WHO?
I’m a photographer and artist living in Moscow, Russia. In 1999 I graduated from Surikov Moscow State Institute of Art, majoring in monumental painting. I used to do commercial interior wall paintings, sgraffito and mosaics for years and dedicated the remaining time to photography. Gradually, creating mosaics and murals became just a craft, a routine job for me, whereas photography appeared to be the matter of life.
WHAT?
For me a good photograph is a story told with one frame. But in this story, not only an interesting subject, situation or event are important, but also a clear, distinct form. It is important not only “what” is depicted, but also “how” it is depicted. Like a text which is based on the interaction between words, a photographic image is built on the interactions between visual elements, composition which gathers a set of the seemingly random elements into the story.
WHERE?
Since the early 2000’s, the main topic of my photography has been the Russian provinces — life apart from big cities. I rarely shot in Moscow and took every single opportunity to go somewhere far from it, to some small town or village. It was there I looked for inspiration for my work. However, a lot in life has changed after February 24th of 2022. My attitude to the subject of photography has changed as well. Now I cannot take pictures of everyday life in the provinces as I used to do before, so I started to shoot more in Moscow, documenting signs of the times, changes that happen in the city.
WHEN?
Usually, I don’t plan in advance what and when I am going to shoot, especially when I visit a location for the first time. I just get out and follow my nose. I do not know what makes me raise the camera and take a picture at one specific moment and not the other. I react to the situation, most of the time on intuition, it’s like a feeling I get. And I’ll know if it was worth it only after a while, when I’ll look through the images. The creative process for me does not stop with the push of the shutter button — rather, that pressing the button sets the whole process in motion. Then there’s editing the shoot, which is among the most complicated stages, requiring a lot of concentration and thought.
WHY?
I came to love photography for the very reason that it isn’t like a painting. There are things in photography that are inaccessible for a painting: faithful documentation of the reality, importance of the decisive moment and the chance itself. Unlike a painter, a photographer is often unable to predict what his piece will look like. There is the intrigue that I enjoy: a three-dimension reality modifies when it turns into an image on a plane. Some things become different and become filled up with the new senses and qualities in this new reality.
For 15 years, I only shot on black and white film and had no need for color. But over time, I had the feeling that my approach was too conservative, and that I was using old techniques and simply repeating myself. Back then new pictures started to feel increasingly less satisfying. In 2016, I started shooting in color, and that proved to be the solution to finding motivation to continue taking pictures and look at the world with fresh eyes.
