Andryukha Kamenev. Another life with Andrei Kamenev. What do you think are the limits of a photographer's creative freedom? How free is he to do what he wants, and not what is required of him
ANDREY KAMENEV , one of the most famous Moscow photographers, admits: “I am always dissatisfied with myself as a professional. But this is normal: one has only to feel complete satisfaction - that's it, the end. For 15 years, he traveled about 70 countries, overcame more than four million kilometers. He lived in a tribe of cannibals in Papua New Guinea, dived under the ice at the North Pole, descended into Mexican caves, fished for pearls in the Philippines. “It is not enough to be in love with your work,” Andrey says, “you need to know the subject of love. You shoot underwater - learn to swim with scuba diving, shoot mountaineering - be kind, together with everyone, to rise to a height of six thousand meters.
Roads, like people, are different everywhere. They are able to tell a lot about those who built them, about the places that they cross. Roads connect civilizations and cultures like the Great silk road, which served for centuries as a trade bridge between the West and the East. Or they contain an entire era, like the Appian Way in Rome, remembering the heavy tread of the ancient legionnaires ...
Text Andrey Kamenev Photo Andrey Kamenev
Sooner or later, roads had to appear in my biography as well - traveling the world, I traveled a total of almost a million kilometers. At some point, all these distances and routes began to move from the geographical to the existential plane. I began to perceive the endless change of scenery outside the car window - mountains, deserts, tropics - as my life path, my road. And two years ago I decided to shoot them purposefully.
Along the way, I became so carried away by the topic that I even began to build peculiar ratings: the most famous roads, such as the Trans-Siberian Railway, which crosses eight time zones. Or unusual, as in Banff - the oldest national park Canada. I was surprised by the contrast of untouched nature (even fallen trees are not removed) and the only, but ultra-modern track. Other roads are remembered for their record length, like the Ural highway (M-5), stretching from Moscow through Ryazan, Penza, Samara, Ufa to Chelyabinsk. Today it is the only highway connecting the West Siberian part of Russia with the Central European one.
China, Tibet
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
The last pass before Everest, height - 5300 meters. Real serpentine, 48 sharp turns. Only recently, these dizzying turns were equipped with "chippers" - and now the descent from the pass has become safer. In good weather, five eight-thousanders of the Himalayas are visible here.
The path to the temple
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
Russia, Karelia, Solovetskaya dam
The boulder road connecting Bolshoi Solovetsky Island and Muksalma Island was built by monks in the century before last. How much effort it took (individual stones weigh up to several tons) is a mystery. In addition, the dam is thought out from an engineering point of view: arches are made under the water, and therefore it is not afraid of the ebb and flow.
Arteries of the metropolis
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
Thailand, Bangkok
One of the many ultra-modern highways of the capital of Thailand. Number of freeways meeting the most recent technical requirements, in this not the richest country in Southeast Asia is impressive. The traffic here is non-stop, resembling a giant river of colorful lights at night.
Russia, Lake Baikal
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
The thickness of the Baikal ice in January is up to a meter, and cars walk on it until mid-April. Along this route, you can cut off a piece of the Irkutsk-Ulan-Ude highway. But only an experienced driver will decide on this. The fact is that many cracks are often hidden under a dense layer of snow.
To the sandy peaks
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
USA, Colorado, Great Sand Dunes
Giant massifs of sand, up to 200 meters high, changing shape literally before our eyes, is a one-of-a-kind attraction. All this can be seen without leaving the highway.
Through forests and swamps
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
Russia, Tersky coast of the Kola Peninsula
Its total length is about 500 kilometers, most of it is already beyond the Arctic Circle. The local landscape is amazingly beautiful and majestic, despite the fact that there are many swamps and wetlands. This road leads to Kruglyaya Hill. Time is mid June. In Moscow, the lilac has already faded, but here in places there is snow and even the buds have not blossomed.
Only heaven above
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
China, Tibet, Chomolungma Park
The road leading to Everest passes at an altitude of five thousand meters. In the traditions of the Tibetans, it is to decorate the most significant places for them with prayers on pieces of fabric resembling colored flags. Each prayer corresponds to a certain color.
Turns of the tropics
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
Indian Ocean, Reunion Island
The road leading to the volcano Piton de la Fournaise (3069 meters above sea level). It is not clear how heavy equipment was delivered here, to such a height, when the road was being built. It is extremely dangerous to drive along it - a continuous serpentine with 180-degree turns. In addition, there is a lot of precipitation here, and the road is slippery all year round.
protected routes
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
Canada, Jasper National Park
It is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as one of the few untouched corners of the planet that needs to be preserved for posterity. Ancient glaciers and lakes, evergreen forests, gigantic mountains. Only this freeway reminds of civilization.
Monument Valley (USA, Utah)
A photo: Andrey Kamenev
It owes its Martian landscape to the red sandstone deposited here over millions of years.
IGOR GAVRILOV - one of the most requested Russian photographers: there is not a single serious world publication that would not publish his work. Works that touch anyone who looks at them so much that even the Iron Lady could not stand it when she saw his report from Armenia in The Independent. This was the first and last time Margaret Thatcher was seen crying.
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“Light, color, composition and other components - this is photography, this is picturesqueness”
Photographer
A person can be talented and in demand in many professional areas, the only problem is not to be afraid to make a choice. Both in general and in small things. Proof of this is the amazing fate of the fashionable metropolitan photographer Vladimir BYAZROV. He is only thirty years old, but he seems to have everything: a dizzying career - from a provincial amateur photographer boy to a status star portrait painter, constant orders from the leading metropolitan media, a voluminous portfolio with glossy covers. But the main thing is the love of his "acute" characters, whom Vladimir knows how to see, understand, make different all the time and always very beautiful. In general, his life finished script solid blockbuster. Vladimir BYAZROV spoke about professional trifles in an interview with Fotodel.
Vladimir
Byazrov
Show business portrait photographer
He grew up in the city of Ordzhonikidze in North Ossetia, where there were only three photo studios in the whole city - with huge wooden cameras that were shot on plates. The atmosphere of these salons - light, cameras, the smell of chemistry - charmed the teenager, and young Byazrov tried to come up with reasons to get into these studios, to learn how to take photographs.
Contrary to his vocation, Vladimir Byazrov received not a photographic, but a legal education, graduating from the law faculty of the North Ossetian state university, after which he worked as a law teacher in Moscow for a year.
He was engaged in marketing and at the age of twenty-five he quit successful career manager of Panasonic to finally take up photography professionally.
I bought myself a regular camera, made a portfolio of pictures of friends and tried to get a job in some newspaper. For a long time he received refusals, but in the end Vladimir was hired as a photo editor at the Finance magazine. He photographed politicians, economists, businessmen - he made official portraits and reports from various meetings. Of the first twenty issues of the Finance magazine, 17 covers featured photographs taken by Byazrov. So he became a cover photographer.
He began to photograph celebrities of cinema, music and show business. Among his models are Vlad Topalov, Timati, Sergey Lazarev, Malinovskaya. Dima Bilan with photos of Byazrov went to win Eurovision.
Stars for a photographer are sometimes difficult and always beautiful material. Cover photographer Vladimir Byazrov is one of the few people who managed to fully realize the dream of his childhood.
"Boy, get out of here..."
Vladimir, you grew up in the city of Ordzhonikidze in North Ossetia. This, of course, is not Moscow with its capabilities, but there, for sure, there were photographers from whom one could learn skills?
There were only two or three classical studio photography salons in the city with curtains in the background, with huge wooden cameras that shot on plates. All the photographers were Armenians, lame and fat. Non-Armenian photographers did not exist at all in my childhood imagination. Of course, I tried by hook or by crook to get into these photo studios. But, being a very shy child, I could not explain to adults my heightened interest by the fact that I was attracted to this whole atmosphere: the light, the cameras, the smell of chemistry. Therefore, all the time I had to pretend that I came to be photographed. During each visit, I tried to figure out how a photograph is taken.
What did the masters say?
They said: "Boy, get out of here." So there was no talk of any consultations.
However, your mother must have noticed the child's interest in photography?
Yes, she saw it, but she did not take it seriously. Mom never suggested that I go to a photo club, and therefore I did not know about their existence. I was an ordinary child who studied, played football, studied at a theater studio, sang in a choir ... And I also constantly got into trouble, broke windows, fought with boys. In addition, I was quite emotional, and every time I was pushed on the shoulder, I could not think of anything better than to beat the offender. When you grow up as a boy among boys, authority is of great importance. Much later I realized that authority is won in slightly different ways.
"You don't stand a chance"
Despite your craving for art, you graduated from the Faculty of Law of the North Ossetian State University ...
