Interview by Violeta Petkova with Irina Panyukova
Irina Panyukova: “All people see and understand beauty.”
Is there a certain moment in your life that made you take up photography?
There was not any special event which stimulated me to start making photos. I just realised one day that it really interested me.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
You say that you like doing portraits the most. Why? What attracts you in people’s faces ? What do you see in their eyes?
I like beauty. I like to watch people. It`s interesting to imagine what hides inside a person. I don’t want to repeat cliches like “the eyes are the mirror to the soul” (in spite of it being true and making a really good photo).
Photo: Irina Panyukova
I’d like to tell a bit about what the photocamera offers. The photocamera is very interesting instrument which can mark out the most beautiful traits of a person as well as disfigure them. It can portray truth, or it can lie about it.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
The photocamera allows people to don different roles, and it seems to me that in creating portraits, a photographer can use the potential of this marvelous instrument to tell a new unexpected story about someone.
What makes the good photographer stand out the amateur?
For me, the answer is simple. It`s the ability to “see”.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
Is it true that before you take a picture or draw something, the image is in your head a second before that ?
It`s necessary to imagine first what you want to express in the photo. Without a good idea there can seldom ever be a good photo.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
It’s impossible to set a course if you don’t know where you want to end up. This maxim applies equally to photography.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
What makes an art person different from all the rest? Is such a person more sensitive, does he have different perceptions or do you think that there is something artistic in every one of us?
All people see and understand beauty.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
But very often we are so busy to stop and notice it.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
I think that an arty photography just “cuts” beautiful moments of reality in a way that attracts the attention of others to their perspective and gives them the possibility to admire and take pleasure in it.
Photo: Irina Panyukova
Photo: Irina Panyukova
Her biography as an artist began when she was about 15 years old. In that time she was interested in painting and used to study in the school of arts.
When Irina was studying at University, she had an old film photo camera. But it was very good camera whose name was “Zenit-E”. She used to make black&white photos of her friends.
In general portrait is her favorite genre. Of course, Irina loves to make photos of landscapes, still life, etc. , but portraits is what she really likes to make.
She had a break in photographing and she started from making still life when she bought simple hand-held camera and understood that the features of that camera don’t give the possibility to create what Irina wanted. And some years ago she bought a reflex camera. From that moment Panyukova has been developing her photographic skills and making photos.
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