, he attended EXPOSURE, a portfolio review in Los Angeles. “I felt like I bumped into a barrier, and talking about my work was necessary to push through,” he says. It’s the first step in what he hopes will be a long career as a photographer.

—Brienne Walsh

Photo © Cody Cobb codycobb.com