I must say that I not only graduated from the university, but also decided to go to Moscow to enroll in graduate school at Moscow State University. I was in Moscow for the first time at the age of twelve and, walking along the streets of the capital, I firmly decided that when I grow up, I will definitely come here to live. Since then, I have been waiting for the moment when the opportunity presents itself. On the day of graduation, I bought myself a plane ticket. Moscow did not even have its own corner. However, this did not stop me, because there were healthy boyish ambitions - to come to Moscow State University at the Faculty of Law and enter graduate school. At first I thought that there would be no problems, but they did appear. At the very first conversation, the dean of the law faculty, without even looking at my diploma, but only hearing where I came from, said: “Boy, you have no chance.” I asked him what I should do if I still want to study further. The dean advised me to work for a year as a lawyer and at that time go to the library and improve my knowledge. So I did: I responded to the very first ad “I need a lawyer.” The place of work was the technical college at MEPhI, the faculty of business and law. I gave the students a year's course of lectures, took their exam, and left with them.
Vladimir, what kind of teacher were you?
I was undemanding. The students loved me very much, we constantly laughed with them. I taught only those who wanted to learn: I helped, gave literature. All the other loafers did not annoy me at all, on the contrary, we had fun with all our hearts.
"I offer photography services"
After you stopped being a lawyer, did the era of photography begin?
No, at first I went into marketing - I worked in one American corporation. Then I was invited to Panasonic. My career was going uphill, but before signing a long-term contract and leaving for Osaka in Japan for an internship, I suddenly realized that all this was not really for me. I was twenty-five years old and I had to make a decision. On reflection, I decided that I would quit Panasonic, buy an apartment, and become a photographer. And if that doesn't work, I'll put on my white shirt and lawyer's tie again. By the way, the tie always put pressure on my neck, and the cuffs of my white shirt got dirty. And in general, if it were not for the photograph, then I would definitely hang myself from these numbers and formulas. And although I was well aware that I still had a very meager portfolio, consisting mainly of pictures of friends and girlfriends, I still dared to quit. The prices in the stores were low, and I thought I could live on my supplies for quite some time. But, oddly enough, a month later the money ran out.
Then I posted my ads on the Internet: "I offer the services of a photographer." It was a rather naive move, but I didn't know how it's usually done. I didn't have any photographer friends who would believe in me, invite me as an assistant, and give me the first order. In a word, the ads that I scattered around the network did not bring a single client. I remember that at that time I had to divide the rubles in my pocket for a week to buy only a loaf of bread and a bag of Chinese noodles per day.However, the photographer needs, first of all, not clients, but equipment ...
I bought my first camera with the proceeds from the sale of a gold watch that my godmother gave me when I graduated from university. It was an EOS 50 with a bad stock lens, later bought an EOS 3.
With gallop across Europe
And yet, you were able not to despair and wait for your first client?
It was not exactly a client, but it was this person who introduced me to the photographic shop. Once, while working out in the gym, I noticed a man lying under a barbell. He was pressed down so hard that he could not even ask for help, he just lay there, half-dead, red as a cancer. I ran up, took off the barbell from him. The man came to his senses and said to me in English: "Thank you very much, you saved me." He turned out to be an American photographer who came to Moscow to shoot. It was the first photographer I met. His name was B. Gallop. I told him that I, too, although I could not yet call myself a photographer in full. As it turned out, his camera broke down and he did not know what to do, except to carry it to the service center ... “Can you help?” - he asked. Naturally, I agreed. It turned out that he had the same camera as mine, and the “eye tracking” function did not work. I immediately understood what was the matter: this function must be calibrated to fit your eye. Apparently, as a professional photographer, he decided to work with the camera right away and not read the instructions. I explained to him that the device is not broken, but the whole thing is in calibration. He tuned this feature and was happy that there were no repairs. We immediately decided to go to a cafe and celebrate this event with a cup of coffee. During the conversation, he complained about the lack of a good coordinator in their team. A large film crew came with him: directors, assistants, models ... But none of them spoke Russian. Any talker would have coped with the task set before me, and I gladly agreed to help. [Vladimir owns English language as freely as Russian]. After filming, the guys left, and I received the first “near photographic” money. And then a miracle happened: after a while I received email, which said: "Vladimir Byazrov, we would like to invite you to work in Prague as a photographer."
By this time, you probably already had a large portfolio?
I didn't have it at all. At that time, I only had amateur photographs. I went to magazines, modeling agencies, but everywhere they said the same thing: “Boy, you need to find professional models, a stylist, a makeup artist, a studio, competently assemble all these components, shoot on high-quality film, and only then bring the material to us. And the photos of your girlfriends do not interest us.
And considering this, did you still go to Prague as a professional photographer?
I went, but not to Prague, but to Paris. It was there that the organizers moved the shooting. I was so happy that I didn't even ask about money. What can I say - I myself would gladly pay for the opportunity to shoot in Paris! Soon the express delivery service brought me an invitation, I got a visa, got tickets, and flew to Paris. Then everything was like a dream. I was greeted like a VIP and taken in a huge jeep to a luxurious hotel at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Of course, with happiness, the roof of the kid was completely blown off. It seemed to me that I got into a fairy tale or won the lottery. In the evening - a restaurant, then a reception at the producer, acquaintance with a multinational film crew from America, the Czech Republic, France and other countries, again a buffet ...
Did you know who you should thank for this fairy tale? Who made the recommendations?
My natural shyness sometimes bothers me a lot. I'm afraid to clarify some nuances, because I think: what if I should already know this? I still don't ask many questions. And then I did not ask how they knew about me.
Work in magazines
How did the shooting go in the end?
And there was no filming. The fact is that the organizers ordered many models from Prague and could not bring this group due to visa problems. While negotiations were underway regarding the import of models, I was offered a few days to enjoy Paris. They apologized, provided travel allowances in the amount of four hundred euros per day and a car with a driver. I immediately dismissed the driver and enjoyed Paris in splendid isolation.
A week later, it turned out that the models would not arrive. Filming has been postponed indefinitely. They once again apologized to me, gave me a huge pile of money, which I counted only in Moscow. For a boy who was “smartly squandered”, I was “paid” an unrealistically huge amount of money - four thousand euros. No wonder that I returned to my homeland with a feeling complete confidence in itself.
Having firmly decided that I needed to seriously take up the job search, and not passively wait, I collected my photos, found the addresses of the editorial offices of various newspapers and magazines on the Internet and went to interviews. Kommersant, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda refused me, and Moskovsky Komsomolets said that they don’t need photographers, but there is a place for a photo editor, and if one of the photographers leaves, then they will take me to his position. I start work. Time passed, but no one was going anywhere. I had to restart my search.
Soon I became aware of what was opening new magazine"Finance". I brought my portfolio there, and Chief Editor Oleg Anisimov, without hesitation, took me to a position that combined the duties of a photographer and a photo editor.
I worked there for quite a long time, about two years. It was a wonderful time, execution time cherished dream. It's me, a boy from North Ossetia, photographing the first persons of our state, all visiting foreign celebrities! Absolute delight! Finally, I began to work as a photographer for money, professionally. He photographed stars, but not in a glamorous style, but in the reportage genre. In total, about twenty issues were published during the work, of which seventeen photographs on the covers were mine. And everything would be fine, but the salary was very low. For a while, I agreed to that kind of money, because I needed to get on my feet, master technical skills, make connections ... However, talking about a salary increase was inevitable. After some time, I approached Oleg and said that I would like to receive more, but it turned out that the magazine had no intention of raising the salaries of its employees. Then I again went into free flight, but now the portfolio was much more voluminous and interesting. There were invitations from many magazines, but I did not want to be a photo editor again, I was going to do only photography. The search continued until I found the Game Land publishing house. And although I understood that “Game Land” might not be interested in the topic that I really would like to do, when asked what I want to shoot, I honestly answered that I want to work with the “stars”. But everything coincided very harmoniously and successfully: it turned out that the publishing house had just bought a magazine and its subject matter was popular music, and they just needed a photographer. A contract was signed for a relatively small salary, but they promised not to restrict me from working with other magazines and participating in creative projects."Star" nebulae
I suspect that working with the stars is interesting, but probably not easy?
I'm always a little nervous with the stars. Unfortunately, some Russian stars in terms of emotions are unprofessional people. They usually don't know how to control themselves. And it's pretty a big problem, because even though I’m a soft and kind guy, I’m still from the Caucasus, which means I’m emotional. Sometimes it can be hard to overcome the desire to say: “Go ahead!” Of course, in this case we are talking about some situations that go beyond the norms of decency, adequacy, elementary education, that is, about baseless whims. For example, some "stars" are late for shooting, sometimes they don't come. Dima Bilan may not come to the agreed shooting several times, and then appear a week later, seriously late and declare that he has ten minutes for everything about everything. In such cases, I do not postpone shooting, because I want to be as professional as possible in my business. The last time I shot Dima was for the cover of Neon magazine. The shooting lasted only twenty minutes. He liked the photos, and he went with them to Eurovision.
What situations can really throw you off balance?
