Intimate (chamber) portrait (Rokotov, Levitsky). Intimate portraits by Masha Kushnir

Photographer Masha Kushnir does not shoot models or celebrities. Her heroes are most often ordinary people, neighbors on the porch, friends and relatives, and the tools are natural light and a medium format film camera, which more and more often finds itself where its owner is.

This is the Szechenyi Bath in Budapest. Despite the fact that it is one of the most famous sights of the city, locals also go there. And constantly. We arrived almost at the opening, meeting among the visitors Hungarians playing chess right in the pool, old people reading the latest newspapers, women wearing pearls and this man, who, as you can see, even closed his eyes with pleasure.

These are my close friends, I shot both of them a lot and often. But somehow never together. Apparently, in vain.

It is very rare that I meet people who can move so smoothly and gracefully, as if they had spent the last ten years in a ballet school. Nevertheless, Vika is one of them. Whatever she does - sitting on the floor waiting for a flight, running a marathon or drinking tea in her country house - she does all this so gracefully and naturally that she cannot but admire. I never ask her to pose, and all she can hear from me is the command "Don't move!".

My friend, a fashion designer, sewed this jacket as a diploma work, for the sake of which the photo shoot was started. It is very complex and very beautiful, she sewed it for almost six months. This photo was taken about ten minutes before the end of the shoot, when the jacket had already been photographed from all angles and it was finally possible to focus on the model.

Every time I visit Tel Aviv, I go to Siciliana, a cafe that sells the most delicious pistachio ice cream. The photo shows my friend Ira, taken through the window of an establishment with a horn that I have become famous for.

Many years ago, we were sitting with friends in a restaurant, and a long-haired Armenian girl of five years old ran past. I grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture of her when her dad showed up. Not all parents like it when their children are photographed, besides without asking, so I was ready for an unpleasant dialogue. But no, on the contrary, the girl's dad asked to send him photos, he liked them, and he wanted a photo session. Thus began our friendship with Mariana and her parents.

It's hard to capture the moment with a heavy medium format camera with manual focus, and I often hear that my photos look like paintings. But here I wanted not just to shoot a beautiful girl, but to photograph Vika. I put her in the hallway, stood opposite, sharpened and started chatting, trying to make her laugh. When it finally succeeded, it turned out such a frame.

Shooting children with a manual focus film camera is an adventure. Especially when there are three of them, and two cameras. Nevertheless, this photo turned out to be somehow very timeless and serious. But I love her not for that. The true character of this girl is best spoken by the big toe of her left foot, which so touchingly buried herself in the carpet.

The seller at the newsstand was filmed with a camera borrowed from a friend many years ago. I didn’t know a single photographer then, I don’t think I even heard of Cartier-Bresson. Nevertheless, just like him (I apologize for such a comparison), she shot a lot in Paris. It was in this city that it all began.

This shot was taken in Berlin's Alte Nationalgalerie. There were few people that day, and my friend and I walked through the halls for a long time, carefully studying the paintings. This man was sitting in one of them, all alone, he was looking at one point and, apparently, listening to an audio guide. It would seem that there was nothing unusual in the situation itself, but in his posture and look, in the way he sat on the edge of the bench, there was so much loneliness and sadness that it was impossible not to photograph it.

This is London, 2012. There are a lot of cars around, people are in a hurry somewhere, impatiently overtaking each other, someone nervously looks at the clock, someone at the traffic light. And then the green light turns on, it all dissipates, and out of nowhere these girlfriends appear. With a leisurely step, they cross the road, holding each other's arm and discussing some topics important for their age. Perhaps this is how I would like to meet old age.

I really don't want to tell anything about this photo, it seems to me that any details will destroy its magic.

Actor Yuri Kolokolnikov I photographed for Afisha in connection with the release of the new season of Game of Thrones, where he starred. To prepare for the shoot, I remember I had to arrive almost an hour and a half before the meeting. Probably, from a glass of whiskey and the general background, it seems that it was a leisurely conversation for life, but in fact it took about fifteen minutes for an interview and a photo session, and after us a crowd of journalists was waiting for Kolokolnikov.

I never photographed pregnant girls and, until my children appeared, I generally tried to avoid such orders. But I couldn't refuse this girl. She was about to give birth, and I was very worried, because I understood that she was in such a state for the first, and maybe the last time in her life. I really wanted to convey the importance and beauty of the upcoming event.

I think it's the Palais Royal in Paris. Quite typical for this city.

I went to Petra with two or three cameras, and it seems that apart from them, nothing fit in my backpack. We spent a total of eleven, not the most pleasant hours of my life, on the road, just to see this ancient city. Who would have thought that the favorite photo from there would not be portraits of Bedouins, not crypts or temples, not even a postcard view of the world-famous Al-Khazneh mausoleum, but this Jordanian donkey.

