I`m nudity and landscapes photographer from Russia. I reside in the city of Chelyabinsk, southern Ural. I studied radio engineering at the South-Ural State University. From 1985 to 1987 I served in the Soviet army, near Vladivostok on the Pacific coast by the Chinese border.
Photography has been my focus since 1999.I didn’t held camera in my hands before and I’m self- taught. My work is based on traditional film technology, with a medium format camera Hasselblad 503 CW and four Carl Zeiss lenses, Planar 80/2,8, Sonnar 150/4, Sonnar 250/5,6 and Distagon 50/4. To get excellent quality I use a film scanner Nikon 8000ED, which allows me to make 1×1 meter print for exhibitions easily. I eschew digital processing, using it only to retouch dust and scratches.
My works have awards from many competitions, participated in exhibitions and publications around the world. I really love industrial nudes, but it is not enough to use one light source for shooting in steel-casting department or on electric power station, the lighting is very poor in such places. For shooting some industrial and interior nudes I used many flash types: soft-box as the main light, standard 9-inch reflector – as an edge light, translucent umbrella as fill light, and illumination of back drop and some additional lights as local illumination. Translucent umbrella is very good for background light, because some light passes through it and some light reflects back. The umbrella gives light to both sides! It can be used as an edge light and illumination of back drop at the same time.
“Sometimes if I want to make close-up shot of some body details I use an additional lens with Planar or Distagon.”
At the time of digital technologies I continue to use b&w film for shooting of erotic art and landscapes. These are all the films I’ve ever used: AGFA APX 25, AGFA APX 100, AGFA APX 400, Ilford PanF 50, Ilford FP4 125, Ilford HP5 400, Ilford DELTA 100, Ilford DELTA 400, Fomapan 100, Fomapan 400, Fortepan 100, Fujifilm Acros 100б Fujifilm Neopan 400, Fujichrome Velvia and Fujichrome Provia. Especially I like AGFA APX 100, AGFA APX 400 and AGFA APX 25 (it is a pity that the last one is no longer produced) very much. They give naked skin an excellent tone. Fomapan 100 is very cheap, but has a very good emulsion giving the tone close to AGFA, but with a little bit bigger grain. Fomapan 400 together with red filter make picture very dramatic: almost black sky and white naked skin. Fuji Neopan 400 is also very good outdoors. Its colors are so vivid! It is almost impossible to see grain on Fuji Acros 100! I mostly use Ilford FP4 125 for shooting nudes now, because it gives the perfect tone and consistent result. [Official Website]
