Can you share a little about yourself, what inspired you to pursue photography, and how has your journey evolved since your first shot?

 

Photography entered my life in 2011, not through a career plan but through a personal crisis. After my first divorce, I found myself in a deep depression. Life had lost its color, taste, and meaning. A friend gently encouraged me to return to the things that brought me joy. So, I began doing three things: I enrolled in a photography course, I started learning English, because I had always dreamed of traveling, and I took up snowboarding because I loved the mountains. That was the beginning. What began as a form of healing soon evolved into a lifelong path. I studied photography at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts and started photographing simply because I loved it. A turning point came when I realized how maternity photography was often portrayed in a way that didn’t feel beautiful. I couldn’t understand why such a powerful and emotional time in a woman’s life was depicted with awkward poses and artificial styling. I wanted to change that. I began photographing pregnant women, not just to capture their appearance but to honor the emotional depth of that moment in their lives: the transformation of the body, the anticipation, and the vulnerability. From there, my path evolved into personal and family portraiture, as well as personal branding. Over the years, my life changed, and with it, the focus of my photography. I became deeply interested in people’s inner worlds. What drives them? What breaks them open? What holds them together? For me, photography is not just about aesthetics. It is a form of visual research, a way to explore emotion, energy, presence, and meaning. I don’t just take pictures. I listen. I try to reveal something real.

 

 

What first made you pick up a camera?

Photography has been a part of my life since childhood. My first camera was a film camera, and I used to develop film and print photos with my father in a red-lit darkroom. Those early memories, the smell of chemicals, the magic of watching an image appear on paper - remain vivid in my mind.

Only now do I fully appreciate what it meant: my parents invested in all that expensive equipment, creating a home lab at a time when film development wasn’t accessible or mainstream. Back then, there weren’t local photo labs on every corner. Photography was a craft, typically reserved for those with an artistic vision, and the means to pursue it. However, it wasn’t until years later, as an adult, that photography took on a deeper significance. After a personal crisis, I found myself in a place where I needed to reconnect with life, to feel again. That’s when I returned to photography. So while my hands first held a camera as a child, I truly embraced it with intention and purpose,  in a moment when I needed to remember what it meant to be alive.

 

What’s your favorite type of photography, and why do you love it?

My favorite type of photography is portraiture because it has the power to reveal so much about a person. A portrait isn’t just about a face; it’s about capturing a soul, a presence, a story. I’m deeply inspired by people, that’s why portrait photography resonates with me. It’s a way to honor and explore the depth of the human experience. Portraiture can take many forms, but at its core, it’s always about revealing the truth behind the surface.

I also have a passion for black-and-white photography. Color can sometimes detract from what’s essential. It provides information in itself, and by eliminating it, we’re left with the purest form of connection. In black-and-white, we focus more on emotion, atmosphere, and narrative.

 

What’s your go-to camera setup, and why does it work best for your projects? What’s your favorite feature?

I have three cameras that I use regularly, each serving a different purpose in my creative process. My most-used camera is a digital Canon paired with a 50mm lens - my favorite. It’s light and compact and allows me to move freely and intuitively. I love when photographs are born naturally and with ease, and I want my camera to feel like an extension of my body, not something that draws attention or weighs me down. I also shoot film, and one of my favorite cameras is the Pentax KX from 1975 - it's all mechanical and full of soul. I bought it in Japan. I use both black-and-white and color film, depending on the mood of the project. Film holds a kind of magic for me, a sense of mystery and time. You never know exactly what you’ve captured until the scans arrive. And with old cameras, not everything works perfectly. But those imperfections sometimes create a masterpiece. And finally, I use a Ricoh GRII with an 18mm lens - a compact camera I carry with me every day. It’s my go-to for city walks, lifestyle moments, and documenting life with my son. It fits in my pocket and doesn’t interrupt the rhythm of life.

But in the end, I believe it’s not about the gear, it’s about the vision. A meaningful image can be captured with a phone, a vintage film camera, or the latest digital setup. It’s the photographer’s eye, intuition, and connection that make the difference.

It reminds me of a little story.

At a dinner party, someone once said to a photographer, “Your photos are so beautiful, you must have an amazing camera.” At the end of the evening, the photographer smiled and replied, “The food was delicious,  you must have incredible pots.”

It’s a gentle reminder that tools matter, but it’s the heart and craft behind them that truly create something unforgettable.

