Capricious Magazine
is a rare treat to be found only on selected shelves around the globe.
Promoting new photography talents as well as showcasing some more
established names, the magazine has perforated pages so that you can
make pin-ups of any picture you like. Swedish-born Sophie Morner,
publisher of Capricious, started the magazine in 2003 after completing
her own photography studies in New York. Each issue is put together by
a guest editor who brings in his or her own favourite photographers,
and this way the Capricious family is growing with each release.
Morner
likes to think of it as a family affair, and flipping through all the
issues there is definitely some common visual DNA. Capricious has an
obvious fondness for animals, for instance, which is why the family
decided to make issue 8 a special limited edition animal issue, which
will be launched in London at the KK Outlet on Hoxton Square on August
7. (DazedDigital.com readers are invited: rsvp@kkoutlet.com).
Dazed Digital: Tell us about this special issue.
Sophie Morner: We
always get a lot of animal pictures sent in so we – that is Karen
Heuter, the magazine's designer, and Melanie Bonajo, a Dutch
photographer who's been involved with Capricious from the start, and I
- we always wanted to do an animal special. And we wanted to do it on
posters. So it had to be a limited edition; the circulation of this
issue is only 2000 and there's 30 different photographers instead of
the usual 14. We had so many good entries we're thinking of doing an
animal photography book next year. And we decided to donate a
percentage of the sales to a local animal shelter in Brooklyn.
DD: You also opened up a gallery space in Brooklyn?
SM: Yes,
we just moved there just a month ago. The launch of this animal issue
was the first public event there. The space is meant to do the same as
the magazine, to be a platform for photographers we like, and of course
here they can actually meet. It's a real nice intimate space.
DD: And Capricious is not the only magazine you publish.
SM: Yes,
there's GLU magazine and Famous in Paris, and I published Melanie
Bonajo's book. For the next Capricious we're thinking of doing a Mexico
special but we're also brooding on themes like feminism or androgyny.
Actually I'd like to do a book on androgyny.
DD: Do you still get round to making pictures yourself?
SM: My
own photography? Oh yes, I'm still doing that too, but I see so much
photography it becomes difficult sometimes. It has a special place
though.