Anonymously. If a photographer says, "I love shooting weddings," it's a lie. Photographers talk about the secrets of a successful photo shoot "What do you shoot with?"

Photographs of strangers also make a strong impression on Russian users of social networks. Often, if network communication continues in reality, it becomes obvious that the beauty and youth of a particular user is an illusion created by the master.

To celebrate a year since they met, Vika and Ilya went to a photo studio.

"We wanted to make an unusual, original gift for ourselves. We took wigs, boxing gloves. We got great photos that can be included in our album," say Victoria Grudinskaya and Ilya Rosenkrants.

But in most cases, the main goal of professional photo shoots today is by no means filling out a family album. The most popular order - photo for the page in social network.

“Since it’s very common now, everyone wants to have a beautiful photo on their avatar. I have people who come every six months, come for the seventh, eighth time and order photos to be praised,” says photographer Daria Polyakov.

The photo studio has all the conditions to achieve the desired result and the masters, with the help of skillful make-up and proper work with light, are ready to transform you beyond recognition.

“I met a girl on the Internet and, one might say, fell in love with her from the first photo. But when we met, when we saw her, she turned out to be a different person. She was much older and turned out to be far from beautiful,” says Denis Gubin.

In a professional environment, they explain: there is nothing to be surprised here. Staged photography is always a hoax. As photographer Igor Ossigeno says, this is "a deceit and a desire to present what is not really there - a fairy tale, shocking, a dream."

A professional photo session is not only a way to present yourself in the best light. For many, this is an opportunity to try on a new, unusual image for everyday life.

Reincarnating with the help of photography has become a real hobby for Taiss. On the Internet, she negotiates mutually beneficial cooperation with novice photographers. Those gain the necessary experience, she is the opportunity to experiment.

"My last photo shoot - I was a demon girl. I took pictures with huge black cats, they weighed eight kilograms each. There were huge black wings. It's like playing in the theater," says Taiss Katzman.

Everything is possible in this theater: use the ruins of a factory or the roof of a house as scenery, play the role of a sorceress or turn into a lake mermaid. The main thing, psychologists say, is not to play too much.

"If you get carried away with this process, try to be better and better and better, but there is no result from this, in the end you may find yourself older, who lost many years of life in the pursuit of perfection, and as a result, did not get something in real life what you wanted to get initially," warns psychologist Anna Kartashova.

In order not to lose touch with reality while chasing a fairy tale, experts give a simple advice: do not forget to look at the world over the viewfinder.

Wikipedia says: “Street photography, street photography (English street photography) is a genre of photography taken in public place: on the street, in the park, on the beach, etc.”
In general, everything is clear. I took the camera, went outside the house, clicked the shutter and ... the street photo is ready. It can be called the most democratic of all types of photography. Here, studios are not required, and highly paid models, and fancy lighting additions.
Only the photographer, the camera and the world around him.

The famous photographer Robert Doisneau once said: "The wonders of everyday life are breathtaking. There is no director who can organize the surprise that awaits you on the street." It's almost magic, a fairy tale.
And the very principle of street photography is best expressed by just a line from a Russian folk tale - "go there, I don't know where, bring something, I don't know what."
Because a street photographer never knows what “catch” the day is preparing. Hence the main advice to a street photographer - take your camera with you wherever you go. ALWAYS. And shoot. As much as possible. In order not to reproach yourself later: “I could have taken that photo, but I didn’t.” After all, every moment is beautiful, and it is unique. And if you choose one or two out of dozens of shots, then you can say that the day was not in vain, that you were lucky.

Street photography is good because it does not require sophisticated photographic equipment. On the contrary, the simpler the better. After all, the photographer should not stand out in the crowd, should not attract attention. He must become part of the street, part of the crowd. Leave long-focus lenses at home, but if you have wide angle lens then you're in luck. It is ideal for shooting in confined spaces.
But, however, the essence is not in it. And the simplest camera, and even a phone, you can take a great picture.
"It's more important for a photographer to have a very good shoes than very good camera"said photographer Sebastiano Salgado.

The best tool for street photography is a small lightweight silent camera in auto mode. But if you are an ardent opponent of shooting in automatic mode, then experienced photographers advise setting the following parameters for shooting in the daytime: aperture f / 16, ISO 400, 1/320 shutter speed. And don't be afraid to use a high ISO. A little graininess is better than muddy shots.

What is good street photography? Briefly, you can answer: "The one that tells the story." When shooting on the street, it is important not only to capture some event, it is important to beat it correctly. Remember that no rules of photography are canceled even in street photography. Believe me, it is unlikely that anyone will be interested in, for example, severed heads.

most big problem novice street photographers is a fear. What will they think of me? How can I photograph strangers? What if they kick me out of this place? Yes, fear is hard to get rid of. But the more you shoot, the less you will be afraid.

In general, shooting people on the street is a special conversation, one of the stumbling blocks of street photography. You can talk about this topic for a long time, but I will not. For those who are concerned about this issue, I suggest that you read this article: http://www.evbar.ru/forum/legal-aspects/topic1557.html. All legal aspects are described in detail.

But for me (and for most photographers, probably) in the street photography of strangers, the well-known principle is the main thing: "Do not do to your neighbor anything that you do not want for yourself."