Undoubtedly, all directions are given to simplify and catalog creativity. On the one hand, this is true: in order not to drown in the pictorial ocean, you need to build "paddling pools". Such a definition unconsciously drives the author into certain limits and restrictions, because people get used to the fact that the artist works in the same way, and when the vector of his development changes slightly, this causes some resonance of misunderstanding and the public demands a return to the roots. So it is easier for her - there is already a certain understanding. The new is always accepted with apprehension and hostility, but only at first, over time, they get used to it.

I shoot girls and I cannot unequivocally determine the direction in which I do it. A certain calmness is given by the fact that I do not have crazy scenery, huge pavilions and even props. I have people and light, solar or pulsed. In this regard, I am absolutely calm: no preparation, we meet at a certain time in a certain place and work. I'm filming, and the girl... no, she's not posing at all: she thinks she's posing.

And yet, why an intimate portrait? "Where is the intimacy?" my friend once asked me. Indeed, where? The girls are not half-naked, their poses are not at all playful, and they behave quite reservedly. Candid intimacy here can only be seen by the blind. Deceived?!

I will give you one dry definition: "Intimate portrait - a portrait on a chamber homogeneous background, showing a trusting relationship between the person being portrayed and the artist." Bingo!

Man (in my case, girls) is an endless source of exploration. Each of the models is incredibly unique: individual character, demeanor, look, communication style - nothing is repeated. The most important thing is to see and fix it in time, and in order to see it, you need to get close to it. Individual girl - individual approach. Everything is simple, even too much.

At the end of the 19th century, Van Gogh was fascinated by the theme of peasants. He lived among them for some time and painted pictures. But it is one thing to simply observe the work of the peasants, and then transfer your impressions to the canvas, and quite another thing is to become one of them, think like one of them and feel exactly the same, that is, completely infiltrate the environment.

I have a very similar approach. I try to be on a par with the girls, to reduce all the differences between us to a minimum, to understand their way of thinking, to know their experiences and worries. Of course, the task is very difficult, because the worldview of women is completely different, and sometimes it is impossible to understand it. What can we say about getting inside their head! This is a super task, but this is exactly the goal I set for myself during the shooting. If I want to get a girl in the photo, and not the image of a girl that has developed during the work, I need to take her side, look at the world through her eyes and try to feel what she feels. It is very important to look at yourself through the eyes of the person you are filming, to become one of the peasants.

It so happened that it is much easier for me to negotiate with girls than with the male population. The former are too illogical, and the latter are too stubborn. Choosing the lesser of two evils, I settled on the first and did not lose.

Each shooting is an adventure during which you try to find out what excites the person being portrayed, to feel the course of his thoughts and to catch the state that arises between you. And all this somehow needs to be saved in the photo! And do not forget to leave a part of yourself as the author. In other words, working with a model is like modeling from plasticine: at first the material is quite hard and unyielding, but once it is warmed up a little, you get used to the texture and rumpled in your hands, forms begin to appear. And it remains only to decide in which direction to move on: start with something familiar, gradually modifying it, or from the very beginning move intuitively, by touch, without thinking about the result. The last path is very intriguing: either something new will open up, or you will run into a pattern. But it's worth it!

The most dangerous thing that can lie in wait on the shooting is your thoughts, monstrous, contradictory, restless thoughts. Some question will constantly spin in my head: is the model really worth it? Are the camera settings correct? what should i tell her? why is she looking at me like that? This noise is incredibly dangerous, because of it you can not get the final frame, because he will shout to you: “Well, that's it, finish it! We got what we wanted, let's go process it faster!” This noise will constantly supply you with a new portion of thoughts, preventing you from concentrating on the main thing - working with the model, psychological mood and emotional return. Sometimes it is very difficult to leave all your everyday problems at home. If you do not close the corresponding door in your head in time, write wasted. The photograph is built in your mind, and the camera acts as an intermediary between the head, heart and model. Free your mind before making a statement, let your heart guide you. You will argue and reject later, it would be that.

Working with a model is somewhat similar to the work of a tamer. Yes Yes exactly! There are two types of models: active and passive. The first ones are extremely initiative, and if you don’t master it in time, you can lose the helm of the captain of the filming process. Of course, when I say “settled down”, I exaggerate a little: the model should feel your confidence and knowledge of what you want to get from her, even if you are silent. Otherwise, she will think that you do not know what you want to achieve from her, thereby giving her the opportunity to control the filming process herself. This path leads to a completely different result than the one you intended. Be bold enough in your work and don't let others control your thoughts.

Passive models are somewhat different. They are somewhat reminiscent of soybeans: it is impossible to eat it without your filling. Such girls clearly fulfill all your requirements, they know who is in charge. Freeze statically, jump a hundred times, five steps forward and a headstand - if only you said what to do. It is unlikely that the girl will argue with you: she knows that this is her job.

The issue of light cannot be ignored, and here I always remember Yuri Norshtein, a wonderful animator and director. A person who is constantly in the limitation of art creates limitless art!

