Silent Box

2011-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

These photographs are part of my college project. The location for these pictures was the old cigarette factory in Dublin. Right at the moment I went inside the building I realized that I may photograph something that was sitting in my head for a long time. Some of my long-held ideas came true thanks to the atmosphere of the building. These photographs are extremely personal and very special to me.

2011-12-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

This time I used Bronica during my trip to Killarney. This is an amazing place. I'm planning on going back there to take some more photographs. Very inspiring nature. It was a warm and lovely day. I was riding bike all around the national park. I used only one roll of film trying to be very careful with what I photographed. One of the best trips ever.

2011-11-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

I keep deleting my posts. Why?

This is second time when I use 120mm film. Now I think 120mm suites me more than 35mm. I feel myself more special with 120 and square shot looks fancy. But I'll probably stay with my old Leica and sometimes I will use 120. And yes, only film. No digital.

2011-11-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

2011-10-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

When I went to the Museum of Modern Art today I saw a lot of pictures of different photographers of the past that I knew about before. I saw many of those photograph on screen. I was very impressed to see the original works especially ones by Irving Penn. He was the first photographer who made me think about studio and lights. Being enspired by him I desperately wanted to start shooting in studio.

Irving Penn (1917-2009) is an American photographer who shot for Vogue magazine in 50s. Sometimes he used to put his models in the corner to make an illusion of isolation or lack of space which created a particular emotional effect. Many of his pictures are contrasty and have deep shadows on models’ faces or bodies. I really love the background pattern on most of the studio pictures. His portraits are very simple but very artistic. Shadows attracted me a lot in Penn’s works and I tried to work in studio using just one light to create a deep shadow on the face of the model.

2011-10-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

Some of my pictures inspired by J. Koudelka:

J.K.

2011-10-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

I believe Henry-Cartier Bresson was genious, but there came that stranger Josef Koudelka and brought his unique style to the documentary photography. His compositions are absolutely perfect and I was impressed by how mysterious and artistic a documentary picture can be. I highly respect this man for his perfect sence of composition. Every single picture of him is music of different tones but still harmonious. Josef Koudelka is a Czech photographer, member of Magnum. He published several books including the book called "The Gypsies" which represent some of his most powerful images.
The first thing that impresses me in J.Koudelka is mystery combined with reality. His pictures have stories that you may never be able to read, but you see them and you feel it is a story and something lies behind it.

2011-10-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

I don't want to give a lot of comments on these shots. These were just exercises or search for something new. Nothing special. I was just really crazy about documentary.
Henri-Cartier Bresson, James Nachtway, Robert Frank, Elliott Erwitt.......and...JOSEF KOUDELKA were those who interesed me most.

2011-10-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

When I started taking pictures I began looking at other photographers works, i was interested in traditional black and white photography. My first hero was Henry-Cartier Bresson. I was crazy about documentary photography. I have a friend who was a member of russian communist party and she participated in all opposition meetings and marches in the town. She was also writing for the local opposition newspaper. One day she took me with her to one of the meetings and that's what i got:

00.00 2007

2011-10-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

This picture is also made with a snapshot camera. I made very dark and scary pictures, but they are all about emotions and feelings. It's actually a documentation of feelings, not of the reality.

This image and the one below are only two pictures from 2007 that were made by a snapshot camera and are still alive.

00.00 2007

2011-10-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of my first photographs which is extremely personal. I don't like talking about different cameras or how the picture was made because i don't think that camera plays a big role in photography though it's an extremely important tool. But anyway, this picture was made with a small digital Canon snapshot camera. Through my 4-year photographic journey i learned that the most important thing in photography are subject, style and composition. But the most important of all is your style. Style is what makes you different from other artist. Your style is something that comes out from within...

I took this picture when i just started to be interested in photography. I was 19 and it was a very hard period in my life and i was trying to find something that could help me go out of it. I couldn't draw so i started taking photographs. This picture represents a doll. The black background is made from my old black sweater. And my desk lamp played the role of studio light :) And some photoshop to finish. The image was ready in 30min. This picture above is a scan of the 10x15 print but it still means a lot to me. I consider it the beginning of my 'photographic journey'.

2011-10-12T02:55:00.001-07:00

I never ever thought that one day I will make a blog about my photography. It's always amazing when you say to yourself: I'm not a blogger, I'm not that type of person, I will never tell about myself in the public never share my thoughts with anybody, and suddenly you are in college studying photography and you are asked to create your blog about your own self. This is amazing! People say that now, when everything and everybody is involved in the Global Network, a person has two identities - first when he is real and visible, second when he is a part of social network. Well, nobody sees us when we are online except for screen, you can be open or you can be different, you can be whoever you want to be. I believe it's true. So from that point I want you to know me here as a self-centred and egocentric person. I'll be posting a lot of my pictures and a few pictures of the photographers that I like or was influenced by and surely some pictures that I don't like. I love criticizing, I really do and I will, as it's a part of my learning process.

I would like to start from the very beginning as I want to get rid of some things, pictures and thoughts and put them into a dark dark silent box to start something nice and new.