But if you do run into people who are unhappy about being photographed, just smile, apologize, and, if requested, delete the photo.

The next question that arises for beginner street photographers is: “Do I need to ask permission from people to shoot them?”. This is a personal matter for every photographer. If you enjoy talking to strangers, why not talk, promise to send him a picture. But it must be remembered that if a person knows that he will be photographed, then the immediacy and spontaneity of photography will disappear. And, as a result, you will get a street portrait, and not a street photo, which we are talking about now.

Every street photographer has their own way of working on the street. Over time, you will develop them for yourself and you will choose those that are more acceptable. And now I will talk about some.

1. Get lost in the crowd
To get rid of fear, you can start taking pictures in the most crowded places in your city, at various festivities, events where people are busy watching the spectacle, and not looking for someone who photographs them.

2. Come closer
The closer you get to your subject, the more interesting photos you will get as a result.
But if for some reason you cannot do this, call ZOOM for help.

3. Know how to wait
Choose an interesting object, sit (or stand) in front of it and wait for a colorful character to appear. Well, then - do not get lost.

Dmitry Stepanenko

4. Look into the windows
Shooting reflections in windows, shop windows is one of the favorite tricks of street photographers. After all, you must admit, they have their own world, their own life.

5. Get on your knee
Interesting results can be obtained using the lower angle. The results can be amazing. And you just look at the world from a different point of view.

6. Ride public transport
Public transport is a gold mine for street photography. What kind of types and funny cases you will not see there.

7. See what others don't
To see the extraordinary in the ordinary is not a gift, it is a constant training of observation. Seek and you will surely find.

Antonangelo Loddo

8. catch shadows
Light and shadows are fundamental not only in street photography. But how interesting and unusual they can be.

9. Forget Paris
You don't have to be in Paris to take great street photos. Your backyard is nice and interesting too.

10. Look for obstacles
If you haven't overcome your fear of shooting outdoors, try shooting around a corner, behind a column, pole, etc.

11. Don't forget about our little brothers
The street is not only people. Photographing animals is no less interesting and entertaining.

12. Make up a story
Strive to ensure that your photographs tell a story. Pictures without history are of no interest to anyone. And everything on the street has its own history. The main thing is to present it correctly.

Massimo Pietralunga

13. play theater
Pretend you're filming a landmark, a friend, a leaf on a tree. In the meantime, turn your lens on people. And no one will understand that you are a real street photographer, and not an idle tourist with a camera.

Konstantin Bik

14. Seize the moment
Remember that nothing in the world is repeated twice. What you do not have time to shoot now will never happen again. Don't miss your chance.

15. Learn from the greats
Remember, you are not the first person to take a camera outside. Look, study the works of generally recognized masters of street photography. Take inspiration from other photos, but don't steal them. It won't work anyway.

Henri Cartier Bresson

16. Take off, take off, take off
And this is the main point. Street photography is a lot like swimming. You must first enter the water (go outside) to learn.

Bruce Gilden once said, "If you can smell the street when you look at a photo, it's street photography."
Good luck in this unusually interesting and exciting business!

Many people learned about the young photographer Anastasia Trepet after a video appeared on the network where she hangs a Ukrainian flag on the spire of a Stalinist high-rise building. Today in herInstagrammore than 5000 subscribers. We asked Anastasia about her passion for heights, photography and the connection between them.

I have been doing photography for over 4 years. When I started, it was a childhood hobby: then I was 13. I started photographing from a height almost three years ago. I was bored to take ordinary pictures and one day, while walking with a friend, we decided to climb somewhere higher. We found a 16-storey building in the Obolonsky district, took pictures there and I liked this hobby. Every time we met with friends, we went for a walk not to the park or for coffee, but were looking for new skyscrapers.





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Kyiv has its own party of roofers who get to know each other through social networks, share interesting locations. We call it urban exploration. Roofing became popular in many ways thanks to the Mustang Wanted. A couple of years ago, stumbling across photos of other people from the rooftops, I was surprised that someone else was interested in this. And today there are really a lot of roofers, especially among schoolchildren. But other girls who are seriously interested in this, I do not know.

At first, my parents were categorically against my hobby: they were worried, punished ... But then they just calmed down. Mom told me: “I just won’t go to your pages on social networks and look at photos.” I also offered to give her an excursion to the roof, but she did not support this idea :)


I have never had a fear of heights - I don't even feel adrenaline when I'm on the roof. I just love taking pictures from there. If a person is afraid, then he definitely shouldn’t go to shoot at a high-rise. Everything else is elementary safety rules.

Old houses in Kyiv are often in disrepair, but roofers are less common there, because these buildings are significantly lower than we are used to. But it has its own romance - attics, for example. New houses, on the contrary, are all the same, only the views from the roofs differ. My favorite roof is now closed - this is a 30-story luxury building on L. Ukrainka Boulevard. The view from there is simply breathtaking!

One of the main components of a good root photo is the weather. If it’s too hot outside and there is “haze” on the horizon, then the picture may not work out for a long time. If the sky is cloudy or even pre-stormy, then the frame comes out very bright. The rest depends on the technique: wide-angle lens, telephoto 75-300 mm or kit. I shoot on a Canon 500D, and I'm already doing a panorama in Photoshop. I also edit photos in Lightroom. Lately, I've been thinking about purchasing a camera with a compact size and good technical capabilities. Now I have opted for the EOS M3, a mirrorless camera. Let's see what she can do in the field.