He once told how, some time after the release of The Hedgehog in the Fog, he was invited to Pixar. People from California really wanted to know how Norshtein makes his cartoons, what equipment he uses and how much money he invests in it. He told, showed and even reproduced a fragment of the cartoon before their eyes. Imagine the eyes of these people, the giants of computer animation who created Toy Story, when Yuri Norshtein took out tongs, tracing paper and a hedgehog cut out of cardboard and began to move it all around on the table. Not only was the hedgehog moving, it was also in the fog: the tracing paper created such an effect. Surprise knew no bounds, because something else was expected from him, definitely not needlework. Norshtein was for Pixar a primitive, computer-age rock art artist, a craft artist.

Norshtein did not have expensive computers, huge film studios and super-equipment, he only had tongs, tracing paper and cardboard. This is the limitation. But he had a dream - to create a cartoon that he could fall in love with, and falling in love yourself, you make others fall in love with it. This is art.

In conclusion, I would like to quote one art critic, Francesco Bonami: "Art exists for those (and above all for those) who have no money, but who can dream - and who need nothing more for this."

about the author

First name, last name, age:Mikhail Ryzhov, 22 years old.

Technique: Nikon D7000.

Exhibitions, awards, achievements:

Received a diploma of the III degree of the International Center of Photography (International Center of Photography);

Portrait works were included in the book “100 Russian photographers. Black and white portraits";

He graduated from the courses of the camera department of VGIK.

Source of inspiration: films and literature.

Best advice: travel more! Travel is a reward. Photography is a journey.

I came to this conclusion relatively recently, when I began to systematize all my footage. I sorted through the photos, put them in folders, put them in the right order, stared endlessly, cropped, turned, thought ... Until now, I have not characterized my photographs in any way. Psychological picture? Yes, what is there, these girls are no more than 16. They are not rock stars, not actors and not public figures. Ordinary girls who go to school. Walk, do homework and walk again. You can see them on the street every day. But without the Instagram filter and Photoshop blur, you won't recognize them. Don't even pay attention. In social networks, everything looks different than in real life. In such an ordinary, everyday life, everything is simpler. It's insanely easier. And modern people are not interested there. Boring. And I'm great! I'm happy. Because I'm alone there.

I was lucky - a few years ago I came to one of the great modeling agencies in Moscow and asked to take tests. They smiled at me and the very next day I was working with the girl. These are called "new faces". New face. Girls come from various regions. From Nizhny Tagil to Samara. They make several shootings with different photographers and then evaluate whether it can be in demand in the West. If the type is in demand, it is sent, for example, to Japan. The girl is constantly under the supervision of the agency, no escort and services - only shooting or showings. After a couple of months, she returns, with money, with an incredible portfolio and unforgettable impressions. Hooray!

My models are no more than 16. I was lucky - I caught them at the stage when they still had no idea how the shooting was going on, they were not spoiled by the "set" movements and look. I caught them completely clean. Both inside and outside. I talked to some girls, was interested in their life, hobbies and hopes. Filmed at the same time. There were those with whom I could not utter a word. We just sat and looked at each other. And I filmed again. No tricks, except for one - we were always together.

I almost always dissatisfied with the shooting during the shooting. Internally, of course. The model should not suspect anything. Otherwise, nothing will work at all. Looking back, I want to note that this is a sure sign of successful work. I am constantly in a state of internal struggle. With what exactly - I do not know. But I feel great. I'm angry at myself, at the model, at the light, the camera, whatever. I curse every little thing. At any moment I can burst and then everything is a catharsis.

Strange as it may seem, the question "how to work with the model" still remains relevant. I'll tell you. Listen. It's very simple - let her do whatever she wants. Without exception. She wants to put her leg over her head - come on! Sit on the twine between the branches on the tree - start, I'm shooting! Wriggles as perishing and in any way will not take the desired pose? So it is necessary, believe me. Why fight with the model and force her to do something? Nobody likes to be forced. It just seeths with energy, it overflows it and asks to come out. So let her get out. As soon as this happens - and you will immediately understand this - it is yours. Fully. No remainder. Do what you want with her. Now it will absorb only what you radiate. Give yourself to her! Don't be greedy. By the end of the job, you'll be empty. Do not be afraid. So it is necessary. Did you shoot what you wanted? I'm sure yes.

When I started taking photographs, I was very tormented by the question of technology. I did not know which lens to choose to achieve the necessary sharpness, I thought about the number of megapixels in the camera and tried to shoot only in the studio to control the light. I believed in the magic button on the most expensive camera. Was looking for her. Eh ... Now I'm completely different. I have a standard lens that came with my amateur DSLR and I forgot about the fuss with megapixels. Because it's all nonsense. Complete. If you are an artist, what do you care about a brush? Your picture is written in your head, and the brush is just a tool that allows you to transfer your fantasies to the canvas. If you still don't believe me, then here's a quote from Francesco Bonami: "Art exists for those (and above all for those) who have no money, but who can dream - and who don't need anything else for this."

