Recent stories
Simon Toffanello | Photographers
BACK ON TRACKHow a revitalised rail route offers a chance to explore Cambodia's beautiful south. |
"DREAMYLAND” Cambodia . Faces . Places."Maximalist" Cambodian environmental portraits. View the story |
POPSY R.I.P.POPSY R.I.P. (Teuk Chhou, Kampot, Cambodia) View the story |
ZOOZOO (Kampot, Cambodia) View the story |
WORLD OF STONEFah Thai May: features – Banteay Chhmar Banteay Chhmar is one of the Angkorian Empire’s greatest achievements but, as Denis Gray discovers, is one of Cambodia’s least visited treasures View the story |
KAMPOT PEPPER FARMPerched between sea and mountains at Cambodia’s bucolic south-eastern coast, Kampot’s pepper plantations benefit from a unique soil and ideal climatic conditions for growing. |
"City in the Clouds" BOKOR HILL CambodiaThe old French resort at Bokor Hill sits at an altitude of 1080 metres on the southern tip of the Cambodian Elephant mountains about 40km from the coastal town of Kampot. View the story |
FRESHTONESBorn and raised in Geneva Switzerland, Cambodian aka "TONES" is a talented graffiti artist. View the story |
CAMBODIA STRIPSAccidental micro stories, pictorial jump cuts reminiscent of cinema, random snapshots that suggest the passing of time or a scene in a movie. View the story |
Simon Toffanello's biography
Simon was born in the Bahamas and lived in Italy for a short period. From the age of seven he grew up in Manchester England. On leaving high school in the 80s he trained and worked as a black and white darkroom technician and assistant interiors photographer. In the late 80s he moved to London to study media, photography and art at the London College of Printing. Then took a bachelor degree in Fine Art, specialising in Filmmaking at Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London.
Through the 90s he made several super 8 and 16mm experimental short film narratives destined for the European film festivals circuit. His graduating film Hill-City was further developed, winning an award at the 1998 Brest European Short Film Festival, before screening at the London Film Festival in the same year.
In 1999/2000 he embarked on a road trip through South East Asia with an Olympus OM1n film stills camera. The freedom of working solo with just a stills camera combined with the alluring aesthetics of SE Asia inspired him to relocate to Cambodia in 2003. He has since been based in Phnom Penh, working as a freelance commercial photographer shooting assignments for a broad range of local and regional clients. Shooting advertising/corporate, events, NGO assignments, travel features and more.