The last time I visited Crimea in 2010. It was the famous settlement called Koktebel. And the last time I had a vacation was two years ago when I took rest at Turkish Mediterranean seashore. So, with the onset of September, me and my wife (an artist and a designer Polina Kudelkina) strongly decided that we need a sea. For the number of reasons, we couldn’t go abroad. Therefore, we turned our eyes on Crimea peninsula again. But this time, after long and careful study of tourist reviews, map and photos, my spouse chosen Novyi Svit settlement. And now, with all my seriousness and responsibility, I can say that this place is one of the most beautiful nooks of nature I’ve ever seen! I’ll start with the fact that if you stand facing towards the sea, almost from any place in the settlement, you will see The Falcon mountain to the left of you. This mountain conquered me once and forever! To my mind, it is the most picturesque mountain I faced in my life. Of course, someone can say: “Quite an ordinary rock. Nothing special”. But as for me, I was completely charmed with her: the shape of her peak; the fact that it absolutely free from any vegetation, although the mountain’s foot has lots of different trees and bushes; the rock texture (especially, in morning and at sunset when sun rays touch it with the sharp angle emphasizing all its roughness); the mountain’s height (374 meters above the sea made her as twice as taller than the rest mountains around); finally, the name itself (it doesn’t connect to the mountain’s shape, it’s just because of many birds of prey living there, especially falcons). Another thing I like is that Novyi Svit surrounded with mountains and hills quite tall to stop low clouds. I guess there couldn’t be such a hopeless and gray cloudiness as in Saint-Petersburg in fall. That’s why for the seven days of our eight-day leave there was completely clear sky. However, by the second day I realized that it’s good for me as for a person hungry for the heat and the sun. But for me as a photographer, that’s a little bit annoying thing, because only the mentioned solid, gray and low flying mass of clouds looks more dull on photographs than clean sky. Therefore, I had to seek something spectacular, something really special in order to get interesting landscape images. Nevertheless, for the first two days, we just climbed to the hills and rocks in full admiration and I remembered what and where I want to shoot. Only on the third day,...
Read More
Some time ago, I signed up on this web resource and upload my photos there. You may ask: “What for to follow you there if lots of your photos here?” My answer is simple: on Instagram, I post one or two photos every week. Here on my web site, much less. Furthermore, here, I prefer to upload either whole completed photo series or the best single images. But I noticed that often those photos I consider as just not bad many viewers estimate as wonderful and incredible! 🙂 I think that’s fun and curious but it takes place. So, if you want to see my works more often, follow me: Denis Churin. I will be glad!...
Read More
What do I mean by this title? The fact that a photographer is not an artist who makes on his canvas the unreal world or the world quite far from the reality. Photographer is not also a magician who can change the reality itself. The photographer only captures the reality. Yes, a good specialist in photography can embellish it. To remove on a photo a wire protruding from the wall, for a example. Or to correct the curved curtain, or to shade in the smoke detector which looks not aesthetically pleasing, or to correct the colors at all and so on. But photographer can’t make the image of your building ideally clean from the extra items in case he have to photograph the facade, entirely crowded with, say, the parked cars. (The photo below as an example made not by me). Of course, even in this case he can fill up the cars with the pieces of facade and asphalt. But believe me: it will be looking blatantly unnatural and terribly ugly. Even if only because it’s unreal to make it the way not only the asphalt in front will look naturally darker than under the lights, but also the road at all will keep its geometrical and textural perspective. Yes, such a trick can also be done in theory, but it still won’t be looking completely natural. Moreover, no photographer will not spend the whole working day just for retouching a single photo. Well, only if you as a customer agree to pay him for this day separately, beyond the main order. That means you will pay for this single photo several times as much as for the whole rest images. And you will get a photo still far from the ideal! As they say: not worth powder and shot. In a word, I just want to say that if you heard from someone the thing like “The Photoshop makes wonders!” – do not take it too literally. This program hasn’t the magic button called “correct everything”. The quality image processing in it is a painstaking work demanding patience, experience and knowledge. I can say the one thing which is trivial and obvious for someone but probably unexpected for many others: absolutely any human activity making on the highly professional level is the serious labor and many years of studying. No matter what exactly this activity is be it the bridge design, biathlon, surgery or juggling with burning torches on monocycle. (This photo below made by...
Read More
It was in summer 2009, just one year after I purchased my first photo camera and started to learn Photoshop. I tried to make a sepia toned photo. It was an old, badly damaged and abandoned house image. I was very satisfied with the effect obtained and since then I had an idea to make a whole photo series of similar images. A few days ago, I completed processing the photos shot in last early fall in The Summer Garden (Saint-Petersburg, Russia). These images are sepia toned as well (the truth, not the damaged houses are objects), but this time I used not the couple of ready filters. Opposite – I made it by myself in few steps. Among others, I managed to get a delightful effect very similar to infrared film one when tree trunks are look almost black and, at the same time, its leaves are very bright. Moreover, I so much wanted to make very contrast and grainy images. Plus, some other additional strokes made this work completed exactly how I wanted to. Eventually, to my mind, I succeeded to convey the special mood you could get seeing the old, 18th century photos of autumn almost deserted park. In a word, I’m not only satisfied with the result but also proud of it. 🙂 I hope you will like this photo series as well: Dreams Of The Old...
Read More
It’s been quite a long time since I have a desire to make black and white photos consciously and thoroughly, not accidentally and just hoping for luck. I mean to choose location and times of day before shooting in order to get material for good black and white images. Moreover, I already saw in my mind for several months which exactly these photos should be. To my opinion, black and white photography is not just images without color. To make really interesting and beautiful photos, you have to process images no less long and serious than colored ones. And I made my new series just like that. Here it is:...
Read More