Interview: Photographer Boris Muskevich (Israel)
Can you tell us a little about you?
I live in Israel. Born in Estonia. I travel a lot.
How and when did you get into photography?
I have been taking pictures since school. What does photography mean to you?
Photography is my life's work.
Please briefly describe your photography style for our readers.
Sensual soft eroticism.
Where do you get inspiration from?
In the people around me. Do you think in advance what you want in the picture?
In some cases, yes. But more often it happens spontaneously.
Studio, on location or both?
Location.
Would you consider yourself a hobbyist or a paid professional?
I am a paid professional.
What has been your most memorable session and why?
All my photo shoots are equally interesting to me.
Nikon or Canon? Favorite lens?
Nikon. 24-120.
What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a new photographer looking to start their own business?
There are two ways to do photography. The first is to observe and record reality, the second one is to create it. In the first case, the photographer’s task is to be at the point in space and time, where events are lining up in order to form the compositional solution. This is how street photographers and reporters work.
The second way is to create a composition that, by its effect on the viewer, will equal or exceed the energy of reality. That’s how studio photographers work.
In both cases, having “something unspeakable" in the frame makes it possible to turn the frame from a cultural phenomenon to an art object. In other words, as Bart wrote, "when non-art becomes art".
Of course, there are not pure genres.
You can take a "portrait of a tree" or "dancing house", but anyway, it’s important to remember the "decisive moment" that Bresson was talking about.
The "decisive moment" is not an event that should be reflected in the frame, but the something unspeakable you saw, which makes your frame an event.
