Maxim Mikhailov: Inspired

My name is Maxim Mikhailov

I live in Russia and I am 43. I focus on Portrait photography.

I've been a photographer for the last 13 years and not planning to stop. Always searching new ways to express myself. Since 2018 (roughly, maybe it started earlier) I'm trying to achieve uniqueness, reflecting my own thoughts in portraits of different people. I'm teaching photography also, and the fat silver line of my lessons is "Never show what your camera sees, but try expressing what YOU see"...

This photoshoot was planned as part of the lesson — we found a really good studio, invited models and my students started practicing in different locations. When it was over I was suddenly struck by the idea making Lera (Valeria) part of her character's art — not just one painting, but an artist, consumed by inspiration. It was a bit theatrical, but model's personality and my vision mixed and created this slightly detached though passionate series.

My most memorable moment as a photographer was when I discovered that photography can also be a universal language, that gives me ability to communicate with much more people than I could before. It was when I approached italian jazz singer Boris Savoldelli and we made a photoshoot. And one more a year later. After that I aproached many new people and made countless photoshoots. There were some refusals, but they never discourage — it's ok when someone is not in the mood for shooting :)

My all time star is Peter Lindbergh. I don't want to be his copy, but his principles, his mastery and intuition are marvellous. Also I love early works of Stanly Kubrick as a photographer, they are just masterpieces.

I struggle with searching for balance. Trends in photography take wild turns nowadays, and sometimes my vision isn't met with understanding, 'cause it's out of actual fashion. When I'm not working but making art, I prefer not to follow trends, but think out of soul. All the limits are in your technique — your concept may be trivial, but it's all about how you put it into action. Leave your comfort zone, think out of the box and you get great result. But it's often difficult to: a) throw aside all the cliches fashion photography implements in your brain b) find time, place and accessories for your unique story c) convince the model to experiment. Well, maybe c should be a — there are many models crazy in good way, but sometimes cliches come from laziness :)

A photographer should always fight his own thoughts, putting them on test. Any concept can be trivial or creative — it's all about layers. The more of them you create in one photo, the deeper it becomes. But always care for your audience, don't let them drown in layers, or they just stop looking. Finding the balance here is the key :). Don't be too shallow — it can be nice to watch, but completely trivial and uninteresting. When there is no photographer's soul in the photo, there will be no dialogue with the audience. Well, or just photograph naked people — the audience won't remember you, but you'll get many likes anyway :))

As I always try to progress, much of my new works I consider best. But there are some "immortal classics" — like this shooting with a Puppet Theatre actor Vasily Utochkin — instagram.com/p/CmXaz5yIdpm/

My instagram is not well organized, because I had some incidents with it and had to start over (it's a sad story). But I have a page in vKontakte that is really much more vivid: vk.com/ph_maxmikhailov and some ancient (but nice) Behance page, that I'm in the process of moving to new place: behance.net/uncledozer

Credits:

Photo & Retoucher: Maxim Mikhailov @ph_maximmikhailov

Model: Anna Golovanova @legacy.rzn

Model: Valeria Averina @valeri_averina