As a rule, I keep my temperament within limits, but sometimes... The first acquaintance with my deeply beloved Sergei Lazarev was not entirely pleasant. The shooting was very difficult. Sergey arrived with a huge team of PR people, directors, assistants, assistants. I am calm about the presence of a large number of people in the studio, because when you work with a model, you abstract. And therefore, if the artist is comfortable when close people are on the site, I have nothing against it. But in this case, all of them continuously intervened in the working process: they told Sergey how to look, how to turn around. When they finally pissed me off, I said: “Guys, if we don’t work anymore, then goodbye.” Serega was upset: “Well, how can it be, I give myself all over ...” He really was not to blame for the situation, but I could not contain my anger. Instead of "hushing up" the conflict, PR people and assistants began to tell me that my career was over. Their threats didn't bother me at all. Of course, that day we said goodbye to Sergei rather coldly. However, the photos came out very good, and two weeks later he was again in my studio. And since then I have photographed him many times, and the story of our first meeting is remembered only in a humorous context.
Without a doubt, situations of open conflict are quite rare. More often there are problems not with the star itself, but with its environment. Celebrities themselves, as a rule, first demonstrate their distrust of the photographer - but only until they see the finished pictures.
Once I had to shoot one of the soloists of the Cream group. At the beginning of the shooting, she behaved very strangely: she did not say hello, she came with a bodyguard who did not let me into the studio until she changed clothes. But I put up with all these oddities, since my direct customer was nearby. When the filming process began, I simply applied the usual tactics of a person who wants to please: I praised my model's dog, her ruffles, her hair, and she, forgetting about disbelief, smiled.Vladimir, if we return to the questions about whims, then which of them, in your opinion, can be considered justified?
Take at least Jeanne Friske. She is a sweet, friendly girl. Of course, Zhanna is emotional, and is well aware that she is a famous person, but she never allows herself unnecessary emotions for no apparent reason. Agree, anyone will get nervous if the makeup artist or stylist does not understand his desires. Once, something like this happened, because the makeup artist did not have some kind of tool to do her hair. In my opinion, such whims are normal. Anyone, and even more so, a public person has the right to look his best.
Or remember Sergei Zverev. He is a very bright character, and therefore his photographs cannot but be interesting. Seeing that I was filming Zverev, many people ask the question: “How do you work with him, he is so capricious!” In fact, the image that he promotes does not at all correspond to his true essence. Of course, he has his own strictly defined image, beyond which it is impossible to go - a special look, signature gestures, a glamorous style of clothing. But Sergei Zverev always works great with the photographer, participates in the process, gives all his best on the set, and also has an enviable sense of humor, so shooting with his participation will be remembered forever.About professionalism
Do you think the professionalism of an artist depends on age?
It depends on the individual, not age. Proof of this are the girls from the Tatu group. During their recent concerts in St. Petersburg, I made a photo report about their life, worked with them literally from morning to evening. I must say, the girls are completely different in character. Julia is emotional, Lena is calm. And if Lena "feeds" on Yulia's energy, then Yulia borrows peace from her partner. It is easy and interesting to work with them precisely because of their naturalness and professionalism, which consists in acting like stars on the stage at the right moment, and like ordinary girls on the other. They understand that if they do not make contact with me, then the report will most likely turn out to be one-sided.
What do you think are the limits of a photographer's creative freedom? How free is he to do what he wants, and not what is required of him?
It depends on situation. I have such a nuance in my work: every time I want to try something new, for example, to use a non-standard lighting scheme. In such cases, the result may be the most unexpected. I had a not very pleasant case with Masha Malinovskaya. With all my tender attitude towards her, I must admit that she is not an easy person. I shot Masha for the cover of SYNC magazine. The theme of the shooting was “Electronic Jungle”, so phones, small cameras, and computers must have been present in the frame. We built a real jungle out of them, hung them on fishing lines from the ceiling, and Masha had to portray the Amazon. I thought for a long time how to shoot it. Objects give shadows, light is not television, and softboxes have a finite diameter. Thus, it is impossible to uniformly illuminate the panorama completely. Suddenly, something clicked in my head, and instead of normal glamor, I decided to shoot a dynamic genre photo. It was assumed that if suddenly something is wrong, then you can always “photoshop”. When Masha came, I explained the essence of the matter to her. “You,” I say, “are an Amazon, making your way through the jungle. In photography, movement, struggle should be felt. She completed the task without any problems and asked to see what happened. She did not like the result, because in the process of filming, being carried away by the image, she could not track some of the nuances. It was a two-hour cry, but Masha turned out to be a professional, she did not leave, but took the reins of art direction into her own hands. Her condition was glamorous light and a motionless pose. As a result, I placed Masha in the foreground, put one softbox a little higher and at an angle, and did not highlight the background. It turned out to be a wonderful session, and most importantly, Masha was satisfied.
And here is another case when my desire to take good pictures went against the rules of others. The incident happened a few years ago at a Whitney Houston concert. A place for photographers was allocated very far from the stage. In general, I do not like filming concerts. Quite another thing is communication in the dressing room, backstage, the opportunity to make a good psychological portrait. That is why I do not have a super telephoto in my arsenal. In addition to the unfortunate location, there was another minus - we were given almost no time to shoot. Usually at such large performances they let you shoot two or three songs, but here they gave one and a half, which is about eight minutes. Further, they are either kicked out, or "whoever sat down, he had time." We are all quite experienced people and after the shooting we were distributed around the hall. And here I sit and think that from such a distance and in such a short time you can get not so many photographs that are ideal in quality and sharpness. Give, I think, I'll take a chance and click again. It was a big mistake. After all, I knew perfectly well what would follow. Security guards constantly monitor what is happening in the hall. They saw the glare on my lens, and in just a few seconds they took me by the scruff of the neck, took me out of the hall and slammed the camera against the wall. After that, I firmly decided not to buy lenses for two thousand dollars anymore.
The professionalism of a photographer is to find a common language with any model and take a good picture. However, like any artist, do you have your favorite characters, artists that you really enjoy working with?
I love Seryoga Lazarev very much, he is a versatile and professional actor, he can always convey the right emotion. But there are models that need to be kneaded for a long time, like plasticine, and until you “sculpt”, nothing happens. Serega understands me almost without words. You look to the right, and his hand is already there, mentally “twist” him into a pose, and he has already rebuilt into it. Absolute harmony. I also enjoy working with Linda. I took pictures of her many times and admired how she enters the image and herself, without unnecessary prompts, begins to live in it, while not losing contact with me for a minute. Some say that a photographer is like an artist: as he painted, so it turned out. This is not true, because a good photo session is always a result. joint work model and photographer.
Interviewed by Yulia Chernova
April 22, 1917
an outstanding master of Russian photography was born
Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter
Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter is an outstanding photo artist and a tireless traveler. It is perhaps difficult to find a place on the map of our country where he has not been. And often these are hard-to-reach areas where a person's foot rarely sets foot. He filmed in the mountains of the Caucasus and the deserts of Central Asia, kayaking along the rapids of the Sayan rivers and climbing Kamchatka volcanoes. Vadim Evgenievich - mountaineer, three times was the champion of the country in alpine skiing. In 1939, he was the first to ski down from the top of Elbrus. Even now, when he is almost 90 years old, he continues to do what he loves: traveling, skiing and taking pictures.
Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter about photography:
Everyone in our family knew how to use a camera. When I was 8-10 years old, in the family they did not consider it difficult to insert a record and a cassette and 
use an old wooden camera to take pictures of your guests or relatives on a holiday. We loaded a couple of cassettes with glass plates under red light, put the camera on a tripod, covered ourselves with a rag, built a “frame” on frosted glass and immediately went into the room to develop it also under red light. They dried the negative on the street, then printed it on daylight aristotype paper, then dipped it in a fixer - and you're done. After the war, I started shooting with a watering can, a narrow-format camera.
Painting and photography are completely different things, although there are points of contact. A book made up of photographs is a large mosaic, which, as a result, builds up into a certain picture that creates a certain state. To hire species - there is nothing easier. And at the same time more difficult. I don't shoot Moscow because I don't "see" it, I don't have my own attitude towards it. And I don't want to take it off either. But I can go to Pskov a hundred times until I take it off the way I think - the way I like it. Or to Novgorod, or to Kizhi. By solving such problems, you bring photography closer to ART. Then, as a result, although the picture remains flat, a certain volume, an image of this or that city, is created. The frames of the plane move apart, and a state is born - that is, what makes landscape photography an art.
You still need to shoot the movement with a more efficient camera. But I shoot not narrow 
cameras, and wide, 6x7 - Asahi-Pentax and Mamiya RB-67. And everything that can be done slowly, I do with an old large camera: I set up a tripod, cover myself with a rag, and until I shake the frame, I will not leave this place. I manifest myself in the bathroom. Why go to show somewhere all over Moscow, if you can do the same at home at any time of the day? I should always know what I did wrong, if something is wrong with the shooting. The experience of working with Pravda taught me this. Once I filmed the Tallinn regatta. My friend Timir Pinegin, a legendary figure, champion of the Olympic Games and the world, gave me a boat so that I could work in any conditions - both in a storm and in a wave. The yachts capsized, the weather was terrible. I shot something that very few people managed to do. The shooting was ruined in Pravda. Since then, I have been doing everything myself.
