Jörg Koopmann - Cat Seen

from Pet Houses, Jörg Koopmann

from The Naked Forest, Jörg Koopmann

from Pet Houses, Jörg Koopmann

from The Naked Forest, Jörg Koopmann

from Pet Houses, Jörg Koopmann

Jörg Koopmann

Cat Seen - Limited edition book

This is Jörg Koopmann's second book after Auto, which is a bit hard to find, and I am sure this one is also destined to become rare as well. (There is one called Distance to Destination but do you think I can find my copy? of course not, so if I loaned you mine...) Cat Seen is the combination of 2 series by Koopmann, Pet Houses and The Naked Forest.

Pet Houses always on the left, The Naked Forest always on the right. Just as with his Auto book, and as with most work he publishes and exhibits, he seamlessly combines he assignment work with personal work, so seamlessly that one can't really speak of the two being separated at all. Jörg Koopmann, based in Munich, is well known for his contributions to some of the top magazines including Die Zeit, Spex, Wallpaper etc. focusing mostly on travel photography. 

The Pet Houses series was made, for the most part, in New Orleans in February 2006 after the devastation of hurricane Katrina. The title of this book is taken from the cryptic, hand-scrawled graffiti which marked the houses where pets were still living. These markings would give the necessary information to the volunteers and organizations taking care of these pets as the owners had fled with no way of taking them along.

The Naked Forest is an ongoing theme addressing a simultaneously funny/sad/curious/strange relationship which we have with animals, both domestic and wild. Several of these images can be seen in a presentation in Die Zeit Magazine.  

This is a beautiful book, the design is elegant and the hand-written title is a very nice touch. The text by Daniel Pies, as well as the imprint, is printed on the back cover, leaving the inside completely to the photos. 

It is in an edition of 1000, not necessarily a "limited edition" typical of the Buffet, but it is fitting in the sense that each of the 1000 copies is hand numbered on the spine.

Hard cover 30 x 23 cm.
Book with a Beard 2009
34.00 Euro

Here is a bit of info about the publisher, Book with a Beard, which is Jörg's new venture into the publishing world, Cat Seen is his first of hopefully many titles.

Jörg is a busy man, he also organizes an "event" called Glossy with Martin Fengel.

and he tells me that the second book form A Book with a Beard will be out in the beginning of May.