The most difficult thing for me after shooting is selection. Too strong residual impressions can interfere and behind a beautiful photograph you can not notice the face. In this case, I watch some great movie, cook dinner or go for a walk. It is necessary to kill old impressions with a portion of new ones. It is very important. I don't like leaving 10 photos. The meaning is one, maximum two photographs. It is in them that there should be an opening. If it is not there, I continue to search in duplicates, or I postpone shooting until better times. Perhaps these photos need to grow up.

I like being alone. When people get together, they become outrageously boring. An exchange of trifles and problems begins. I'm not interested in discussing problems. Meanings, ideas, discoveries matter to me. You have to be alone, in silence. Develop personality traits. They are what create the personality. And silence. Silence.

There is an opinion that it is necessary to maintain a dialogue with a person during the shooting, otherwise he will not be able to liberate himself. Will be able. I don't want it myself. I know for sure. Point your lens at it. Yes, more. And watch. Silently. At first he will get nervous, maybe even start posing. But you - the photographer - are still and this confuses you even more. How so? Where is the team? Where to turn? Here, the person does not know what to do. The main thing here is not to let go of his gaze. He must be watching you. He thinks he controls you. Constantly. His eyes are fixed on you. Into the lens. You are waiting for it. Come in! What? Click! Thanks, you were great.

Of course I use photoshop! There is no secret in this, as well as in the fact that everyone uses it. Even inveterate haters of graphic programs and idealists of "pure" photography resort to his help. But in this word the whole hint is hidden - "help". Not photo manipulation. Not redrawing with light. Not a plastic change. The final touch, a stroke of the author, an autograph. Call it what you want. It seems to me that if Leonardo had Photoshop, it would have taken him much less time to complete the Gioconda smile, and not 13 years. Serious deadline. Photoshop helps me to reveal those advantages of the face that our eyes, and even more so, the camera, do not notice. For me, a face is not two eyes and a mouth, it is a whole architecture, a landscape. It seems to me that the face is not just a portrait of the soul, but the soul itself, turned inside out. And I'm infinitely glad that she can't pose.

It seems to me that a portrait in photography is something magical. This is not just a faithfully captured face in a ten-megabyte file, this is not a bunch of wrinkles or closed eyes, and not even your impressions of a person. This is something third. There is you, your portrayed and it, the third. A certain substance that absorbed a part of you, models, your attitude, the external atmosphere, and then digested it for some time and printed it out. The procedure is worse than any photosynthesis! A kind of soy that you fill with additives as you work. Quarrel during filming? Some pepper, please! Light problems? Bay leaf and some salt! No contact between model and photographer? Add more seafood! This is not "100 best recipes" for you. This is the author's cuisine. Experiment. Add your own, borrow someone else's. You are an artist, so a bit of a robber. In a good way, of course.

I realized too late what I want to be.
Like any diligent young man, after school I went to college. An exciting event, isn't it? So it was for me. About a year. Two dozen excellent exams, increased scholarship and peace. And then everything. No, no, I didn't drop out like all the cool kids in Silicon Valley did. Finished my studies. With grief.

Why is that? Photo. She consumed me. Infused into me. Strongly. Minx. I could no longer attend boring lectures. I wandered the streets. Filmed. Everyone's screwed up. And then looked. Compared. Repeated. Tried better. Almost thoughtlessly. Nearly.

This is what my school is. Photographic school. At the desk you are unlikely to be taught. Need to find. Himself. Rethink and try. And then you'll be all right. Let's just insist.

Composition is the basis of creating an image. This is the spatial relationship between all parts of the image. In general, as one of my great artist said: "Everything should be in its place." Here's how to understand it - whether everything is in its place - a matter of either time or intuition. If you have time - watch pictures, films, read literature and observe life. And those who do not have time usually have a flair. I know. I feel at times.

The artist does not have to explain his work. I am convinced of this. It seems to me not quite right to impose on the viewer the meaning that you, as an artist, have brought. After all, this is the coolest thing - to watch how the viewer deciphers your work. He is looking for connections, metaphors, comparisons, spinning around, squinting, admiring or not understanding. But more often the viewer decides whether he can repeat the same or not. If he understands that he can, he’ll move on to the next work, and if not, put out the light, he will start to wonder what pan it was cooked in, how much pepper was added and why they didn’t add salt. Maybe instead of the author's signature under the work, leave a recipe? You know, like the old tear-off calendars. On every day. Pretty nice.

I shoot intimate portraits.
This is not always a complimentary portrait, because I do not seek to beautify a person; this is the exact opposite of a psychological portrait, since I do not show a person "by himself"; and finally, this is not an individualized depiction of a person, since I do not care about the moment of similarity. This is an absolutely personal, unknown state of a person, into which I penetrate under the pretext of photographing him, and for some time I look at the world with different eyes. That's what an intimate portrait is. This is when you can shamelessly get into another person and look at yourself through his eyes.

The question of light remains invariably important. How many sources do you use in your work? How often do you change the light while shooting? What lighting schemes do you use?

In February, RIA Novosti held an open lecture by Yuri Norshtein ("Hedgehog in the Fog"). The topic of the speech was "The Art of Freedom, Freedom in Art". He talked about his work, how the shooting goes, successes and failures. But his main idea, with which I found intersections later, was that when art imposes certain restrictions on you, work becomes more productive. This is if in a nutshell.