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In addition to ruf photography, I also shoot people- Many people are now interested in taking pictures on the roofs. I also shoot jewelry.

The more people know about the open roof, the faster it will be closed.

Three tallest buildings in Kyiv is the Klovsky residential complex, the Parus business center and the Gulliver shopping and entertainment center. I have already been to the first one, I want to conquer the other two.

There are no inaccessible bridges in Kyiv. The highest are Yuzhny and Moscow. I was at Moskovsky, its height is about 120 meters.


Getting on the roof legally is almost impossible. There has never been such a thing that we have previously agreed on the rise with the owners of the house or the concierge: people are very wary of our hobby. Sometimes, passing by the concierge, you have to say that you are going to visit someone. In one elite house there was a very serious security system: we decided to buy a cake, a bottle of wine and pretend that we were going to a friends birthday party. They didn’t want to let us in for a long time, they tried to call the owner of the apartment we named, but we managed to convince the security guards that it should be a surprise :)

I have been to the police station 6 times. Usually it ended with just an explanatory note. Twice they gave 200 UAH “for gasoline” :) Problems may be for breaking the lock, but we don’t do that. Residents call the police for various reasons: they are afraid of thefts in the house, they are afraid for the property on the roof, they are just playing it safe.

I don't shoot b/w - I think photos from above look better in color.


The most difficult thing was to take a photo from the house with a star on Khreshchatyk– this spire is still swaying. It is also difficult to shoot on old houses - sometimes the slate falls through there and you can’t set up a tripod.

My dream is to shoot in Hong Kong and Dubai. Where higher, there and more interesting.

I didn't complete any courses I almost didn’t even watch video tutorials on PhotoShop - I just improvised and studied like that.

© Sebastiano Salgado / Amazonas Images

« Your first 10,000 photos are your worst.” - Henri Cartier Bresson.

“Many photographers believe that if they buy a better camera, they will be able to shoot the best photos. The best camera will not work for you if there is nothing in your head or in your heart.” - Arnold Newman.

« Which of my photos is your favorite? The one I'm going to shoot tomorrow", - Imogen Cunningham.

« Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field», - Peter Adams.

« You don't take pictures, you create", - Ansel Adams.

« If your pictures aren't good enough, then you're not close enough." -Robert Capa.

« What I love about photography is that it captures a moment that is gone forever, that cannot be reproduced.», - Karl Lagerfeld.

« Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always carry a camera with me at all times... I just shoot what interests me in this moment» , - Elliott Erwitt.

« There is such a subtle reality in photography that it becomes more and more real than reality itself.», - Alfred Stieglitz.

“I'm not interested in rules or convention. Photography is not a sport, Bill Brandt.

« There are always two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer.”, - Ansel Adams.

« For me, photography is the art of observation. It's about looking for something interesting in an ordinary place... I found that it had little to do with what you see and anything to do with how you see.", - Elliot Erwitt.

« I'm not interested in photography per se. I just want to capture a minute part of reality», - Henri Cartier-Bresson.

« The world just doesn't fit into a 35mm camera format.", -Eugene Smith.

« Look, I'm not an intellectual - I just take pictures", - Helmut Newton.

« A photograph can only represent the present. Once you take a picture of it, it becomes part of the past.”, - Berenice Abbott.

« No place is boring if you had a good night's sleep and you have unexposed film.", - Robert Adams.

« Look and think before you open the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera», - Yusuf Karsh.

« It is more important for a photographer to have very good shoes than a very good camera.» - Sebastiano Salgado.

« I always thought nice photos like good jokes. If you explain them, they're not so good anymore.", - unknown author.

« If you shoot in color, you show the color of the clothes, and if you shoot in black and white, you show the color of the soul.", - unknown author.

« Buying a Nikon does not make you a photographer. It makes you the owner of a Nikon.", - unknown author.

© Bruno Barbe / Magnum Photos

“One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photos out of focus are experiments, one hundred photos out of focus is style.", - unknown author.

« Most of my photographs are based on people, I look at the unguarded moment when the soul peeks out, then the experience is engraved on the person's face., -Steve McCurry.

« I have to shoot three cassettes of film a day to practice my eyes.», - Joseph Koudelka.

« Remember that the person you are photographing is 50% of the portrait and the other 50% is you. You need the model as much as he or she needs you. If they don't want to help you, it will be a very bleak picture." - Lord Patrick Lichfield.

« Photos are open doors to the past, but they allow a glimpse into the future.», - Sally Mann.

« A good shot freezes a fleeting moment.”, - Eudora Welty.

« Photography picks up a fact from life and it will live forever.”, - Raghu Rai.

« The results are questionable even among more experienced photographers.”, - Matthew Brady.

« It's more important to get along with people than to click the shutter", - Alfred Eisenstadt.

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« I see something special and show it to the camera. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then he them", - Sam Abel.

« I went into photography because I thought it was the perfect vehicle to comment on the madness of today's existence.", - Robert Mapplethorpe.

« I think the best photographs are often at the cutting edge of any situation, I don't find photographing a situation as interesting as photographing an edge.", - William Albert Allard.