I still, if given the opportunity, shoot these animals. The album "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" is printed from color photographs. I arranged the pictures by numbers and sent them along with the text to the Stalin Printing House in Minsk. The text was published in Belarusian and under a different name (someone needed publication), but I was paid the money right away. I still have excellent relations with the staff of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Never worked anywhere, never served. It sounds blasphemous, although this does not mean that he did nothing - on the contrary. He was simply not listed in any editorial office and did not sit in one place.
It's normal and not a single frame is taken during the day. Perfectly normal. I have been to Baikal twice. Didn't take anything off. Dull empty sky reflected in the lake, burnt out in summer, no slopes - what is there to shoot, and who needs it? Baikal is a very interesting and complex object. To shoot it properly, you have to live there - look for interesting temporary states in early spring or late autumn. When the ice begins to crumble and storms drive ice floes. To feel any landscape well, you have to live in it for some time.
I started taking pictures at the age of 14 for my father's FED. At that time I was drawing birds, because I wanted to publish the book “Birds of Russia”, I collected all kinds of information about them, and then at some point it dawned on me: it’s easier not to draw all these feathers, but to take pictures. I took the "FED" and began to shoot. Then there was "FED-3", then, and so it smoothly got involved. The bird, however, was abandoned.
I didn’t study photography anywhere, I just looked at magazines. I have been collecting since childhood. I have almost all the numbers. I used to get it from book dealers. I remember that in Soviet times there was a special store at the Nikitsky Gates. There I found him for the first time and found him in 1976.
After graduating from school, I wanted to enter VGIK at the camera department. I came to submit documents, and they told me: “Everything is fine, but only creative competition ended in March. As a result, he entered MIIGAIK, the Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Photography and Cartography. Not a cameraman, of course, but the word "photo" was present.
He graduated from the institute and was assigned to a closed research institute. He flew in a helicopter with a parachute and a life jacket. There wasn’t even a trace of a photo, but, however, he earned a lot of money.
In 1988, it all got to me. I quit the research institute and decided that I would be a photographer. Went by central newspapers show your photos. They looked in the newspapers and said: "Old man, awesome, but there is no staff unit." It ended up that he still got into. At the same time, I had not yet shot sports and was not even particularly interested in them.
Why is sports photojournalism good? It teaches you to think quickly, instantly. There will be no repeat. If you don't score a goal, you'll be thrashed.
From 91 to 93 he tried to publish magazines, but nothing happened. In 1993, publishers let me down, I had to pay with my own money and leave this business. Then I realized that that's it, I don't publish magazines anymore. I collected my album with slides and again went to the editors. I once tried to count my publications. It turned out that in a year I had time to work with more than 200 different publications.
In 1994 he met a famous journalist and traveler. His working principle was very simple. He called it "Journalistic Journey". You choose some point in the world, interesting, not beaten, you go there, work it out, bring material, sell it, return the money, make a profit. The money that I returned can be spent again on some kind of expedition. Decided to try. I needed an initial amount and a good place. For my first trip, I chose the western part of the island of New Guinea, Irian Jaya, where cannibals live. Collected money and went. The trip went well. It took a long time to return the money, but nevertheless everything became clear to me. These Papuans, by the way, are still being bought from me.
At first, I was terribly complex because of the language. When I went to France for the first time in 1991, I felt like a complete sheep: I can neither read nor say anything. Came back and decided to learn the language. I took my French textbook. I had enough for 10 days, but due to the fact that I began to travel a lot, I was able to overcome this barrier. Rescue intonation, facial expressions, the fact that many words in different languages are similar, the very situations in which you find yourself. Now I don't care where to go and what language they speak there. At the household level, I communicate very easily.
In 1998, the first Russian extreme movie "Alaska, the land of extreme" was filmed. There were seven of us: three riders, two operators, me and the editor-in-chief of Vertical World. The operators said that they were skiing, but when they were dropped from a helicopter to the top and they saw a slope of 55 degrees, they refused. All hope is on me, there is no one else: they had to be removed for 6 weeks. So I started to specialize in extreme sports.
The number of situations in which I have been in these 20+ years is incredible. Nothing scares. The problem is different - little is already touching. As a child, I had a 10-volume encyclopedia with colored inserts, and on them the jungle of Borneo, Angel Falls, coral reefs. So, I visited all the places that I saw on these tabs as a child. All except, perhaps, the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island. But I don’t want to go there, because I saw a million filming from there and I absolutely know exactly what to shoot there and where which stones are located.
Perhaps there are no exclusive places left. Everything has now been taken down. Somehow I was looking for information about Irian Jaya on the Internet, where I shot cannibals in the 90s. Believe it or not, I found a photo of my leader. Sitting on a rock… with a laptop!
Make it easy beautiful photo not difficult at all. A lot of people know how to take good photos, but they don’t add up to a good story. A hundred beautiful sunsets is not history. They take it off as if it were the last time, as if it were for an exhibition, so that it would be good, so that it would hang. And no one is filming footage. You can't think like that.
I call it the scorched earth policy. If you are shooting a walking hunter, you should shoot him small in the general shot, walking towards you, from the side through the forest. The more templates the photographer has, that is, the situations in which he was, the easier it is for him. Over the years of shooting, I have accumulated these templates to hell.
In workshops I say:“Guys, a simple task: here is a white table, here is a white lighter. Take 10 different shots." If there is nothing to shoot, and you can take 10 different shots, then in a situation where there are a million stories, you will be like a fish in water.
My wife loves to travel. We choose a large country with her (USA, Australia, Argentina), take a car, sit down and go on a trip for a month or two.
I can get anywhere in the world, except for Antarctica, in two hours. It will take three to Antarctica. Sleeping bag, tent, camera, tripod, things in a backpack - and go.
There are photographers who shoot well and make good materials, but they cannot sell them. Sometimes they complained to me: “Here you come, you gave - they took from you. And I come, bring, look and do not take. "And how are you coming?" I ask. “Well, I come, I show them - they look and say that it’s not necessary.” “Here you are good! Do you have any idea how many photo editors see photos in their life? He is sick of any photos! If you don't tell them that you've been driving for five days, climbed a rock here, that this is the most interesting place on the whole Earth, they won't hear you. They want this information, your story.” There are millions of such photographers. Communicate, guys, communicate! Settle down for yourself. This is the only way to do something in photography. If you just came and brought your pictures, nobody wants them.
It's the same with the person you're filming. Somewhere I drank vodka with him, winked somewhere, helped somewhere, and he will play along with you if necessary.
To become a good photographer need to work and study. Study the world, study life, collect information.
It's not about the money. The money I make is not that big. You can earn more, but you need to rest against the horn. And there's no point in holding back. What for?
I have huge archives. No magazine will ever print so many pictures so I want to bring to mind my Planetpics project on the Internet. I sit with a computer, I work for my own pleasure. When work is enjoyable, I don't even notice if I've eaten or not.
Pictures are beautiful, but often at the time of shooting it is very difficult. When I climb some kind of mountain, I stand on skis for eight hours, sometimes I swear: “What the hell did I get here for?” But really, of course I do. I know that it will be good later.
I was already thinking somehow about whether I would ever be able to quit photography. It was 92, we were in Lyon, we walked all night with a Frenchman in a restaurant. And so he showed us a gangster-looking man who was sitting next to him over some kind of spaghetti trough. “Here,” he says, “this is your former colleague. He was also a photojournalist, and then he quit, and now he has a very hard job.” I then thought that I would not be able to quit.
Once, while shooting on a paraglider, I landed badly, got 16 fractures. They even wanted to amputate his leg. I then thought that in principle, in order to continue, I don’t need so much - one eye and one finger, and you can move around in a wheelchair. And then, after all, I take pictures with my eyes, I can’t get rid of this, and the camera is needed only to make the card turn out.
He has no competitors among Russian photographers. The reason is simple: Andrey Kamenev is ready to work where others cannot be dragged for any money. He dived with a camera under the ice at the North Pole, descended into karst caves in Mexico, climbed a mountain wall in Switzerland - in general, he took serious risks for the sake of spectacular shots. It is not surprising that extreme sportsmen of all stripes consider him their own and, going on the next expedition, they always invite him with them. Two months on a business trip, a week at home - Andrey has been living according to this schedule for the last 15 years. Over the years, he traveled to seven dozen countries, overcoming different types transport more than four million kilometers. That is, he circled the globe about 100 times ...
Andrei does not receive editorial assignments. He is a freelancer, that is, a "free artist". He independently chooses the topic and place of the next business trip, he decides to whom to give the footage.
