When did your passion for photography start and what were the main milestones that turned you into the artist you currently are?
My passion for photography started in the middle of 2019. I was an accountant at the time and had three sons, but I loved baking and decorating with my own hands. First, I photographed the food and decorations that I had prepared myself. Then I took a photography course and photographed a story about bread and a baker for my graduation project. I was awarded first place, and I realized that photographing people is not bad. I had the cheapest camera and even took good pictures with it. At first, it was my relatives and family, and then orders began to appear. There were photo shoots for weddings, children, and families, but my choice fell on individual and fashion photo shoots.
In your opinion what does it take to capture great portraits?
It takes a lot of things to get good photos. Such as a good model, good makeup, and knowing how to work with light, location and ideas are also important. However, sometimes great shots are taken in the most unexpected places without preparation, especially when you just see a beautiful place and light, you just tell the model to stand there and you have a great shot in your pocket. Just intuitively come out shots that sink into the soul and delight later.
How long does a shoot day typically last and what is the preparation like?
Now the day of shooting lasts from 4 hours if you do not need to travel far to the place of shooting. Preparation sometimes takes up to several days until the whole team comes together and can, and how accurately I see this idea in my head. Recently, shooting often happens spontaneously when I see new beautiful places and one of my friends can quickly go to the location with me.
How would you describe your photographic vision? What kind of look do you try and create in your photos?
I am currently trying to see the inner core of a person. show the essence of the soul of the model. often people do not seem to be what we see them from the outside. and before shooting, we talk for a long time, get to know each other, and communicate on various topics, I care about everything that a person experiences inside, and sometimes it seems to me that I work as a psychologist). I really like a woman's beautiful body, when a girl takes care of him, puts herself in order, and looks one hundred percent even without preparation. I often remember the phrase of the Italians: A woman, even in the garden, weeding beds should look beautiful so that a man wants her! In every person, there is something interesting that he can show others and even teach them something new.
How do you keep yourself motivated and your photography fresh?
Sometimes I get Impostor Syndrome. It seems to me that I am a terrible photographer and I don’t know how to shoot, that my work is terrible and I must have reached a dead end. But strangers always come to the rescue, they seem to feel that I need support and begin to praise my work and new orders and acquaintances appear. We used to live in Belarus and I combined a lot of things with my family, my main job, and my passion for photography. In the winter we moved to the USA and now everything inspires me despite the process of adaptation to a new country and a new continent. I have never had such a creative breakthrough inside me and in photography.
In your opinion, what makes the good picture stand out from the average?
In my opinion, a good shot is the inner state of a person and how he sees the world now. sometimes I look at a beautiful photo but I don’t find in it what is close to my soul, and a month later this photo seems to have been made for me. everything in life changes like the seasons and every season has its own photograph!
How do you choose which images you provide to your clients?
First, I select photos with defects and those that I did not like at all. then I do a preliminary color correction and note for myself the most beautiful ones in my opinion. Then I throw everything off to the client and wait for a response from him because it is important for me that the client chooses for retouching those photos that he likes because sometimes my photographer’s eye sees and chooses those photos that ordinary people seem strange or not beautiful enough.
Is there one piece of equipment or prop that you cannot live without?
On all shoots, I can not do without a Nikon 85mm f1.8 lens. I have grown to it almost from the very beginning, and no matter what lenses I try, I still take it with me and always, in my opinion, the most beautiful shots are taken on it.
What intrigues you most about photography?
I am intrigued by the very moment in the photo. because this moment will never happen again, neither this place nor this second, and the person captured in the frame at this moment will not become the same again.
What services do you provide and what does your "team" consist of?
At the moment my team is my family. we faced the difficulties of moving, so in the process of adaptation, my husband and my children help me with everything. very often my eldest son helps me to hold the props, and lights on the set, and my husband sometimes poses when I urgently need to try out some ideas or a new beautiful place. but after a while, I found professional retouchers who make the processing the way I see it. I also found a makeup artist who is ready for all experiments and is always ready to get up early in the morning to do everything. basically, all the work still lies with me and I'm probably completely immersed in the creation of the final picture.
Where can our readers keep up with your work and get connected with you?
I have now decided on what I like to photograph and what I think I do best. that's why I'm redoing my portfolio, you can find me on Instagram on my Shrubok Viktoriya page and on my Facebook page, while I plan to finish my website.
Model: Hanna Datskevich @horoshavkaann
Retoucher: Ryabinina Tatiana @ryabinina_retouch
Ph: Viktoriya Shrubok @viktoriya_shrubok_photography
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