« To be a good photographer, you need to have a rich imagination. You need less imagination to be an artist because you can make things up. And in photography, everything is so ordinary that you have to look a lot before you learn to see the unusual. ”, - David Bailey.

« The two most attractive features of photography are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.”, - William Thackeray.

« I think I shot about 40,000 negatives and I have about 800 of them that I like.”, -Harry Callahan.

« I don't get wrapped up in tech and stuff like that." - Faye Godwin.

« You can give everything to photography, but from it you get only one thing - happiness., - author unknown.

“When I photograph, what I really do is I look for explanations for things”, - Wynn Bullock.

« There will be a time when you will find yourself in a field without a camera. Then you will see the most magnificent sunset or the most beautiful scene you have ever seen. Do not grieve because you cannot capture it. Sit down, soak it up and enjoy it for what it is!», - Degriff.

« Sometimes you can tell a big story with a tiny item.», - Eliot Porter.

« Ultimately, photography is about who you are. This is true for yourself. And the search for truth becomes a habit.", -Leonard Freed.

« Don't stop seeing. Don't stop framing. Don't turn on and off. It's continuous",- Annie Leibovitz.

« Most things in life are moments of joy and hardship. Photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.” -Tony Benn.

« The artist's world is limitless. It can be found far away from where it lives or a few feet away. Though he's always on his doorstep», - Paul Strand.

« My life is driven by the urgent need to roam and observe, and my camera is my passport.”, - Steve McCurry

« Photography has completely abstracted from life, but it looks like life. This is what has always fascinated me in photography.», - Richard Kalvar.

One of the most famous modern Russian photographers Sergey Maksimishin recommends to his students 54 of the best reportage photographers of our time. Let's talk briefly about each of them.

Jan Dago

Danish photographer Jan Dago began his career with short films, but became famous for his emotional photo essays, created over several years in the most different countries peace. Jan Dago has been a World Press Photo laureate three times. His works are published in the most famous international publications.

Stanley Greene

main photo

“I never have money because I spend every penny on my trips and reporting on what I consider important. I try to ask magazines for orders, and they say: “No, we’d better shoot what Paris Hilton has under her skirt.” Unfortunately, what she has there won't save the world..."- Stanley Greene said in one of his interviews.

All his work serves the main goal - to talk about the crises of our time, to show the cruelty of wars and the devastating consequences environmental issues to draw public attention to what is happening around us. Deeply philosophical and realistic, Stanley Greene's reportage photographs have long won fame as the best.

Seamus Murphy


Seamus Murphy's portfolio is like a book dedicated to all the inhabitants of the planet. This is an incredibly emotional, empathic story about life. different peoples. Sometimes his photographs are slightly ironic, but often still tragic, just like human destinies. Seamus Murphy has been awarded the World Press Photo award seven times.

Bruno Stevens

Bruno Stevens is the author of many memorable reports who covered conflicts in Serbia, Angola, East Africa and other countries, a photographer who created poetic snapshots of everyday life. Here is what he says about his work: “I observe, I think, I analyze. My photos are stories in which I put my emotions and feelings. They have to be deep, like metaphors... I don't create anything. My camera is like a notebook or Notebook. I write with light.

Thomas Dvorak

Thomas Dvorak was only 20 years old when he voluntarily gave up a prosperous life in Bavaria and wanted to know what war is. He devoted his life to the genre of photo reportage, visited various hot spots and made shots that will forever remain in world military photography. “I love that I'm not in complete control of what happens during the shoot; the only decision on my part is frame selection. You might say that's the downside of photography, but it's also what makes it magic." says Thomas.

Antonin Kratochvil

A native of the Czech Republic, Antonin Kratochvil wandered around Europe for quite a long time. At 24, he moved to the United States, where he began his photography career. During this time, he captured many decisive events that took place in the world: the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, military conflicts in Iraq, Nigeria and other countries. Showing the war along with everyday life, Kratochvil created a documentary realistic gallery of the life of his contemporaries.

Larry Towell


Larry Towell is not only a photographer, he is engaged in folk music, writes books and just observes the surrounding life. “If there is a theme that connects all my work, I think it is the land: how it makes people who they become, and what happens to them when they lose their land, losing their identity with it” says Larry.

Jan Grarup

“My most important advice is listen to your heart. If you shoot without empathy, you will fail. Only time spent at the shooting location with the characters, only communication and interaction, only help and empathy will help you create a real story., Jan Grarup once said. His black and white shots tell about troubles and other people's pain. Showing the life of people in conditions of wars and crises, he draws the attention of the world community to the small deeds that have become an integral part of the lives of some of us.

Carolyn Cole


Carolyn began her career as a photojournalist right after graduating from university in 1983. She visited Kosovo, Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq - everywhere where serious military events took place. In 2004, Carolyn won the Pulitzer Prize for her photo essay on Liberia.

Alexandra Bulla


Alexandra covered the tragic events that took place all over the world. Her pictures were published by the largest publications: Newsweek, Paris Match, national geographic. She was one of the leading French reporter photographers. Since 2006 Alexandra has focused mainly on the conflict in Gaza. In 2007, she passed away.

Tomasz Gudzowaty


Polish photographer Tomasz Gudzovati specializes in non-commercial sports photography. In his portfolio we see dynamic shots of Mongolian horse racing, street parkour, kung fu masters training and much more. His work is actively published by Forbes, Newsweek, Time and The Guardian. Tomas himself does not consider himself sports photographer and says that each of his frames is a story about a person.

