Dmitry Usanin — Art & Family Photographer

Become a photographer — it was not my childhood dream. I dreamed of becoming a pilot, or at least a geologist. But not enrolling in the Institute of Geology, I entered in  the aviation University. If you do not fly, then at least make the planes. If someone at that time told me that I would be a famous photographer, I would never have believed it, even despite the fact that i had the my own first camera  already in 10 years of age. Camera was with me in school, in University, and when I was an adult and successful businessman, I always took a camera on vacation or on travel.

I liked to shot, and I had a lot of fun. One day I was invited to be photographer  on one wedding and this was the moment when I realized that you can and have fun at the same time earn. So, gradually, my photography hobby has become my profession.

The results of my first professional photo shoots I didn’t like. I wanted some unusual photos, that would be my photographs reminiscent of the paintings of great artists. I dived into the process of learning. Learning the paintings of artists I found patterns and rules, following which you can create a photo very similar to the picture. 

My technical mind and my education helped me a lot. The paintings of the Renaissance, and the late part of the Baroque and Rococo had big  impact on me. I especially like the French artists of the XVIII century Francois Boucher, Fragonard Jean-Honore and Watteau Antoine. 

To show something more beautiful than it really is is not just a style, it’s a whole way of life and thinking in which was concentrated the peculiarities of national psychology. 

But to create a picture stylistically similar to the paintings is impossible without the use of additional light sources. Strobizm create similar light and shade inherent in the paintings, post-processing introduces changes in colour shades, helping to accentuate, to emphasize the main elements and to remove the attention from the secondary parts. 

And third, perhaps the biggest challenge is posing. Creating photographs is a process similar to the making of the movie. And if the Director is head on the set of the film who manages actors, during the photoset the photographer controls the models. 

The light, posing and postprocessing are the three most important tasks that a photographer must solve. And if these three tasks a photographer has solved well, he will be able to get a photo that has some artistic value.

At the moment, I am not only photograph, but also share my experiences with other photographers and visit different cities and countries with my author master class.