Hi! My name is Lina. I am a self-taught photographer from Moscow, Russia.
My photography journey began around 10 years ago with a simple point-and-shoot Olympus camera, which I abandoned as soon as I got my first DSLR, Canon 450D, as a gift. Since then, I’ve been shooting nearly everything that caught my attention: stunning landscapes, beautiful streets, lovely little details of every-day life, delicious food or wonderful people.
What I love about street photography is that I just get out there and tune in with the world around me, drowning in all the sounds and soaking in the atmosphere. My mind tends to get crammed with buzzing, overwhelming thoughts. But when I am focused on searching for my next shot, my head is tranquilly clear. I like the fact that one and the same place can look different depending on the weather, time of the day or season, which means I can always come back and get a brand-new shot or even discover a peculiar detail that I’ve never noticed before. However, in my opinion, the best and also the worst thing about street photography is spontaneity. It’s a bit of a gamble, really. There are days, when things don’t seem to work out: the light is uninspiring and nothing catches my attention. But then there are those special moments when suddenly all the elements and details come together, and I snatch the shot that I had been so desperately after. It always feels like a teeny-tiny win.
What I love about photography in general is that I can take out all the noise and focus on my subject. I like the fact that I can create “the atmosphere” — it feels like a superpower. I remember the first time I tried shooting food at home. I propped a black background against the wall and put some black foam board on the table. The window was on the left side, so I put a white foam board on the right to bounce off some light. I set the props, threw in a piece of white cloth, and added my subject — a few chocolate chip cookies that I baked myself. The final scene looked nothing like my kitchen, which back then seemed so crazy to me. From my perspective, photographer’s work is similar to what illusionists do: we purposefully drag the audience’s attention exactly where we want it to be.
Finally, I love the diversity that photography offers as I am not a big fan of being constrained to one particular genre; I’d say, being interested in just one thing is against my nature. Throughout all those years, I’ve tried out several different types of photography — street, portraits, food, even took pictures at a small wedding — and I can safely say that I never shy away from trying out new things.
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably figured out that I kinda suck at telling about myself, because you’ve just read a bunch of words on how I feel about photography, yet you still don’t know much about me.
Okay, okay.
Here are some random facts:
- I studied English at the university, which I graduated with Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics.
- Ever since I remember myself, I always came up with stories, dialogues and scenes. At some point I started writing them down. So, aside from photography, I also enjoy creative writing.
- I love movies and TV shows, and I listen to score music from movies/ TV Shows quite often. (Hans Zimmer is a freaking genius, isn’t he?)
- Inception is my top favorite movie of all time.
- I always love meeting new people and learning new things.
- My favorite colors are black and red.
- I listen to different music genres and tend to have favorite songs rather than favorite singers / bands.