Tim Clayton


Tim Clayton, among other things, is engaged in sports photography. The British reporter has already covered eight Olympics and five Rugby World Cups. Finally, he is interested in street photography. For his unique sense of composition and ability to choose unusual angles, Tim is sometimes called a living classic of photography.

Heidi Bradner

Heidi Bradner is known for her humanistic reportage shots. Her work is widely published New York Times Magazine, Granta, GEO, Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Stern. “When I am in another country, I am very open to what people tell me...” Heidi says. This must be the secret of her success.

Noel Patrick Quidu

French photographer Noel Patrick Cuidi took pictures in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Chechnya, Yugoslavia, the Balkans. "War is so ugly that I do not understand those who seek to make beautiful pictures» he once said. His shots are realistic and at the same time filled with humanism and sympathy. Noel has been awarded the World Press Photo award three times.

Ikka Uimonen (lkka Uimonen)


Ikka Uimonen, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, has made war reporting his main genre. The leading theme of his work was the coverage of military conflicts in Afghanistan and Palestine.

Christopher Morris


Christopher Morris is one of the most famous American photojournalists. He filmed the US invasion of Iraq, military operations in Colombia, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Chechnya and other countries, a total of 18 international conflicts. Christopher is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal and the World Press Photo Award. “The role of the photographer in war is very important: we must face its ugliness if we want world peace. The new millennium began, but conflicts became not less, but more. If you consider South Africa and Zimbabwe to be dangerous countries where it is dangerous for a white person to appear on the street at night, remember that these are the consequences of the past - the blindness of the colonialists and occupiers. he says.

Luc Delahaye


Luc Delaye is a famous French photographer who has been photographing wars, social conflicts, suffering and poverty for many years. His work is distinguished by an underlined honesty in front of the viewer, which is combined with a thoughtful dramatization of the narrative, consisting of a series of photographs. Luke began working in the mid-1980s, and over the past almost 30 years he has filmed almost all significant military conflicts - in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Chechnya and Iraq. Luc Delaye's photographs are not only published in the press, but also exhibited in museums, creating truly powerful compositions.

“It's just true that in Afghanistan, death goes hand in hand with beautiful scenery. Do not show this contradiction?, Luke says . - Journalists representing the press see the Afghan scenery but don't film it because they weren't asked to. All my efforts are aimed at being as neutral as possible, as well as feeling as much as possible in order to allow the image to reveal to viewers the mystery of the real.

Georgy Pinkhasov

Georgy Pinkhasov is one of outstanding photographers of his generation and the only Russian who became a full member of the most authoritative Magnum agency. After graduating from VGIK, Georgy worked as a freelance artist, first in the USSR, then, since 1985, in France. His works are extremely colorful, and one of the most famous was the series "Tbilisi Baths", after the creation of which he was accepted into Magnum. Georgy Pinkhasov is the winner of World Press Photo, Bourse de la Ville de Paris (France), Society of News Design Awards of Excellence (USA), his works are published in GEO, Actuel, New York Times.

“All my best photographs are of the unexpected. You just need to destroy your own willfulness, the stereotype and surrender to the free wave ... You need to find harmony with reality, but, once again, this does not guarantee you success.

James Nachtwey


James Nachtwey is one of the world's most famous war photographers, having started working in conflict zones as early as 1981, when he made an almost legendary report on the uprisings in Northern Ireland. After that, war and social clashes became the main theme of his works, imbued with real pain and a call to stop violence on the entire planet. James has worked in South Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union as well as in Eastern Europe.

Devotion to the cause and humanistic ideals made James Nachtwey one of the most respected reportage photographers, which was reflected not only in a large number of solo exhibitions, but also in the World Press Photo award in 1994, as well as in five Robert Capa medals in 1983, 1984, 1986 , 1994 and 1998.

“I am half deaf. I have bad nerves and constantly ringing in my ears ... I must have gone deaf because I did not put earplugs in my ears, because I really wanted to hear. I wanted to achieve the maximum power of sensations, even if they are too painful. says James.

Gideon Mendel


Gideon Mendel was born in 1959 in South Africa. Being a civil activist, with his pictures he not only tries to draw attention to any problem, but literally calls to solve it. And the main theme of his work, which is not surprising for a South African, was the problem of AIDS. He was one of the first to describe this terrible disaster with the help of photography.

Gideon Mendel has received many awards for his work, and his photographs are actively published by the world's leading publications, including National Geographic, Fortune Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, GEO, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian Weekend Magazine, L'Express and Stern Magazine.

Andrew Testa


Andrew Testa was born in England in 1965 and began his career as a freelance photographer for the Guardian and Observer newspapers. The first direction of his work was the protest movement of the Greens, but since 1999, Andrew Testa has completely turned to reportage photography, covering numerous armed conflicts. The first place of his work was Kosovo, and then there were the countries of Central Asia, the Balkans and other regions.

He received his first World Press Photo award back in 1994, and since then there have been three. Not surprisingly, his reporting can be seen in publications such as Newsweek, Time, Stern, GEO, Paris Match, Der Spiegel, The Sunday Times Magazine and many more.