In the West, there are quite a lot of freelance photojournalists, but in Russia this style of work has not become popular. It's not just about different levels of pay. Our professionals prefer to have a stable "roof". In addition, a free artist must always do his job better than others, otherwise he will die of hunger. But I simply cannot imagine myself within the rigid framework of some kind of editorial office. I like the feeling of freedom and the ability to decide for yourself what is interesting and what is not.
Have you ever wanted to move to live abroad and become a Western-style freelancer?
There they have narrow specialization: one shoots animals, the other - cacti, the third - extreme sports. And I like to photograph both that, and another, and the third. This is possible only in Russia.
Are you traveling the world on your own?
In most cases. Now it’s easier, but when I started working, it was not easy to pay for trips on my own. For example, in the early 90s, I learned about the preparation of a mountaineering expedition to New Guinea. I'm interested in the organizers: "Can I go with you?" The answer is positive. With only one caveat - I bear the costs. To buy tickets to the other end of the world - at that time they cost crazy money - I had to sell the car.
Was such a sacrifice justified?
Certainly! I made a lot of unique shots on that business trip. Quite quickly broke away from the climbers, went to the jungle. Only two or three hours on foot from a small town on the coast - and you find yourself in places where the natives practically did not see white people. It is dangerous to climb further - the Papuans can shoot an uninvited guest. I established contact with local residents with the help of cigarettes. Literally everyone smokes there: small children, women, old people ... I gave them all my stocks of tobacco and as a result became a friend of the tribe. Most importantly, I was allowed to shoot whatever I wanted. I lived among the savages for several weeks. Together with them he ate, smoked, slept in a hut. Of course, I experienced some discomfort.
On the very first night in the Papuan dwelling, some midges bit me, everything turned red. I go to the leader, I ask with the help of gestures: what to do? He, also with gestures, answers - they say, do not pay attention, they also bite us, and nothing. What about insect bites! In that tribe, when someone in the family dies, men cut off their ears as a sign of grief, women cut off their fingers. Therefore, in the village - solid invalids.
Now you continue to travel to places where the photographer's foot has not set foot?
Even 15 years ago there were enough such places in the world. Today there are very few of them left. Basically, these are areas closed to the public for military or environmental reasons. For example, the Andaman Islands, which belong to India, are declared a nature reserve, and no one is allowed there. Only one exception was made for Cousteau, and even he had been waiting for permission for several years. I had no chance at all to officially get a pass. But I really wanted to visit a tribe that lives on one of these islands. The natives are so wild that they even shoot arrows at fishermen if they swim too close to the shore. In a word, my friends and I decided to go anyway. At one's own risk. Foreigners are still allowed into the capital of the islands, further - no. We found a local German who still had a very old entry permit. We did a good job with this paper - we entered our names, then we faxed it several times, then laminated it. It turned out to be quite a decent-looking document.
What if the fake was exposed?
Then they would have received ten years in an Indian prison. But everything worked out. We spent several weeks on the islands. The nature there is amazing - I first took pictures of landscapes, and at the end of the expedition I found a guide who was ready to take me to the warlike natives. I found out that the tribe hates whites, but they love dancing. Therefore, just in case, I learned to dance, rehearsed daily ... And the guide at the very last moment, the day before leaving for the savages, died of malaria. So I didn't get to them. Maybe it's for the best, otherwise I would have received an arrow in one place ...
By the way, do you often encounter aggressive attitude from the local population?
In most countries, locals react calmly to the camera. In Jamaica, I was even allowed to capture the process of selling drugs. The only time I was taken to the police in Bombay was for filming at a local market. It was so dirty there that the administration forbade taking pictures. But for the photographer there are no prohibitions! However, for a bribe in India it is possible to solve all problems with the police... The Old Believers reacted quite aggressively, about which I did a report on the Yenisei, they even threatened. But in the end they came to terms with my presence.
Have you met dangerous animals?
Insects are constantly biting. On the same Andaman Islands, some flies bit one of my friends so that he had to be treated in the hospital: his legs were swollen. And I'm fine with snakes. I caught them in the early 90s. Then I had no money, so I went to work in Turkmenistan. My teacher was the famous snake catcher Vladimir Babash. A short briefing - and they threw me into some hole to collect reptiles ... In a few months I caught dozens of snakes: there were cobras, gyurzes ... The occupation is not the safest. The bite of these snakes is deadly, and the serum does not always help. If the reptile has bitten, it is necessary to chop the bite with a knife "into cabbage", drain more blood. But they didn't bite me. It worked out.
Extreme people constantly invite you to their expeditions. Are you completely devoid of fear?
I'm scared too, but someone has to film stuff like this. Colleagues often refuse. Here is a recent example. Skiers called to Alaska - to descend from very steep wild slopes. In addition to me, the team included two more operators of one of the central TV channels, and both of them have been skiing for a long time. We were dropped onto the mountain range from a helicopter. Looking down is scary: the slope is 55 degrees, but to the eye it generally seems vertical. To remove the athletes from the bottom point, you have to go down yourself, go through the entire route. The operators immediately refused and jumped back into the helicopter. Well, I stood, thought - and went down. It was very scary, and even a heavy backpack with equipment behind me interfered. But I didn’t want to let down the guys who invited me on the trip.
You are one of the few who filmed BASE jumpers...
Although I myself did not jump "base", but when I shot, my soul went into my heels. I especially got a lot of adrenaline during the first expedition to the Swiss Alps. When people standing next to you jump from a cliff into an abyss, you want to close your eyes in fear. But you have to shoot...
Basers jumped with parachutes, and how did you go down the mountain?
It was not just a mountain, but the Eiger wall - one of the most difficult sections in the Alps. For the first time this height was taken by German climbers in 1938. For that ascent they were honored as national heroes ... And we climbed the Eiger wall every day for a whole week. The guys jumped and in a few seconds they were already on the ground, and after filming I went down for hours. And no one considered us heroes ... In Mexico, when the basers jumped into a karst well, I also suffered from fear. It was necessary to shoot jumps not only from above, but also from below, as well as from an intermediate point, hanging on a rope. The hardest thing was to force myself to go down it into an underground cave almost 400 meters deep. I'm not an extreme athlete, but a photographer. Imagine, you are offered to go down the rope from the Ostankino tower, and in almost complete darkness... And then climb up again!
How many sports did you have to master for spectacular shots?
Mountaineering; learned to ski tolerably well; I mastered snowboarding, surfing .. And in order to shoot from the highest points, I began to learn how to fly on a paraglider. During a winter flight in a quarry near Lyubertsy, my apparatus collapsed due to strong winds. Crashed into an icy slope. The result - 16 fractures of the feet and damage to the spine. But I was still lucky, because I fell from the height of a six-story building. After that, he spent several months in the hospital, then "mastered" the Ilizarov apparatus, learned to walk. Now I'm more careful about the top shooting points.
Andrey Kamenev loves shooting underwater. On his account - 500 dives, from the Crimea and Egypt to the North Pole. In the near future he plans to go on another marine expedition - to photograph white sharks.
The most difficult underwater shooting was at the North Pole. Not only physically, but also morally: during one of the expeditions, a very experienced photographer Andrei Rozhkov died there. And I was the only person who dived under the ice in a very light "wet" suit, designed for warm seas. The fact is that "dry" - for diving in the North - does not provide freedom of movement, and I decided: it would be better to freeze, but I will feel free. We dived into the so-called "rivers" - cracks between ice floes several meters thick. In pairs. All members of the expedition were worried that I would freeze, but I survived. The partner, who was diving in a dry suit, froze faster: his water penetrated into the suit. And I remained alone under the ice for another 20 minutes. Then I was almost forcibly pulled out. Enough, they said. I still held on, but the batteries for the flash sat down due to frost.
Do you always dive with a camera?
Without it - only in exceptional cases. Recently there have been three. The first time was during the Ladoga trophy. On one of the sections, the road passed next to the lake, and the Latvians on the "Toyota Corolla" did not fit into the turn. The car flew into the lake and immediately went under the water. The riders managed to get out. They sat down by the fire, sad: the computer and documents were left in the car. The water in the lake was very cold, but I felt sorry for the poor fellows. Undressed and dived. I found the car at a depth of six meters, tied the rope to the outer safety frame. Then the Corolla was pulled out by tow trucks. Latvians came at night with a huge bottle of vodka in a large leather case. They say they saved it for the finish line, but they decided to give it to me... There was also a story on the Yenisei - a light plane fell into the water, there were no rescuers nearby, I had to dive, pull out passengers. Another incident occurred on the White Sea: a ship lost a propeller when entering the port. Sometimes it happens. There, too, they somehow found out that I had been diving for a long time, and asked for help. True, I never found the screw, no matter how much I dived.
Car travel is another significant part of Andrei's biography. In his free time from extreme filming, he chooses a country and sets off to travel around it for a couple of months.
The most beautiful roads, in my opinion, are in New Zealand. A whole new landscape awaits at every turn. The landscapes are fantastic and change very often - just make sure you take pictures.
