A photo portfolio by Steven Koppel

Photography is all about capturing a singular moment in time, but that doesn’t mean an image has to be static. The beauty of the camera is the ability to capture motion, to transport a viewer into an image with just a glance. Looking at Steven Koppel’s photography, it’s easy to feel a soft summer breeze on your face or shiver at a brisk winter chill, to hear the waves as they crash along the shore and watch as a gull flies overhead, to not only appreciate but to be transported by the movement he harnesses.

“I am witness to the most amazing starts and ends of the day. I never know what I’m going to find, but there’s always something new and interesting to experience,” says Koppel, shown below in his element. “I never see my images as static. For me, it’s all about expressing movement and the way nature is creating art that our eyes can’t see.”

Koppel took up photography as a hobby which, for him, quickly and unexpectedly transformed into something more. “Photography became therapeutic for me to help cope with medical challenges in my family,” he explains. “My imagery became a form of self-expression for me to communicate things I was feeling and experiencing each day.” Inspired by the ways in which his art helped him to express himself, Koppel founded a nonprofit called the EDI (Expressive Digital Imagery) Institute. 

“I realized how helpful my photography had been for me, and it gave me this idea of bringing that same power of self-expression to others through imagery even if they aren’t photographers or don’t necessarily feel artistic,” says Koppel. Koppel developed an app for people with mental or physical illness as well as the people who care for them. “Anyone dealing with challenging situations in their lives are able to express themselves with this app. They start with a photograph and then change that photograph to express things that are happening in their life by adding darkness, brightness, scratches, words, turning it upside down—whatever they need,” explains Koppel, who often works at the Gosnold Addiction Center and also donates profits from his photography to the EDI Institute and to the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. “It’s both of my passions—photography and self-expression—working together.”

“When I’m out on the flats,” says Koppel, a Brewster native, “there’s nothing else going on in my life, and what I’m feeling and experiencing is whatever nature is bringing. I try to express those feelings in the best way that I can through my imagery, and I feel very blessed to live near the Brewster Flats. They’re so dynamic and ever-changing. For me, that is the Cape.”

Steven Koppel’s work can be seen at FOCUS Gallery in Chatham. Follow him online at stevenkoppel.com and on social media, @steven.koppel