Q: Can you briefly tell us about your background and what inspired you to pursue photography?
I was born in Moscow, Russia in 1998. It was tough for me to understand what I really want to do. That’s why I changed 3 universities trying to understand what I want to dedicate my life to. Finally in 2022 I graduated with a bachelor degree in fine-arts, specializing in photography. Throughout my childhood I remember taking camera from my parents and shooting random things. It was not a hobby back then. I just enjoyed pressing a button and the sound of a shutter. Photography as a hobby started for me when I was 15, I found my grandfather’s old film camera and started practicing and learning basics after a while my father bought me my first digital camera. A lot of time has passed since that moment and I’m still enjoying pressing the button and the sound of a shutter but now there is much more in it, I discovered how you can express yourself with photography and how you talk through it. That’s inspiring me the most – taking photos that can speak better than words.

Q: What drove you to submit your work to the IPA competition and your thoughts on how winning this competition impacted your artistic journey?
I heard of IPA and MIFA when I started doing photography and always considered it as a strong competition and dreamed of entering it one day. I finished the project “.raw” and realized that it’s good enough to participate in IPA. It was an unbelievable feeling when I saw an email that I won a non-professional category. It’s always good for emerging photographers to have such an achievement. It makes you feel that you are on the right path and you are doing the right thing and you should keep working to win a professional category someday.

Q: Could you describe any challenges you faced while capturing this moment (winning image/s)?
The biggest challenge was developing this series. It started totally different from how it looks now, there were a lot of doubts and the most difficult part was excluding great photos which don’t fulfill the story.

Q: What, in your opinion, are the most important factors in creating great images?
Passion and practice. These are two key factors for developing your skills. But personally I also think that being inspired by other forms of art like literature, music or cinematography, for example, is very important. It is necessary to leave a photographic bubble sometimes and train your soul to be more gentle and subtle towards life and art in general.

Q: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of photography?
Being unique. Photography is a very popular and fast moving industry with a high level of competition. So it takes a lot of effort to produce something that could be considered unique.

Q: What motivates and drives your photography?
Feelings and life in general. It’s very banal and at the same time very true that we live only once so I feel the need of exploring and being open towards different emotions and feelings. With all their spectrum not only positive, but most importantly negative, which in my opinion are more complicated in their structure and variety.

Q: What’s next for you in your career as a photographer?
I’m now producing another series of work that maybe I’ll send to IPA next year. I’m also searching for a gallery to be represented. Having a contract with a gallery is a very important step for an artist which brings you to another level in the industry.