Let's return to the issue of light. It happens that you come to the shooting and it would seem that everything is super cool. You are in a great mood, the camera is set to a masterpiece, the model is beautiful, but... There is no light. Those light sources that were intended for you were taken by another, more important client (anything can happen), or the pulsed light burned out, and only the pilot light from the constant one. Sad, isn't it? But, fortunately, at this moment you understand that these are the very limitations through which art wants to test your stamina. And at this moment, the enthusiasm becomes even greater! In such cases, I took either a modeling light, or a table lamp, or anything more or less luminous and shot. Attention! - filmed. And it worked. And often much better than in ideal conditions. What do you want.

Do not make a cult out of the studio. It's just a tool. Albeit a good one.

Photography is expensive. Like ballroom dancing. Although it is not yet known which is better. When I started working, I always strived for excellent results. And to achieve it, you need a team of great people. Makeup artist and stylist are considered such people, whose participation is not even discussed! Everyone knows they are needed. If it's rude, then the makeup artist will make up, and the stylist will dress. All you have to do is shoot. Miracle!

Shooting day. The model is driving, and part of the above command has fallen into the abyss of the inaccessible zone. They are not here. And it's not expected. Avral, not otherwise. But not only personal qualities interfere with canceling the shooting. So I take the model and we drive with it from Metropolis. You know, the one on Voykovskaya. Big mall. Beautiful place! After a little wandering, you can easily make up the model there. But the most important thing is why we went there - to shoot. There are a lot of clothes there. tons. Go to any store, pick up any clothes and take them off. Where? In fitting rooms. Believe me, there is enough space. Is it possible? Yes, the devil knows. I didn't ask because I'm just a photographer.

I invariably and every day adhere to one principle - do what you love. I absolutely do not care about all the objections and protests - they exist only in the minds. If you haven't found what you love yet, keep looking. Tirelessly. Every day. In every nook and cranny. You will understand what it is only when you find it. Don't calm down. The most important thing - and this is even more than half the battle - is to take some steps. It's all infinitely banal and everyone knows it, but... There are still "buts", right? Be brave enough to find your passion. It can be - and more often it happens! - not at all what you learned. No one can tell you what it is, only you.

I shoot intimate portraits.
I have never shot by time. I don't have a timer that goes off after three hours and says, "Stop! We took ours off. It's time to go home." I shoot only as much as my instinct tells me. If it seems to me that 300 frames are not enough, I delete the initial part of the shooting and continue to work. If I see that I'm going crazy about a girl already at frame 30, I'm done. Never try to fill the whole memory card. It worked - I'm happy. If not, then...

When I shot one girl, we laughed madly the whole shooting. I do not know why. I didn't make her laugh. We chatted, laughed, and seemed to become so close that I was ready for something more than shooting. But things turned out much better. She stopped laughing, looked at me and said: "That's it. Now you. Give me a camera!" And I had to take her place. Now she was filming me. I didn't know where to go. Clamped, smiled, even tried to dance. And she was filming.

This is a very rewarding experience. Sometimes you need to put yourself in the place of another person in order to understand him. You can not look at the world from one point of view, you need to try to adopt someone else's experience, someone else's view. As they say, open your mind. At that moment I shot one of the best portrait works.

I never prepare for a shoot. In the sense that I don’t build scenery, I don’t select a background, I don’t bring a bunch of junk with me. No. I only use what I have on hand. There is a corner of the room - wonderful! We'll shoot there. There is a shabby chair - it's just a fairy tale! Black background, matte wall, linoleum - absolutely all the same. The interior is absolutely irrelevant. Absolutely. People adapt to anything. So cockroaches. So we girls - get used to any atmosphere. And we like her. And it doesn't matter to us anymore. We forget. And we just watch. At each other, at the window, at the wall. Into emptiness. Let the fantasy work. We dream. We are resting. There is nowhere else. Bustle around. And we are two. We shut up and watch. We are silent and we dream. And again we are silent.

You never know what these women have in mind.
I have always been fascinated by the worldview of women. This incredible inner world that defies any solution. A mystery covered in a fairy tale. A bunch of thoughts hidden behind a magical appearance. A collision of inner and outer beauty. Born coquettes, following their desires. Unshakable self-confidence. Absolutely open feelings, absolutely mesmerizing passion. Impressiveness and simplicity. Unclouded eyes and a big heart. Marvelous.

How can you not notice this? It's all in plain sight! Constantly. Right in front of your nose! Open your eyes already! And look. See. Once I saw all this, I could not stop. And I started watching again and again. Only through the camera. So more reliable.