One of the most memorable car trips in Australia. My wife and I went to the central part of the country, that is, to completely deserted places. The wheels on our jeep burst one after another, and at first we could not understand the reason. Later we were told that tires should be slightly flat in the desert. After all, a dirt road is so hot in 50-degree heat that rubber with normal pressure does not withstand, it explodes.
And tire fitting in the desert is not provided ...
Farmers helped us repair the wheels. True, they still had to be reached: farms occupy vast spaces. Several tens of kilometers wide and several hundred long. The heat was not only poorly tolerated by tires. The radiator was also constantly boiling - we had to wait two hours for the car to cool down. In such cases, you immediately put up an awning - and arrange a quiet hour under it. In fact, a trip to the Australian outback is a pure adventure. If you get lost, you are unlikely to be found. In addition, in the desert on the primer, you don’t notice pits covered with dust. You can easily roll over. And most of all I was struck by local pubs: not a single visitor, but hordes of flies. On weekends, farmers come to such leisure centers and have fun together. The rest of the days are off season.
For long trips abroad, I heard you sometimes do not rent a car, but buy it?
Sometimes it's more practical. In India, my friends and I did not even buy a car, but a big bus. It was necessary to get from Delhi to Goa - a favorite vacation spot for informals. People hang out there for years, being content with little: they live in simple huts, eat the cheapest food, and spend all the money on drugs. We calculated that buying a car would cost less than airfare and additional payments for cargo (we had a paraglider and a lot of things with us). A familiar Englishman who had lived in this country for a long time advised me not to waste time on trifles and take a bus. Paid about $2,000 for it. They immediately hired a driver and a signalman. - Whom?
Signalman. It is simply necessary in India - many cars there do not have “turn signals” and brake lights. Therefore, a specially trained person constantly leans out of the window and informs other road users with gestures when and where you are turning. The lighting equipment on our bus was normal, but the Indians strongly advised not to refuse the signalman - it’s still calmer with him, less likely to have an accident. Thus we crossed almost the whole country. In India, transport is always packed, people are hanging on buses with garlands. We rode like kings - five of us in a huge cabin. The locals looked at us like we were aliens. Arriving in Goa, they quickly sold the bus, losing quite a bit of money. Consider looking at the whole country almost for nothing.
Have you mastered the northern routes too?
Once I was invited to ride on ZIL trucks along winter roads - roads laid along frozen rivers - across the whole of Yakutia. The expedition was organized by the Italian traveler Stefania Zini. Overboard - minus 50 ° C and not a soul, only "lunar" landscapes. The team consisted of 13 people. Three in the cockpit, and one must sit in the kung all the time. This was the fate of the sound engineer. Somehow I decided to replace him, let him into the cab, and he settled himself in the back. There the stove is very powerful - you turn it on, it gets hot, like in Tashkent. I stripped down to my underpants. Opened a porthole. Then I feel that I am freezing, I want to close it - it doesn’t work, I froze. He took a cutting board for food, leaned out into the opening and began to tear off the window. At that moment, the car shook, and I could hardly resist, I almost fell out. And our ZIL was the last. Can you imagine, there would be a picture: a snowstorm, minus 50 ° C, and me in shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of the tundra, with a cutting board!
There and in clothes, probably, it’s not sweet ...
Especially when it comes to the toilet. You stop the car, you dig a hole in a snowdrift, you do everything in five seconds. No longer - otherwise you will freeze. When we arrived at the village, which consisted of two barracks, we were happy: it seemed to us that we got into the palace ...
Is Andrey Kamenev a neat driver?
On the contrary, my wife and I drive fast. Let's burn, in a word. They rented a Toyota Camry in New Zealand and fired it for two months. In one of last days We were stopped by a policeman for a large excess of speed. The fine is $300. But for some reason we did not draw conclusions. After a kilometer they stop again - we drove at 140 km / h with the allowed 60 km / h. For this, we were given another receipt - already for 500 bucks. By the way, it was the maximum penalty. If we exceeded the limit of 150 km / h, we would be put in jail. Then at the hotel I looked at the calendar and couldn't believe my eyes: Friday the 13th.
Do you often dream of traveling?
Almost every time I return home from a business trip, I see colorful dreams. Impressions "do not let go" for five to seven days. I'm still going somewhere, rushing, filming something ...
Don't have time for hobbies?
My hobby is photography. I even shoot insects in the country. I can, for example, make a large portrait of a mosquito or a fly. Insects are my favorite models.
A person who does what he loves has nothing to dream about?
I dream of making photobooks, biographies. For example, recently an American photographer captured the story of a family moving from British Columbia to Alaska. Traveled with them on dog sleds for hundreds of miles, watched the construction of a house in a new place. It's great if I ever manage to do something like that.
Interviewed by Dmitry BARINOV
"Klaxon" N 009 pp. 27-29 dated 03.05.2005
To work - with a head
He considers 1991 to be the starting point, when he became interested in underwater photography. The first topics were - "Life of the swamp" and "Inhabitants of the Black Sea". Then, in the Crimea, he met French scuba divers. Among them was the president of the Antibes International Underwater Photography Festival. He invited Andrey to participate in the festival. In Antibes, KAMENEV was awarded an honorary diploma for the "swamp" - this inspired him to further "feats". In 1992, he "changes" the Black Sea for the White Sea, where he takes a series of photographs of marine invertebrates. Then - the Barents Sea, Franz Josef Land. Masters filming underwater in these latitudes can be counted on the fingers of one hand, diving here is difficult and dangerous (solo diving is generally prohibited). Perhaps that is why the underwater world of the Arctic is not as widely covered in the press as the world of tropical seas. In addition, it is believed that, in comparison with the tropics, the flora and fauna of the Arctic region is not so rich in bright colors ...
The Kamenev survey showed the opposite: the world of the Arctic depths is harsh, but rich and diverse. The material he brought to Antibes was received with a bang. The author was awarded a special prize, and his photographs of echinoderms, arthropods and other invertebrates were published in one of the most prestigious magazines "Mond de la Mer".
Until 1994, Andrei did not publish in Russian publications at all - he worked for the Antibes Festival, annually bringing several exclusive themes to France. He was fascinated by the water element - not only by light, colors, a feeling of weightlessness, but also, probably, by the atmosphere of "extreme". After all, the underwater world - a world of peace and silence, streamlined forms and the play of chiaroscuro - does not really know peace: there is a continuous struggle for life, much, perhaps, crueler than on land. The larva of the swimming beetle plunges its tentacles into the tadpole... The jellyfish shoots its prey with stinging cells... The sea angel devours the "monkfish"... Water is life "on the border of two environments", whether it be a swamp, a lake, or World Ocean. And the task of the photographer is to show it to thousands of people who are deprived of the opportunity to see it with their own eyes.
aborted flight
The thirst for risk, however, was not limited to the water element. In parallel with diving, Andrey mastered skiing and surfing, ice climbing and mountain biking, rafting and snowboarding. To shoot all these "extremes", it's not enough to be a photographer, you need to be a professional photographer.
In general, KAMENEV was engaged in skiing and surfing while still at the institute - with friends. And one day I decided to try paragliding. The experiment ended unsuccessfully: there was a strong cold wind (as they say, "speaker"), and the dome was formed. Andrei collapsed from the height of a six-story building onto the cemented slope of a sand pit. The result - sixteen comminuted fractures of the feet and three compression fractures of the spine. The situation was critical: the doctors warned that gangrene was not ruled out - and then amputation would be indispensable ... But the body and fortitude won out: the feet remained intact and KAMENEV six months later got on his feet, first, of course, on crutches. Learned to walk again. He limped at first. but over time, and limp ceased.
Time spent in the hospital and on crutches, earnings. Obviously, it didn't. As soon as Andrei began to "run", he "downloaded" Russian publications in full - the archive was rich. It was 1995 - young glossy magazines vied with each other to print "big trips". One after another, "Observer", "Voyage", "Domovoy" publish Kamenev's reports: about the snake catchers of Turkmenistan (where Andrey himself tried himself as a catcher), expeditions to Armenia and the Pamirs, to the same Franz Josef Land and dozens of others .
Since then, he has been published regularly and in large numbers. According to the most conservative estimates, he works with 50-60 magazines a year (while he uses his own equipment, buys film with his own money, and often travels at his own expense). It is impossible to find him at home, and his mobile phone is either busy or "out of reach." Life, begun at the time of student practices and internships, in essence, continues at the same pace - on the fly. Apart from small "sorties", KAMENEV undertakes at least one large expedition a year - in order to make big topic and publish it.
Pure exclusive
It is difficult to name the most interesting topic. In 1995, he visited Irian Jaya - on the Indonesian territory of the island of New Guinea, known for wild tribes of cannibals. I went there as part of the Seven Summits expedition, but soon separated from it and traveled alone. He lived in the Papuan tribe, photographed their way of life and customs.