 

If someone looked at your work, what’s the one thing you’d want them to feel?

I want them to feel life and to feel alive. I want them to pause - not just to look, but to truly feel. To sense something real behind the image: a quiet truth, a glimpse of vulnerability, and the strength that hides in softness. If my work can make someone stop, take a breath, and reconnect with something within themselves, then I’ve done my job. For me, photography isn’t about perfection; it’s about meaning. It’s about reminding people of what’s alive, what’s honest, and what still moves them.

Who or what has been your most significant influence in photography?

I'm inspired by Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, Vivian Maier, Richard Avedon, and Herb Ritts. Each of them, in their own way, taught me that photography is not just about aesthetics, it's about emotion, presence, and human truth.

I've been deeply inspired by Annie Leibovitz's work - not just her iconic portraits but also how she captures presence, intimacy, and narrative in a single frame. I admire her ability to merge fine art, storytelling, and emotion without losing the human behind the image.

I admire Herb Ritts for his sculptural elegance and timeless black-and-white images, Vivian Maier for her raw curiosity and poetic observation of everyday life, Avedon for his psychological depth, and Peter Lindbergh for how he revealed beauty through imperfection and authenticity.

But beyond that, I'm most inspired by people: by real stories, emotions, and energy. My biggest influence is life itself: the conversations I have, the silences in between, the moments that feel too honest to stage. That's what I try to capture - not just an image, but a feeling.

 

What's one piece of advice for someone just starting in photography?

Don't chase perfection, chase truth. Learn the technical side, but don't let it overshadow your intuition. The most powerful images are not always the sharpest or the most polished,  they are the ones that feel. Photography is not about copying trends. It's about learning to see the world through your own eyes. Stay curious. Observe everything.

And most importantly - stay connected to what moves you. Because the camera doesn't take the photo. You do this with your heart, presence, and ability to notice something others might miss.

 

What role do editing and post-processing play in your creative workflow?

I keep editing to a minimum. Sometimes, I might crop an image or remove a small distracting detail, but overall, I try to preserve the photograph as it is. Every element in the frame tells a story, even something as simple as a piece of trash on the street can add context, mood, or contrast. I don't believe in "cleaning up" reality to make it more polished. I believe in honoring what's real.

For me, the ideal image does not need editing at all. That was the case with this photograph, and with most of my work. I prefer photographs that breathe and reflect life as it truly is: imperfect, beautiful, and full of meaning.

 

How do you see technology, like AI, influencing the future of photography and your own approach?

I appreciate technology - it opens doors, expands possibilities, and has shaped photography in profound ways. The invention of digital cameras, for example, transformed the medium and made it more accessible to many, including myself. I also use AI tools in my everyday life and work processes, but not in creating images. For me, photography is about capturing something Real - a moment that actually happened, an emotion that lived in someone's eyes, a sliver of time that existed in this world. Images generated by AI are not photography, they are visual fabrications. They don't document reality; they invent it. That doesn't make them worthless, but it does make them fundamentally different. AI blurs the distinction between what is real and what is artificially generated, and this, I believe, invites us to slow down, reflect, and question what we observe. I welcome the evolution of tools, but I will always stand for truthful storytelling. Because art is what gives meaning to our lives. And photography (real photography!) teaches us to see, to feel, and to remember what it means to be human.

 

If you could photograph anything or anyone in the world, what would it be?

I would photograph people who are deeply alive inside: those moved by purpose, who carry both fire and softness, people who live with honesty and presence, no matter their title or fame.

That's what my photo project, The Fire Within, is all about - capturing real people and telling their stories. People who follow their inner compass, not someone else's map. People who don't wait for perfect conditions to act. People who are truly awake.

On a more personal note, I would love to photograph my mom and dad. We now live far apart, and I can't visit them at the moment. I recently realized that, although we have many family snapshots over the years, I've never consciously created artistic portraits of them.

It would mean so much to photograph them on film and create a self-portrait with them. When I was a child, they were the ones who first taught me how to photograph. But now, I'm an adult, a parent, too, and a photographer. I want to capture them, and us - through my own lens, not just with my iPhone.

I also have a brother, a sister, and grandmothers back in Belarus. I miss hugging my family. Video calls help, but they're never quite enough. I dream of one day capturing all of us together in a single frame - with all the time, love, and distance held gently between us.