As Zhvanetsky once said: "You need to write when you cannot help but write."
I follow the exact same principle in photography. I don't shoot just to shoot. This is not the correct approach. Fundamentally not true. Some kind of deception. First of all, yourself. And photography punishes deceivers. She feels it. You need to be sincere in your desires, in your actions. No need to speak if there's nothing to say. It's good to listen first. And then think again. And not only above what has been said. I am too skeptical about such talkers. And it’s completely distrustful of those who say: “Well, why are you silent? Tell me something.” How is it "something"? I can't talk about this. And I don't know how. Therefore, I am silent. I listen to what you say. It's much more interesting. And more knowledgeable. Albeit very rarely.

To be honest, I don't know how many steps it takes to get a good portrait.
An angle, a background, an emotion, a moment... Now there is quite a lot of literature, lessons, examples of "how it should be good." There are really a lot of them. The digital age. In free access, you can get absolutely any knowledge. And apply them. And get something. In fact, it doesn't take much to become an artist. Someone said that for this you need to either do the same as everyone else, or convince others that you are an artist through your work. The first way is incredibly easy. And available. Everyone. The second is completely unknown. Where it leads, no one knows. Lottery. Is it lucky?

The most obvious example is the artists of the Arbat. How many times I walked past them and watched - they all know how to draw. Some better, some a little worse. But everyone can. They have an academic background. Hand placed. Firm and unshakable.

A real artist must break these foundations. He was taught, and he is being retrained. Myself. As desired. And don't care about the rules. And then there is hope. And sometimes a masterpiece. But that's later.

I don't overthink anything in my work.
It seems to me that art has been deliberately elevated to some kind of magical status. It looks like a black square. Well, yes, a square. And I would draw this. And then you look - yes, something is not quite square. The proportions are not geometrically exact. Hmm... And you think. You look at him again. But in a completely different way, not like a square, but like a sacrament. What are you hiding there? You remember, you analyze, you compare... You look again. Yes, of course! Everything is very simple. I'll tell you. By secret. Oscar Wilde told me this. More precisely, not that he said - he left a note. Yes, and not directly left - hid. And I found. So: "Life imitates art to a much greater extent than art imitates life."
That's all.

What guides me in my work?
I have several principles that I adhere to. Surprisingly, the great Apple also knows them and invariably applies them! True, in Cupertino. And I'm here, next to you.

So here it is:
"Do what you love." It takes a lot of courage to stick with it no matter what.
"Shake your mind." Creativity is the process of putting things together. A wide range of impressions expands the understanding of the human experience.
"Say no to a thousand things." Simplicity is the hardest part.
Do you know people who follow their passion? Do you have any hobbies and interests outside of work? How high do you set your goal? Seemingly simple questions, but how many answers they give.
Success!

How do you tell a good photo from a bad one? This question arose for me as well. And it is right. That is how it should be. The point of photography, and photography in general, is to find answers. And this is extremely important! This is one of the features of photography that I passionately love. Nothing in the world will give a more accurate answer than the process of searching itself. Simplicity is the hardest part. Remember? When you have worked through a thousand options, you have something to give up. When you have only one option, you will stick with it. But it is unlikely that it will be exactly what you were looking for.

Let's get back to the question. Alexei Brodovich interrupts me... Well, let's give him the floor. "View thousands of photographs and store them in memory. Later, if you see something in the viewfinder that reminds you of the photographs you saw, do not take it."
Thank you.

I am not one of those photographers who come up with a theme in advance and then start working on it. No. I get the opposite - first I work, shoot. I'm postponing. I am accumulating. I'm slowly collecting. And then I sit down and start thinking about this material. And everything adds up by itself. Of course, this does not happen immediately. It takes time. One thought is replaced by another, one statement passes into another. This is very important - the way you imagined your work at the beginning of the journey should change dramatically at the end. Get a completely different vector of development. In the end, you should come to a completely different result. Unconsciously. Intuitive. It's very hard to get through by touch. But this is the most intriguing - you will definitely come to something. And how you come to this will largely depend on what you saw on your way. It's like canning cucumber jars - you never know if one of them will explode.

I am very happy when girls come in good or bad mood. In the first case, by the end of the shooting, it will change dramatically for them, in the second, they will tell who ruined it for them. This does not mean that I deliberately want to spoil their impressions. Not at all. It is important for me to work through the entire spectrum of the female condition and pull out the one that is most characteristic in a particular case.

The most interesting thing about this is that there is no schema. There is not a single perfect scheme for any girl! Each girl needs her own approach. The trick that got you a great photo last time won't work this time. We need to reinvent tactics. Forget everything that you used before and look for a new one. Only there you can open something and not repeat it. And this is the main task of the artist.

Appetite comes with eating.
This rule also applies to photography. Seriously. I don't think of anything ahead of time. Exactly until the first shutter release, I do not know how I will shoot. But as soon as the first frame is taken, it is important not to suppress your imagination and inspiration. You need to follow your intuition and instinct. Shoot "by touch", change the place (if possible), follow your heart, it will tell you where to go.

At the same time, it is important not to become a slave to the model, because at such a moment you are like a pioneer child who does not know where to go and a determined model can seize your initiative. Take what she gives, but recycle it your way. Study your model, pay attention to plasticity, emotions and condition. And don't forget to give her hints. Direct her thoughts in the direction you want.