The trip to the Andaman Islands, to the east of India, was also very interesting. This area is closed to foreigners. So, Jacques Yves Cousteau received permission to visit Andaman for 3 years. But KAMENEV and "with his comrades" managed to do the impossible in one day. For six weeks they dived into the Bay of Bengal with scuba gear and paragliding. As for India, Andrei crossed it by bus. On the way, I looked into the state of Goa, known for the fact that hippies from all over the world come there, including lovers of the "altered state of consciousness." The report about immersion in nirvana then bypassed many domestic magazines.
In the Philippines, he photographed pearl divers. Off the coast of Australia - barrier reef sharks. He crossed Australia twice - from north to south and from south to north. I traveled 10,000 km in New Zealand as part of the "Verical World" expedition, where I photographed not only nature, but also extreme sports, including underwater ones.
As for diving filming, here KAMENEV's geography basically knows no analogues: the Seychelles and Maldives, Malta, the Red Sea, the White Sea, the Barents Sea and dozens of other seas of various latitudes. The most difficult and dangerous dive was at the North Pole: minus thirty-five degrees in the air and minus two - under water.
In Hawaii he photographed surfing, in Alaska he photographed extreme kayaking, skiing and ice climbing. I have been to the USA twice, on one of the trips I rode 12 canyons in Utah with a team of mountain bikers, among which were three mountain bike world champions. I visited Las Vegas - I didn’t play, but I recorded a lot on film, although this is strictly prohibited. I saw the sands of Arizona and the sands of Tunisia. In the vicinity of Duza ("Gate of the Desert"), he captured the sunrise and sunset in the Sahara, for which he had to walk five hours along the dunes ...
He also did not bypass his homeland. Having crossed the Baikal Range, he rafted down the Lena River. In Buryatia, he visited the Ivolginsky datsan, where he filmed the life of monks and the national holiday Surkharban. Traveled by car 16 thousand km in Central Asia - was in all the former republics, from where he brought "three bags of slides." On the Far East, in the Sikhote-Alin taiga, "face to face" photographed the Ussuri tigers. He crossed a huge section of Siberia on a truck - more than 3,000 km from Yakutsk to Zyryanka. On the Kola Peninsula he participated in the rally-raid "Arctic-Trophy" as part of the Moscow crew.
By the way, about the "trophy". Andrey KAMENEV as a journalist participated in the last Camel Trophy competition, which was held in Oceania. During the race, he went with the Russian women's team on a motor inflatable boat over 2,000 km - from the kingdom of Tonga to Western Samoa. Largely thanks to him, our girls became winners in this "race of the century". KAMENEV doesn't talk much about it, but we do know. that if he had not taken out a bicycle torn from the riptek and “drowned” at a depth of 15 meters, then our team would never have taken an honorable third place.
End frame
Today Andrei KAMENEV is 38 years old. His archive contains hundreds of thousands of slides and negatives brought by him from more than 60 countries of the world. Only Antarctica remained uncovered, Latin America and "black" Africa. In Europe - Italy, Greece and Portugal.
Perhaps, in ten years, these areas will still be included in Kamenev's track record. Thus, there will not be a single state, not a single reserved corner on Earth, where his foot would not set foot. Wherever the shutter of his camera would not work.
However, this does not mean that KAMENEV will calm down and read on his laurels. A very restless person.
Photographer Andrei Kamenev in the extreme world is known to everyone. He is also known for his photographs of travel, nature, architecture and wonderful reports ... Sports are only five percent of what Kamenev shoots.
Today this man is going to the North Pole for an underwater shoot. Tomorrow - to Papua New Guinea to shoot a tribe of cannibals or to Mauritius, to shoot kiters. And the day after tomorrow, with no less interest, he lies with a macro lens in the grass in his dacha, tracking down insects. This person looks at the world broadly and displays it broadly in his photographs. Perhaps that is why Andrey, with the exception of a few points, who traveled almost the whole world and took an incredible number of photographs, looks so energetic, cheerful and “unsettled”.
Some say that this is Andrey Kamenev, what is so special about him? Why are his photos in all the magazines? Well, shoot and shoot, nothing out of the ordinary, simple quality sports photography…
It all depends on the action, - Andrey answers seriously. - I agree that anyone can shoot a cool action film well. But for serious events, serious guys take trusted people. If you are traveling far and for a long time, the person next to you should not let your legs or camera down. Here, for example, Valery Rozov's BASE - it's real here, sorry, young people won't pull it, you need to have shooting experience. Gotta be in the right place right time. And no punctures, overlays with equipment, because there is a single moment when a person flies past you. And if Rozov flew 20 meters from you, 20 meters from the ground, it was not just that he flew by ... Here you need to calculate everything - I must understand where he will fly, how it will look.
Bass, that's a different story altogether. First, you have to stand next to the athlete, on the edge, at the point of exit (exit), or even hang on a rope on a rock. So, at least, you should be psychologically prepared for such actions. How many people I saw who fit - and their limbs begin to tremble. And still sharpness should be directed not by autofocus, but manually. Basers, when they are on the exit, they have a moment of truth ... And if suddenly at this moment the operator says that he forgot to insert the film, or is not ready yet, the flash has not been charged, or the batteries are dead - this is not a conversation. If you are like that, you will quickly start conflicts, you simply will not be taken next time. You have to gain weight. People who go there to jump, they need to be sure of you.
And one more factor. In today's world, it's not enough just to take a photo. We still need to post it! You must be able to explain, prove, convince, communicate. One will come - they will not look at his photos, I will come with his own photos - and they will be posted. You have to be both athletic and responsible, and master the technique, and be sociable. And the one who scandalizes, who does not know how to speak, such people quickly disappear. Because the extreme world is very cramped...
So, an extreme photographer must have some specific skills?
Basically, any professional reportage photographer can take anything. But I'm not sure that everyone will go down 400 meters on a rope into a Mexican cave or, there, dive under the ice at the North Pole. Or here on Dombay, you can, in principle, even without skis go to the middle of the track, but then you still have to stand there at minus 20 for five to six hours and shoot. Who wants to do such a shoot even for $1,000, for example? They’ll think, what the hell do I need, I’d rather go and shoot football for the same money. So you still need to love it. Although my "trick" is that I am a universal photographer. I don’t pretend to be an extreme photographer… I’ve really traveled for three winters now: I’ve been in Australia, here and there, I generally fell out of the ski and snow parties. Last year, I think we need to freshen up the whole thing, chat with old friends. I started from Kamchatka in April: alpine skiing and BASE, in May I went to the Riviera, to canyoning, then to the Maldives, diving there, then to Ladoga Trophy, and also went to Krasnaya Polyana for multimedia racing.
Do you take your wife and family with you?
The wife is driving. I don’t drag her to the mountains, on expeditions, where it’s hard for her to survive, but we go to the “travel” together. Right now we were in the Maldives, they were sunbathing there, watching the fish, and I dived, filmed an underwater macro panorama underwater. By the way, this is my know-how - both macro photography and panoramic photography. I "glue" it on the computer from two pictures.
By the way, I wanted to ask you, do you ever get the feeling that you are no longer creating anything new, that you remain on the same level?
No. Even to find the right points - you constantly have to invent. Here you have only three shooting options in the base: from below, from above, from the side, and that's it. And Valera Rozov and I came up with such "fishing rods". You hang on a rope, and then you carry yourself 4 meters from the wall with such a rod, and take pictures from a new angle.
Then, our magazines (“Boards” and “Onboard”) ask to shoot storyboards or overall plan, and you try to remove krupnyak! It is in the last 10 years in sports photography that there has been a tendency to enlarge, so that a person’s emotions can be seen when jumping. And it’s important for magazines to be able to see where he jumped from, so it’s not interesting to work with them.
In order not to repeat ourselves, every year you come up with something. Invented a panorama. At the exhibition VERTMIR EXTREME PHOTO (exhibition of extreme photographs of the magazine "Vertical World", the first Russian magazine about extreme sports), I won with just such a photo. Yes, and for the storyboard, you have to look for new shots, high-speed cameras have appeared.
Previously, when there was no experience of extreme shooting, in general, everything had to be invented. With the same Artem Zubkov (editor-in-chief of the magazine "Vertical World"), when the publication was just beginning, we went to Stubai to the glacier, took ice axes, found a beautiful place, Artem climbed there, I shot, and it turned out cool. We steamed, thought, filmed, and now everyone is getting heavier, and I'm getting heavier ... Or rather, I have other goals and objectives. I am now interested in my own projects: I want to publish books about nature. And then there's the issue of budgets. The same paraglider - either take it off in the Moscow region, or in Bolivia. Or a person did a trick in Krylatskoye, or in New Zealand ... A lot depends on the "back". But these are completely different budgets. Christian Pondella (famous American extreme photographer) why such good photos: also because he has the opportunity to shoot the best riders in the best places- Separate budgets are allocated for this, incomparable with ours.
Is the attitude of foreign photographers to shooting different from what has developed in Russia?
