Chris Rogers and Kathy Cunningham. Photo / Chris Rogers
There's a new digital magazine on the cyber shelves and it was born out of Covid-19 and compulsory insularity.
The brainchild of international photographer Chris Rogers, Recess uses the photographic, video and writing skills of a small group of talented people spread across the globe.
One of those people is Whanganui's Kathy Cunningham.
Chris and Kathy were room-mates years ago and Chris was the reason she ended up in this part of the world (Chris lived in Sydney for a time).
"We connected for the first time in 28 years in January," says Kathy. "I feel very lucky."
Kathy has started contributing copy to Recess. She decides the content within the theme suggested.
Chris lives in Charleston, South Carolina, but work has taken him to more than 95 countries and all of the United States, photographing everything the clients want in a way that only the best photographers know how.
"This is a different stance we're taking, with Recess. Sometimes it's really emotional. I'm a commercial, editorial photographer: I've travelled lots over the years and when you're doing stories you're involved in a writer's story. It's their story and you want to illustrate it."
Because he has travelled so much and knows the world so well, he often has influence on how the writer's story is best photographed. But that's it.
"But with Recess, we're generating it, the visual people, and the writers are generating their stories from the heart."
From years of working behind the lens, he has a wealth of material that never made it into the clients' stories.
"Covid started it. You sit there in isolation with all your hard drives and rummage through them. You've got some good stuff in there, buried, so you resurrect it. Then you feel you have to generate something new, get the camera going again."
Chris made some phone calls to Kathy and people around the world, people he would normally compete with.
"We all know each other. This is like a collaboration, just mature, seasoned talent working together and sharing information. It's been nice to connect on a personal basis with these people.
"Recess is a place to explore and collaborate with our celebrated colleagues."
Chris does not think Recess would have happened if Covid had not disrupted the planet.
"We've turned this disruption into something positive. I think we needed this moment because we've always been so busy."
Although Covid will end sometime, Chris sees Recess as continuing far beyond that. Now other things are causing everyone to look at how things differently.
"I've talked to all the creatives involved at length ... and we're realising through phototherapy, in a sense, that there will be a change in advertising and editorial and things will have more of an emotional edge to them and not be so fluffy and sunshiny. We have learned who we are through this period. We're going to look at our projects a little bit more in depth and put our personal stamp on things. We can't ignore what's going on.
"I think we'll present better work as a result.
"I see Recess getting stronger and stronger: I can't stop the enthusiasm."
While he describes Recess as a "creative playground", Chris also sees this as an opportunity for this group of creative people to present their personalities and viewpoints without fear of being edited.
"Recess is a forum where we can play, take chances, experiment and see how it goes. It may hit, it may not. We want it to be completely open: no borders."
Being digital only, each creative is able to have their own magazine cover, something people usually aspire to.
"Videographers never get covers, so everyone is very excited. As you scroll through the website you'll pick an appropriate cover which will link itself to the story."
Collaborating on the Recess venture with Chris are:
Jeff Griffith (Minneapolis, MN); Kris Gregoire (Mount Pleasant, SC), Francisco Aliwalas (New York, NY), Kathy Cunningham (Whanganui, New Zealand), Shiho Fukada (Tokyo, Japan), Rob Howard (Hobart, NY), Trisha Krauss (London, England), Craig Cameron Olsen (Purceville, VA), Gavin Benjamin (Pittsburgh, PA), Elsa Mehary (Pittsburgh, PA), Shane Reynolds (Destin, FL), Stephanie Hunt (Mount Pleasant, SC) and Adriana Consuelos (Greenville, NC).
Recess goes live with its first issue on June 22.