Undoubtedly, the artist should analyze everything.
And this is one of the qualities that you need to train in yourself. And the best part is that you don’t need to buy, borrow, collect or build anything for this. Just sit back and watch. And gradually that which we so stubbornly run through every day will open up. And there are so many beautiful things around us.

B uduar - a room belonging to a woman, a wardrobe or a bedroom, in general, something that not everyone has access to, something very intimate. Photography of the private, intimate side of life is currently becoming one of the largest growth markets for photography in the portrait segment of today's photography business. People want to show what they care about, how they work, live and want it all to look beautiful and stylish. At the same time, the times of bright, glossy photos taken in a high key are fading into the background. Women began to understand what the photos are, printed in glossy magazines, posted on fashion blogs and on online resources such as Pinterest. If you keep up with the times, then now you should be ready to enter this market and slowly move away from gloss.

How often do you have to photograph professional models? How often do they visit your studio? That's right, not that often. The bulk of our clients are ordinary people who want to have professional shots in their albums, but at the same time they do not know how to pose in front of the camera at all. The task of the photographer is to liberate them, to make them feel in their place. As a middle-aged man, I understand how laborious this process is. After 25 years in the fashion industry, I can honestly say that I have seen a huge variety of body types and faces and, most importantly, people's personalities.

And the first thing I do before starting a photo session is to meet people, tell about myself, show my work. At the same time, I try to look as clumsy and even a little idiotic as possible. This solves two problems. Clients cease to be nervous, begin to behave at ease, and most importantly, cease to be afraid to look stupid. Somewhere on a subconscious level, they understand that there are no ideal people and in order to get high-quality pictures, you just need to relax and be yourself. Keep this in mind, this behavior of yours will help your client relax.

And now let's try to consider the main mistakes when shooting any portrait of an unprepared "model".

In this picture, the whites of the eyes stand out strongly, and the hand is somehow uncomfortable. The girl looks tense, in a state of discomfort. And the hips are too full. I personally don't like this shot.

In the next frame, the girl lowered her hands a little lower, turned her head and eyes towards the camera, her hips were removed from the frame and this is what happened. It seems to be small changes, but how the culture of the picture rises and how it becomes more attractive.

Choose the right angle, because it can both improve your photo and ruin it.

Very often, clients try to raise their chin higher in order to stretch the skin, remove the double chin, in general, to look more impressive. But as usual, the result is quite the opposite. In the next picture, the model just raised her chin a little and immediately shows tension in her figure and look, it is absolutely clear to the viewer that the girl is completely uncomfortable in this position.

Let's try to lower the chin a little. As you can see in the next picture, nothing happened to the beauty of the girl, but it was this little nuance that gave the picture a little mystery and made the model look relaxed!

Watch the position of the hands.

Hands are another important detail that can ruin a shot. The next shot is good until you start looking at the hands. They are positioned like a football goalkeeper before a penalty kick. In this case, the hand from above looks larger than the hand from below.

The next picture seems to be better. But all the same, somehow uncomfortable, the model looks unsightly in this position. It seems that one hand grows in the wrong direction, and the second only interferes and is completely out of place.

We change the position, we will free the near hand, placing it on the armrest of the sofa, which will also hide some details. And we will place the second hand along the body, which will only emphasize the smooth lines of the model's figure.

Go beyond standard thinking.

Sometimes we are so fascinated by the model in front of us that we forget about everything and thoughtlessly press the camera shutter button. But what could be easier than going beyond the limits of normal thinking. Just look around you. Look for favorable angles, use the surrounding objects.

For the next shot, I used the window, more precisely, I photographed standing outside the window. To be honest, I hung around this window for a long time, with thoughts on how to use it profitably. I wanted to create something extraordinary. After setting the exposure, I "developed" the reflections on the glass, and then matched the model and the reflections in such a way that I got a stunning image.

I know that right now many of you are thinking to yourselves: "...everything is fine, but it's easy to teach, working with a professional model ...". Yes, she is a real model, but sometimes models are not perfect when you first see them. This is what my heroine looks like in ordinary everyday life.

Photographer Kevin Focht

If from the middle of the 18th century the most common types of portraits were chamber and semi-front, then in the second half of the 18th century such types of portraits become popular as:

Ceremonial (representative) portrait

A type of portrait whose main task is to glorify, exalt, express recognition of the merits of the person being portrayed. A ceremonial portrait, as a rule, involves showing a person in full growth (on a horse, standing, sitting) in an interior, landscape or against a background of drapery; a feature is the emphasis on the social and social status of the model, depicted in an official setting, with awards, objects of professional activity or attributes of power. In Russia, the ceremonial portrait became widespread in the middle of the 18th - the first third of the 19th centuries.

• Semi-ceremonial (the person was depicted not in full growth, but to the waist or to the knees);
• Chamber (image pop shoulders, chest-high, maximum waist-high, often against a neutral background);
• Intimate (ignoring the background, the focus is on the inner world of a person)

Development of the portrait genre. Turning to the direct history of Russian fine art in the second half of the 18th century, we must first dwell on the birth of the so-called intimate portrait.