Anthony Suau


Anthony Svo is an American photojournalist specializing in social conflicts and their reflection in people's lives. He filmed the demolition of the Berlin Wall that launched his decade-long project to transform the Eastern Bloc, produced a report on the famine in Ethiopia for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and became the author of a photographic project about images and slogans inside the United States during the Iraq War. Anthony Svo visited Moscow twice: in 1991, during the coup, and in 2009.

“I am aware of the risk that exists in any military conflict. When I go there, I know what I'm getting into. Often a journalist speaks on one of the sides, and each of them has its own truth, its own ideals, its own understanding of what they are fighting for. I try never to separate them. It is important for me how I will see the history of this or that conflict.”

Ron Haviv

Ron Haviv is a photographer who has made it his goal to show the war for what it is. Born in 1965, almost immediately after graduating from New York University, he began filming armed conflicts, which have become commonplace even in Europe. Among his first assignments are the battle for Vukovar in Croatia, the siege of Sarajevo, the atrocities committed in Serbian concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and much more. He also filmed other tragedies: an earthquake in Haiti, a famine in Bangladesh, a war with drug lords in Mexico. In 2001, Ron Haviv founded the VII photo agency, which along with him included, for example, Christopher Morris and James Nachtwey.

He recalls: “It’s terrible when someone is killed next to you. The first time it happened, I was not allowed to film. I couldn't save them, but if I didn't tell the world about it, it would be even worse. And I promised myself that if I find myself in this situation again, then at least I will be able to press the button..

Paolo Pellegrin


Paolo Pellegrin is an Italian photographer who combines the talent of a photojournalist with the talent of a photo artist, sometimes creating real works of art that do not lose their original content, remaining a deep journalistic work.

Paolo was born in 1964 in Rome and originally planned to become an architect, but after studying for three years, he realized that he was attracted to photography much more. He completed his studies at the Faculty of Photography, after which he moved to Paris and worked for the VU agency for ten years. Since the late 1990s, wars and social conflicts have become the main themes of Paolo Pellegrin's work, and he himself moves from one hot spot to another. It was in this field that Paolo became best known, and his work has earned him numerous awards: the World Press Photo, the Leica Medal of Excellence and the Robert Capa Gold Medal.

“I started traveling in the late 1990s, photographing events in Darfur and other hotspots of the time. I filmed Kosovo. I haven't been able to stop since then."says the photographer.- I think it's important for me to want to document and create a visual story about our history, at least part of it. I am interested in the social, humanistic side of photography, and for me this is the main attitude to life. I love to communicate with people and be an intermediary between photography and its viewer. The motivation for me is to connect these three components.”

Alex Webb

Alex Webb is one of the few photographers with a truly profound classical education. In addition to photography at the Center fine arts Carpenter, he studied literature and history at Harvard University. And since 1975, his career as a professional photographer began, and he was immediately noticed by the public and editors.

Since then, he has achieved impressive success, becoming a recognized master of photography: his work can be found in the Cambridge Museum of Art, the International Center for Photography in New York and in many other museums. In addition, as a journalist, he actively publishes in such publications as National Geographic, GEO, Time, New York Times Magazine. Alex Webb is also the author of numerous books on photography.

“When I work, I really have to work. I need to stay tuned. I have to get up early in the morning, go out of the house and be curious; when the light becomes less interesting, then I go to have breakfast... I work in color, so the quality of lighting is especially important for me, for this reason I shoot more at one time of the day than at another. I always try to be outside in the afternoon and in evening time', says Alex.

Francesco Zizola

Italian photographer Francesco Zizola was born in 1962 in Rome. He entered photojournalism shortly before the outbreak of numerous armed conflicts in Europe and other parts of the world, so it is not surprising that the young Italian photographer began to visit these hot spots as a correspondent. He was in Angola in 1996, did two projects on Iraqi issues, and also filmed in Africa, Brazil and other regions.

The result of 13 years of his work was the book Born Somewhere, dedicated to the children of the countries he visited. Francesco Zizola has won seven World Press Photo awards and four Picture of the Year awards for his work.

David Guttenfelder

American war reporter David Guttenfelder, like all his colleagues, simply cannot stay at home for a long time and tries to go on a new trip as soon as possible. However, few of the photographers managed to visit a total of 75 countries around the world!

The main themes of his works are wars and the humanitarian disasters that accompany them. David has covered the Rwanda genocide, the conflicts in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq. However, he does not refuse to work for various important events like the inauguration of Barack Obama or the Olympics (he has been to several).

One of his most famous projects was a series of photographs from North Korea, which is not at all easy for an American, and even a professional photojournalist, to get into. Nevertheless, David Guttenfelder managed to make a very informative report from one of the most closed countries in the world.

Eric Refner


Danish Eric Refner started his career as a commercial photographer. However, at some point, he realized that the romance of photojournalism attracted him much more, and began to travel the world with a camera in his hands. He filmed conflicts in Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq.

However, Eric is not limited to wars and humanitarian disasters, the range of his work is much wider. In particular, he received the World Press Photo award for his reportage on the "last romantics of rockabilly", who today live as if in the yard of the 1950s.

“I can’t stand listening to complaints and excuses that everything is not going the way I want. I don't like people who are cold to their work. Technically, there is nothing complicated in photography. It is important for her to understand and desire to do something unique, without passion for this business, nothing will work out, ”- says the photographer.

