Alex Koddrip was born in a deep Russian village in 1978. Being brought up in a transforming from the soviet into free economy environment, he developed a mind-set of a rebel. He asked himself questions: "Why did I have to live in architecture of the established rules that trapped so many nations and led them into abyss? And who had said what the ultimate truth was?" Alex clearly stated that it was possible to live one's own dream, and he has begun to prove it true.

Alex graduated from the Voronezh State University Economics Department with a major in Human Resources. He was always curious about people's traits, and why some of them were tough and others fragile. Determined to climb up a career ladder, he turns his interest into a yuppie lifestyle, what at that time was the only (lawful) way to secure a stable living in Russia. During the studies, though, he discovers his true passion in visual art, which he expresses so far by visiting museums and galleries. At that time two black and white photographs impressed Alex with their emotional strength: a face of killed Indira Gandhi, and a passionate kiss between two men...

Alex was hungry to acquire as much knowledge as possible in psychology and various forms of visual art, and that's when he decided to take off towards the Golden State. His friends envied him but supported; his parents thought he was making a mistake...

The year 2000 has started for Alex in California, where he was about to completely re-invent himself. He attends classes at the State University in Hayward (psychology-, business-, and art-related), meet new diverse people, and steps up on higher grounds of his future. Photography at that time has become his primer hobby: "I remember how much I've got bored from the family albums and snapshots of my friends. I had to show them alternative side of taking pictures."

Alex experiences many ups and downs, lives through his friend's self-destruction on the hustling streets where dignity is traded for cash; he visits luxurious ambiences and dark corners of small alleys where addicts and homeless live through their broken dreams... All of these had a huge impact on his personality, artwork, and next steps he had to undertake in order to rise above all...

After his return to homeland (however, every place is a homeland for a natural born nomad like Alex) he enters the corporate world, which enables his higher standards of living and opens up the doors for traveling.

Alex assimilates with every culture he visits, vigilantly observes people, and absorbs the flavor of the time zone. He passionately practices photography experimenting with concepts, angles, and light.

After several successful career progressions Alex moves to Switzerland in 2005, where with support from his friends he dares to run his first solo photo exhibition. On February 8th, 2008 the city of Luzern welcomed visitors to the opening night of "Convergent Language" - the pilot art-project of Alex Koddrip. Not having any experience, he manages to attract quite a few people to the Castle's English Institute, where he exposed to the judgement of public eye 72 pictures compositioned into 32 titles. The idea of integrating human emotions with urban architecture and landmarks moved people, and invoked very positive responses. For Alex this significant step confirmed his view "nothing ventured, nothing gained", and became an inspiring shift in his prospective.

What will be his next daring step?!...