They have a different attitude towards photography. There the photographer will not shoot everything. He will come, he will see that the blizzard is sweeping, that the clothes are black or gray for the riders. Goodbye, he will say, guys, and if you want good photo, then here you are, because the clothes are bright, and you, because you jump well, you must pass there and there, and not today, but when the weather is good and the sun is bright, but for now, train. There was an excellent photo in one magazine, where they filmed for 3 weeks, looked at the place, trained. But they have completely different money ... If they pay me, how much they pay, I'm ready to walk on virgin soil for at least 10 days, but we have completely different prices ...
Here, for example, Jean Marc (one of the famous extreme photographers, was a jury member of VERTMIR EXTREME PHOTO-2005). I have known him since 1996, he traveled 200 km to show Artem and me in France, where we were then, his very small portfolio. Three years later, he opened his own agency - eight employees, a light table for viewing photos - 12 meters, an office - like a gym, and three magazines created specifically for him. Here is the scope! Therefore, we cannot be compared with them. They can put 5 flashes in the pipe, find a cool rider and shoot him when the sun goes down. I can do it too, but for what? $30 on Onboard and $20 on Boards. And I have to feed my family.
And when was it more difficult to become an extreme photographer, in your time, or now?
Now it is very difficult to break through, to unwind, so that they begin to recognize you. Here Vitalik Mikhailov, Andrey Pirumov take off the snowboard. They ride with the best riders and it is useless to compete with them. A lot depends on the riders themselves. If he can "dunk" from a 20-meter springboard, then here is a picture, and if a guy jumps from a three-meter hill, then the photo will be like that.
Or you need to drop everything and go completely into the snowboard in order to crush everyone, but I don’t need it. In skateboarding, mountain biking, kiting - everywhere already have their own guys. Now everything is proceeding as in the West - along the path of specialization.
Which of the "young" would you note as modern professional photographers?
Well, they are no longer young. Slyuntyay (Andrey Artyukhov) is probably the most professional photographer now. By the way, I also had a hand in this. At one time, he pushed him to Sport-Express to shoot football (and shooting football is not an easy thing), and he began to shoot professionally. Andrey Pirumov became like this - on a whim and the number of photographs taken in the west. Pirumov can be recognized by some Western style, he spied on Western magazines, this is his find. He shoots from behind obstacles, from a car window, from behind a tree, but lately the style has begun to dominate him. Uses too often. And it used to be good when it was fresh. Then, Zhenya Efimova takes kitesurfing. At least she does not click stupidly, she begins to think - either she will introduce the birds into the frame, or the sail.
And I've never seen pictures like this...
Why? I love action shooting, it's just that maybe not everyone prints it. Here at the Black Sea Cup, I sincerely took pictures. Falls, for example, - others simply do not have time to remove it. Or when people run across the shore to the other side, they usually don't film it, but this is the most interesting thing! Andrei Khitrovo was also sitting there, decorating the tripod with grass, filming it, and this was during the final! But he is also too obsessed with his windsurfing, he would like to see other sides.
Grizzly (Natalya Lapina) shoots well, but she sticks out in the mountains all the time. The effect of the work - I mean the investment and the rebate from the trip - is reduced to zero. She doesn’t give away her photos anywhere, it’s just a lifestyle. It’s easy to shoot, especially if you are in the subject. But I think that the question is different - in the effectiveness of shooting. If you don't give it away, why do you need it? It's easier for young people, of course. They do not have families, how much they earned - they spent the same amount on themselves. And I still have to feed my family. And besides, you need money for travel, to move around.
During his life, Andrei has accumulated a huge number of different shooting points: for example, in a photo with birds, where there is no action, you had to frighten away seagulls, or wait for sunset to tint the water so that the photo carries some kind of message. In general, these are photos with birds - they are the most difficult. At a minimum, you need to read a book about how birds are filmed. You need to make many options so that later you can appeal to them in memory. Shoot from different, all the time new points. Look for them everywhere, even in a cafe: a reflection in glass, a lamp, a metal fork, and so on...
In this regard, three questions at once: have you thought about opening your own courses? Where did you study yourself? Do you always put some kind of message for the viewer in your photos?
Andrew starts with the last question. The message - any creative message - must come from within, not from outside. If a person simply attaches a large camera to himself, and looks like a fashion photographer, there will be no sense. I didn't study anywhere, I studied birds. The dream was - to release a guide to the birds of the USSR, I thought, at first with hand-drawn pictures. But to draw each feather - you can kill yourself by drawing it! Birds are easier to photograph. I quickly realized that you can’t take a picture of a bird with an ordinary camera. Then, in the 70s, the choice was small, the dream was one - reflex camera, you can attach binoculars, a telescope to it and then the bird will be closer.
I took pictures of nature, birds and everything for a long time, from 1976 to 1988, and then I quit my main job - I got tired of sitting in a "box". I was a test engineer, I flew helicopters. Not because I wanted to fly, but simply didn’t have time to go to VGIK, I didn’t want to join the army, and I entered the Institute of Cartography and Photo, because the name contained the word “photo”. They taught professional technical photography there, so I know something that modern photographers don't know. Then everything was done by hand: development, light ... Now the concept of light is completely absent, so I recommend everyone to complete the courses in order to get at least some idea about it. Because when you have gone through the whole process of printing, you have a completely different attitude to this ...
Courses. Well, I wrote a few in different magazines. But you know, to a person who has a concept, a base, understands something in photography, I will tell all the secrets in half an hour. If he doesn't understand anything, then why talk to him?
It's all simple - just to understand. You just need to look at photo magazines, try to shoot no worse than there. And make a lot of choices. Shoot from different angles. Right now I'm sitting in a cafe and I see a lot of symbols around. I can rent American taverns here, and no one will believe that this is in Moscow. We must be able to disengage from the situation. Many writers sin with this, if they do not know the situation, they will not be able to describe it. Abstract thinking must be developed ...
Yes, it happens. Is it possible to travel in the city?
Yes, this is how I travel in my country house - I put my head in the grass, and such a journey begins! I shoot ants in the grass with a macro lens. Neighbors then look - they are amazed: "Where did you shoot this?" Yes, I say here...
What are the plans?
I want to go to the Crimea, to pick up flowers - primroses. I already know the place and the time, I already see the pictures, I just need to pack up and go.
Then, I'm now interested in the following things. I want to start a series of unusual books about nature. That is, you take and come up with an unusual topic: “Yellow in nature”, for example. It can be anything: sunset and sunrise, foliage, yellow fish, butterflies, bird feathers, apples - this is the topic, you should at least think of it. Why are tropical fish entirely yellow?
I shoot different things, sometimes rodeo, sometimes killer ants, sometimes crocodiles, so I'm not bored.
You need to take a closer look at the photo. By the way, I have a friend, a fashion photographer, who, after working for ten years in this genre, is hard tied up. Although he had an office in Berlin, and a name - he just had seen enough of these naked girls, and his wife was a fashion model, he was sick of it. And he took and pinned himself to take photos on the topic of the Bible, very interesting for modern world, the message carries, at least he thinks so. But many don't think so. What does boring mean? It's boring when you go along a rut knurled, made a name for yourself and continue to work in the same genre. And you buy yourself a box - and go to Antarctica to shoot starfish. Or cross the desert after the killer ants, and then you definitely won’t be sad! What you see will move you!
Do you know what happens to climbers when they reach the top? They begin devastation if there are no new peaks. So are those people who have few goals. He is devastated who has few ideas. Whoever has them, there is no time to experience devastation ...
Andrey, but how did it turn out - at first, a love of travel and, as a result, photography. Or vice versa: photography and, as a result, travel?
Since childhood, I traveled a lot, went hiking, in 1994 I got into a conversation with Jacek Palkiewicz, the great Polish traveler. This is his idea - a journalistic journey. At first, you are looking for money to go to some exotic country, you go, shoot, sell materials, and then you go to the next one with this money. Theoretically, once you go on a trip, you work like that. So I went to Guinea, to a tribe of cannibals. True, I sold the car, but I realized that with a certain minimum of money you can go anywhere. The more time spent in the country, the lower the costs. That's how I traveled: I found money myself, drove, rented. Then they began to invite me, first submariners, then basers, then the Vertical World magazine, then all the magazines ... One pulls the other. By the way, I once had a record: 143 photos in one extreme magazine, along with the cover.
What kind of extreme sports are you into?
Oh, well, I've been skiing for a very long time. Then, scuba diving. Well, then, if you have coordination, understanding, you can master any kind of activity, surfing, kayak, paragliding, great. In Utah, I traveled all the canyons on a bicycle with one famous cyclist. But I just don't ride. I don't waste my energy. I have a specific goal - if I go, then I shoot. I once tried without a camera in Turkey. Only lasted 4 days. Lying on the beach, whiskey, beer, well, yes, but what is all this for? You can also lie down - but with a camera!
Interviewed by Lena Andrianova
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