Reza Deghati

Reza Deghati is one of the most famous photographers of our time, whose photographs have graced the covers of publications such as National Geographic, GEO, Time Photo and many others. He was born in Iran but was forced to leave in 1979 after a coup d'état brought radical Islamists to power.

Over the years, Reza Deghati has achieved recognition as one of the preeminent humanist photographers, combining professional talent with a sincere love for humanity. His photographs are imbued with the desire for the best, the desire to “give the world a chance”, therefore it is not surprising that, having proved himself as a photographer and teacher (since 1983, he has realized many curricula around the world), Reza Deghati is also a philanthropist. In 2001, he founded AINA, a charitable association dedicated to children's education.

“Two natures coexist in me, a photographer and a humanist. Photography for me is not just an image. With my work, I try to establish a connection between cultures, as well as show the society countries and people that they have not seen”, Reza says.

Abbas

Iranian photographer Abbas Attar first became famous on a global scale back in the 1970s, when he began to photograph the gradually maturing Islamic revolution in his country. After the 1979 coup, he left his homeland and moved to France. As a photojournalist, he has worked in various parts of the world, covering mainly wars and other conflicts. Abbas traveled to such countries and regions as Bangladesh, Ireland, Vietnam, Chile, Cuba, the Middle East, and South Africa during the apartheid period.

Since the late 1980s, Abbas has been engaged in a large project dedicated to the rise of Islam in different regions of the world, which not only brought fame to the photographer, but also grew into a kind of attempt to show the reality of religions as such, as well as the clash of various ideologies.

“I would call this feeling inspiration, with the correction that it is far from religious. To see the event as a whole and the multidirectional flows of people in it, you need to distinguish between color, shadows and lines. To do this, you need to immerse yourself in the event and be sensitive, and I do this consciously. Sometimes at a Muslim prayer, in an Orthodox church, at a pagan rite, there is a feeling close to a trance, but even in this case, I still have to set the exposure correctly, ”- shares his thoughts Abbas.

Harry Gruyaert


The Belgian photographer Harry Gruer, being a photojournalist, part of the team of the famous Magnum agency, found his own special niche in the everyday life of photojournalism. In his bright, emphatically coloristic works, West and East meet. He made his first trip to Morocco back in 1969, and the bright, saturated colors of this North African country inspired his creativity. Since then, Harry Gruer has traveled all over the world and brought his bright and colorful reports from everywhere.

“Composition suddenly formed from color, lines and movement is magic.”
“When shooting anywhere, I try to be open to the world. The camera must be ready, and the head must be empty at the same time, so that prejudices do not prevent me from seeing the world as it is.

Vladimir Semin

Vladimir Semin, Abandoned Villages. Forgotten people»

Vladimir Semin is one of those photojournalists whose work is becoming international. Born in Tula, he is still in primary school became interested in photography, and after graduating from a technical school he worked in the North. Then there was military service, study at Petrozavodsk University, work as a photojournalist in a youth newspaper. In the 1970s, Vladimir went on a long journey through the Pamirs, Altai and Siberia. He visited many cities and towns and brought back a wealth of material from his travels.

Since 1976, Vladimir Semin worked at the Novosti Press Agency, and then as a freelance artist. His work has been recognized all over the world, he has repeatedly been awarded various international awards, including several World Press Photo awards, and has given a start in life to many Russian photographers.

“I'm always looking for randomness. I can't get straight to the point. My photography language is random. I have a feeling of only inner attraction or coldness to this moment. Second. From experience I can see whether this situation is difficult or not. In addition to a difficult situation, she can still be cold, but she must become attached to her soul. It's just like a love moment. I don't want to say that it is ecstasy, but still it is at the level of some moment of ecstasy. A scene can be very short and I shoot a lot because I can't say "just that". Two hundred percent. I shoot both this nuance and this one, so that when I cool down, when I'm at home, I can choose and say "this is mine or something close",- says Vladimir.

Valery Shchekoldin

Cycle “History of Patriotic Photography. Photographer and power»

Valery Shchekoldin from Ulyanovsk is a recognized classic of Soviet and Russian photography. Having started to get involved in it at the age of 16, he went to work as a professional photographer for a long time. Valery worked as a designer at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant and graduated from the Ulyanovsk Polytechnic Institute, all this time without parting with the camera, and only in 1974, at the age of 38, did he begin to devote all his time to photography.

The authorship of Valery Shchekoldin belongs to many reports that honestly and impartially showed the Russian reality of the 80s and 90s of the last century. He traveled to many cities of the country, filmed in Chechnya. Today, in addition to working as a photographer, Valery Shchekoldin writes articles on photography.

“The photograph is not taken by the photographer, but by chance. Professionals who control everything are doomed to mediocre staff. The photographer is not a creator, the same Cartier-Bresson said that life is much more unusual than fiction: no brains are enough to invent such a frame that is given to you for nothing. We have to wait for him…”- says Valery.

Nikolai Ignatiev

Procession to the river Velikaya, Kirov region

Nikolai Ignatiev came to photography quite late. For a long time, the scope of his professional interests was far from photojournalism - born in 1955 in Moscow, he received an economic education, and then served in Afghanistan as a translator from Farsi. And only after the end of the service, in 1982, Nikolai Ignatiev became a photographer. All his life he worked mainly in the reporting genre, but he always tried to bring an element of genuine art into it.

