DASHA

An international fine art and fashion photographer

Since 2015, DASHA has worked as an international fine art and fashion photographer, with specialties in Concept Art, Fine Art, Fashion, and Emotional Creativity.

Engages art and photography projects with business/companies, with a focus on the company and its employees. Develops original decors and creates exclusives, which are some of her best designs, for private collections

DASHA is the winner of prestigious worldwide photo-awards. Her photographs are frequentlyappearing on magazine covers, where the readers also learn about herinnovative art and photography techniques through interviews.

‘When I work with a professional model or just an ordinary person, I look at him as an object of art. In each portrait, I look for unique features that I want to emphasise. Therefore, each person I photograph will look unique.’

How many photo awards have you won?

To be honest, I lost count for a long time. There are dozens of my awards, but I don’t know the exact number. I participate in international photography competitions around the world every year. Now, of course, I participate less, but anyway … sometimes, when I sit at home in the evening and accidentally see a new, prestigious photo competition with interesting awards, then I will definitely apply for participation. Fortunately, I have a lot of interesting material to participate in photo contests.

The most important award in my life was probably the one I got in 2020. I became the best professional photographer in Europe in 2020 according to the competition of professional photographers in Europe.

This award is especially valuable as I became the first woman winner in the entire history of the photography competition, and I also became the first author from Eastern Europe.

What is the secret to your success?

All people are always looking for a secret where it does not exist, but many find their answer, much to my surprise. Personally, my opinion is that there is no secret. My secret is my job. I work very hard to improve my professional skills in creative photography. Here I think it’s worth telling that I am also a professional painting artist. I have been painting since early childhood and even received an art education at a prestigious university. And I think if other photographers like me devote a lot of time to their work, then everyone will know my secret.

Could you tell us what is your favourite photograph that you have captured during your life?

That’s a very difficult question. Fortunately, I have a lot of good photos that I took. I love and appreciate every photo, as well as painting. Many artists treat their painting like their children. Probably, this phrase applies to me too because I don’t just take pictures while walking. I am doing a lot of preparation work. Sometimes preparation takes more than a month. As for the shooting process itself, an hour or two is enough for me to find and take those brightest photographs. Therefore, my fans and I always compare my photographs with painting, as I spend a lot of time and effort to achieve the desired result.

What do you do to choose the object to capture?

As I said above, my photographs go through a lot of preparation: every detail, every element in the frame, model, etc. All this I carefully choose and prepare for the shooting day.

But just like any artist, there are sudden inspirations. For example, when you are walking around a mall and you see a funny thing or object. This happens very often with me and if there were 68 hours in a day, then you would see much more of my new photos.

By the way, such sudden photographs sometimes turn out much better than prepared ones. This is a creative process, and creativity is an experiment; you can never know the final result. Therefore, the more time I have, the more I experiment.

Do you process your photos digitally until you find the desired result?

First of all, I am an artist and like any artist, I am very demanding and picky about my own work. Sometimes something may not work out for me and I will spend a long time looking for something that will look perfect. In the life of every person, striving for development and an ideal leads to the desired result. Look around and pay attention to the fact that everything ideal is very simple, but the simplest thing is very difficult to do. People always try to complicate everything around them, although the truth is always at the very top. Even me ... I also always go through a very long and difficult path to return to simplicity and ideal at the very end of my work.

Do you remember your first photo that you were able to sell?

Oh sure. This happened a long time ago. At that time, I was engaged in photography for about two years. I had already participated and won in various international photography contests. And so, after another victory, I met one of the collectors who really liked my photos. But the interest is that I sold not just a photograph: I sold something that did not exist yet.

During the conversation, I just told him my idea about creating a series of photographs (Girl with a pearl earring). My idea was that I would not just recreate this painting; my idea was to create a story that I can add on my own. The fact is that I took 10 girls and took the same photos. Everything is identical, but the story of each girl is different and, by the way, the story of the heroines is being written right now. We will be able to find out the full history of each of the heroines only when the heroines are no longer in this world. By the way, I took my self-portrait too!

Such interesting sales like this one happen to me quite often. And sometimes it happens that I sell my painting or photography and the collector does not know until the last moment what will be in the shipment. I choose painting or photography to my taste and deliver it to the collector. A collector who could not make a choice will always be pleasantly surprised when he unpacks his package. This is a very interesting approach to selling art. It was always interesting for me to find out if I made the right choice. And to date, I have only had positive comments. But I have a secret to guess with the choice. I will tell you about it a little later, in the next interview.

Who is your favourite photographer?

And again a difficult question to which I again find it difficult to answer. The point is that there are no good or bad photographers. Likewise, there are no good or bad artists. For every author, there are connoisseurs who will appreciate the chosen master. There are so many photographs or paintings that I like, and most of the art that I liked was created not by professionals, but simply by amateurs or people who are at the very beginning of their creative path. And our task is to support such novice authors to continue admiring the wonderful art. I know how hard it is to be an artist because I myself walk this long and difficult path. Therefore, I always try to support young talents so that they continue to create. I can talk about this for a very long time, so I am an example of how to go a long and hard way in the art world.

What camera do you use, and which lenses?

My favourite lens is 24/70. But I use different lenses depending on the purpose of the shoot. As for the camera, I am currently using an SLR camera. But I also have a mirrorless camera. The photos taken with these cameras are different. The difference will probably be seen only by a professional who has been involved in photography for a long time. I cannot highlight the pros or cons of these cameras. What many consider a minus for others will be a plus and vice versa. I can name one big minus of digital cameras. It’s a battery, which is thinning very quickly.

The only pity is that soon the world will abandon SLR cameras and switch only to digital cameras. But I am confident that there will always be DSLR lovers like me in the world.

What motivates you to keep photographing?

Everything is very simple. Let’s go back to the very beginning and remember that from early childhood I was fond of art. And then my hobby turned into a professional activity. I like it; I love my job and my art. And I will never give up my creativity, even if I don’t have money for food.

Yes, there are many artists in the world, but it is very difficult to get through without connections or money. Talent alone is often not enough to become world famous and popular. But artists are not like racers who love speed. You cannot take our art away from us. Otherwise, our world will simply turn into chaos. After all, everything that we see around us was originally envisioned by the artists. Pay attention to this and start supporting and buying more art from artists. By the way, as I said above, I also support the authors . I give part of the income from my sold photographs or paintings to young artists. And also, now in the midst of a pandemic, I put a 10% discount on my art. Let’s together support artists, including myself, who create their art with great love and give it to the viewer and connoisseur.