To understand the features of the latter, it is important to note that everyone, including the great masters of the first half of the century, also worked as a ceremonial portrait.

The artists sought to show, first of all, a worthy representative of the predominantly noble class. Therefore, the person portrayed was painted in full dress, with insignia for services to the state, and often in a theatrical pose, revealing the high social position of the person being portrayed.

The ceremonial portrait was dictated at the beginning of the century by the general atmosphere of the era, and later by the established tastes of customers. However, it very quickly turned, in fact, into an official one. The art theorist of that time A.M. Ivanov stated: “It must be that ... the portraits seemed to speak for themselves and, as it were, announce: “look at me, I am this invincible tsar, surrounded by majesty.”

In contrast to the ceremonial portrait, an intimate portrait sought to capture a person as he appears to the eyes of a close friend. Moreover, the task of the artist was to reveal the features of his character along with the exact appearance of the depicted person, to give an assessment of the personality.

The onset of a new period in the history of Russian portraiture was marked by the canvases of Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov (born 1736 - d. 1808 or 1809).

Creativity F.S. Rokotova. The paucity of biographical information does not allow us to reliably establish who he studied under. There were long disputes even about the origin of the painter. The early recognition of the artist was ensured by his genuine talent, which manifested itself in the portraits of V.I. Maykov (1765), an unknown person in pink (1770s), a young man in a cocked hat (1770s), V.E. Novosiltseva (1780), P.N. Lanskoy (1780s).

In the portrait of an unknown person in pink, a pretty girl is depicted, with delicate, almost childish features. A pastel range of pinks and silvery-gray tones imparts a chaste purity to the image. Unforgettable is the expression on the face of the unknown - a half-smile sliding on her lips, a look of shaded almond-shaped eyes. Here and gullibility, and some kind of reticence, perhaps its own heart secret. The portrait of Rokotov awakens in a person the need for spiritual communication, speaks of the fascination of knowing the people around him. However, with all the artistic merits of Rokotov's painting, it is impossible not to notice that the mysterious half-smile, the enigmatic gaze of elongated eyes pass from portrait to portrait, not revealing, but only as if offering the beholder to unravel the nature hidden behind them. One gets the impression that the author creates a kind of theatrical mask of a mysterious human character and imposes it on all those who pose for him.

The further development of the intimate portrait was associated with the name of Dmitry

Grigoryevich Levitsky (1735-1822).

Creativity D.G. Levitsky. He received his initial art education under the guidance of his father, an engraver of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Participation in the work on the painting of the Kyiv Andreevsky Cathedral, carried out by A.P. Antropov, led to a subsequent four-year apprenticeship with this master and a passion for the portrait genre. In the early canvases of Levitsky, the connection with the traditional ceremonial portrait is clearly visible. A turning point in his work was marked by a commissioned portrait series of pupils of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, consisting of seven large-format works performed in 1773-1776. The order meant, of course, ceremonial portraits. It was envisaged to portray girls in full growth in theatrical costumes against the backdrop of the scenery of amateur performances staged at the boarding house. by the winter season of 1773-1773, the pupils were so successful in performing arts that the imperial court and the diplomatic corps were present at the performances.)

The empress herself acted as the customer in connection with the forthcoming first graduation of the educational institution. She sought to leave to posterity a clear memory of the fulfillment of her cherished dream - the education in Russia of a generation of nobles who, not only by birthright, but also by education, enlightenment, would rise above the lower classes.

However, the way the painter approached the task is revealed, for example, “Portrait of E.I. Nelidova" (1773). The girl is depicted, as is believed, in her best role - Serbina's servants from the dramatization of the opera

Giovanni Pergolesi "The maid-mistress", who told about a clever maid who managed to achieve the master's cordial disposition, and then marriage with him. Gracefully lifting her light lace apron with her fingers and cunningly bowing her head, Nelidova stands in the so-called third position, waiting for the wave of the conductor's baton. (By the way, the fifteen-year-old "actress" was so loved by the public that her game was noted in the newspapers and poems were dedicated to her). It is felt that for her a theatrical performance is not a reason to demonstrate the "elegant manners" instilled in the boarding school, but an opportunity to reveal young enthusiasm, constrained by the daily strict rules of the Smolny Institute. The artist conveys the complete spiritual dissolution of Nelidova in the stage action. Gray-green shades close in tone, in which the landscape theatrical backdrop is solved, the pearl colors of the girl's dress

Everything is subordinated to this task. Levitsky also shows the immediacy of Nelidova's nature. The painter deliberately made the tones in the background dimmer and at the same time made them sparkle in the foreground - in the clothes of the heroine. The gamma is based on the ratio of gray-green and pearl tones, rich in its decorative qualities, with pink in the color of the face, neck, hands and ribbons that adorn the costume. Moreover, in the second case, the artist adheres to the local color, forcing him to recall the manner of his teacher Antropov.