In 1987 he moved to London, and a year later Life magazine published his material on the millennium of the Russian Orthodox Church. As a Network photographer, he documented the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequently appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times, Observer, American Express Magazine, Time, Fortune, Forbes, GEO, Stern, Vogue, Elle and The Sunday Times Magazine.

Yuri Kozyrev

Yuri Kozyrev is one of the most famous Russian photojournalists. For more than 25 years now, he has covered all the significant events taking place in our country, as well as many significant world events, including the wars in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2011, Yuri Kozyrev has been traveling around Arab countries engulfed by popular unrest.

As a result, this photographer has accumulated unique material in his creative baggage, which brought him a large number of international awards, including six World Press Photo awards. Moreover, for three years Yuri Kozyrev was a member of the jury of this most authoritative competition for photojournalists.

“My work is for the soul, this is my life, Yuri once said . - And there was never a separation, there were life stages. I shot one thing - closed spaces, prisons, children living in difficult conditions. I lived it all. And for the last 14-15 years I have been filming only the war.”

Oleg Nikishin entered professional photography at the age of 20 and has never parted with his camera ever since, becoming one of the most respected Russian photojournalists over the years. Starting to work in Kazan (first in the theater and then in a newspaper), he moved to Moscow in 1990 and worked first with Agence France-Presse and then with the Associated Press.

As a full-time photojournalist, and then as a freelance photographer, Oleg worked in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia, Ossetia, Yugoslavia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, which brought him awards from prestigious Russian and international competitions.

Sergey Kaptilkin

Moscow photographer Sergey Kaptilkin is not just a photojournalist who gained experience as a correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda and Izvestiya newspapers. In addition, he creates amazing pictures on the verge of reality and surrealism, filled with ambiguous meaning. Everyone sees something different in them. At the same time, the photographs of Sergey Kaptilkin are surprisingly harmonious and do not look like an artificial heap of subjects.

Today, his photographs are published by various publications, including Life, Time and National Geographic, and he has also become popular on the Internet. For his work Sergey Kaptilkin was repeatedly awarded various awards, including "Press Photo of Russia", Face Control Awards, "Silver Camera", "Stolychnaya History" and others.

Victoria Ivleva

Victoria Ivleva is one of the most prominent domestic photojournalists. After graduating from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University in 1983, she very quickly gained considerable prestige among her colleagues. At the turn of the 80s and 90s of the last century, she worked in all the hot spots of the USSR, and then in Russia. In 1991, Victoria became the only journalist to shoot inside the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. For this piece, she received the most prestigious award for a photojournalist, the World Press Photo Golden Eye.

Victoria Ivleva's work has been published by many leading Russian and many of the world's best publications, including New York Times Magazine, Stern, Spiegel, Express, Sunday Times, Independent, Die Zeit, Focus, Marie Claire and others.

“During filming in dangerous places, as a rule, you are separated from the event by the camera and work - purely photographically, you need to think at the same time, there is simply no time to be afraid,” says Victoria.

Alexander Zemlyanichenko

Alexander Zemlyanichenko is one of the prominent Russian photojournalists and documentary photographers. He has come a long way from an employee of the Saratov newspaper Zarya Molodoy to the head of the photo service of the Moscow bureau of the Associated Press agency (with whom he has been collaborating since 1990). All significant events of the Russian history of the last decades passed before the camera lens of Alexander Zemlyanichenko. And even now, as a manager and doing administrative work, he continues to shoot reports.

Apart from a large number photographic awards, Alexander Zemlyanichenko is also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and 1997. Many of his photographs (for example, a picture of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert) have long become well-known and healed. own life separated from the author.

“If you don’t see the frame that you need, then it’s simply not there, and you don’t need to invent it, interfere in the course of events, artificially create a performance,” Alexander said in one of his interviews. “But to wait for your moment, which would well express what is happening, and to catch it - this is a real and rare pleasure for a photographer, which does not happen every day.”

Vladimir Vyatkin

Vladimir Vyatkin is an outstanding Russian photojournalist. He came to photography as a very young man, after graduating from school, and immediately to the Novosti Press Agency. Of course, not for the post of photojournalist: first he was a laboratory assistant, and then a student of the artist. In fact, since 1968, Vladimir Vyatkin has been continuously working at the APN and its successor, RIA Novosti.

Over a long career, he has collected perhaps the most impressive collection of professional awards among all Russian photojournalists: he has seven World Press Photo awards alone, including the highest, Golden Eye. In addition, many of the best contemporary Russian photographers are students of Vladimir Vyatkin.

“Photography is a great textbook of life, inner states, discoveries and experiences. This is the energy of knowledge, self-improvement, self-discovery. Before, I never thought that photography could at some point replace a certain kind of literature or supplement it. sure Vladimir Vyatkin.

Alexandra Demenkova

Alexandra Demenkova is one of the representatives of modern Russian photographers, although her work is based on traditional realism, with which she tries to show people life as it is, without embellishment. Her works have been repeatedly exhibited in different countries, and also published in leading Russian publications.

“I am sometimes told that I shoot in the tradition of humanistic photography; I do not mind, although often this means a reproach for being old-fashioned, -




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