Beyond the Visible: How I Discovered My Photographic Method
Moving Past Street Photography
For years, my creative journey was rooted in traditional street photography. I captured moments unfolding in urban landscapes, documenting the sharp geometry of spaces and the faces of passersby. Yet, over time, a profound feeling grew within me that a conventional photograph was too limiting. I constantly wanted to express something deeper than a mere documentation of reality.
Whenever I stood before a subject, I experienced a rich spectrum of emotions, fleeting sensations, and internal associations. A standard, sharp photograph captures only the external shell of the world, failing to convey this delicate, internal state of mind. I realized I was searching for a way to photograph not the object itself, but how it resonated within me.
The Creative Search and Artistic Philosophy
This realization initiated a long period of internal searching. I sought a distinct visual language that could translate pure emotion onto a two-dimensional print. I immersed myself in art history, studied the works of master photographers, and explored the intersections where painting and photography meet. Step by step, I explored various artistic techniques, seeking the exact tool that would liberate the viewer’s eye from habitual expectations.
Through this journey, my artistic philosophy was born: I stopped pursuing sharpness for the sake of sharpness. Instead, I became captivated by the fragile transition between clarity and blur, the moment when an image has not yet solidified into a rigid form but remains an intuitive sensation. In this instability, where colors dissolve and boundaries fade, I found true depth and an open space for the viewer's personal emotional experience.
The "In-Camera" Philosophy: Capturing the Impression
Ultimately, this path led me to my signature method, which takes place entirely inside the camera. By combining intentional camera movement (ICM) and multiple exposures, I merge different planes, textures, and light flows into a single frame at the exact moment the shutter clicks.
This is not a digital trick; it is a way to hold onto the very impression and internal movement that moved me in that exact moment. All of my images are born directly in-camera, completely free of photo manipulation or Photoshop. It is vital to my practice that these atmospheric, dreamlike images are created honestly, in a live dialogue with the environment.
Revealing the Image Through Color
Creating the raw frame inside the camera is only the first half of the process. The next challenge was uncovering the hidden artistic essence within the captured material—literally pulling the image out from the RAW file.
I dedicated extensive time to working with tone and color in the RAW converter until I developed my individual approach to color grading. Color functions as an emotional tuning fork in my work. Precise color refinement does not alter the reality of the frame; rather, it materializes that soft, fluid, and subtle sense of presence that I experienced during the shooting process.
Ultimately, my art is an invitation to slow down, to find a moment of stillness amidst the rush of daily life, and to allow the gaze to become truly free.
Fine Art Photographer Oleksandr Shapovalov based in Dortmund, Germany