Posing for my pictures gives me the felling of fully owning the process. However, this is aimed not at self portraiture but at creating a character which will carry the narrative of my visual story. Victorian-stylised costumes with a modern gothic twist, together with my modelling efforts of channeling this particular air of eeriness, strangeness, help to make the character come across as timeless, nearly ghost-like, further remove it from any notion of participating directly in our reality and by doing so, it feels at the same time more distant and paradoxically, closer, as would a figure from a darkened old painting.  

On modelling for my pictures

In a way, I find myself more akin to a painter then purely a photographer. The idea, the composition, framing lighting and camera settings are only the beginning of the process. It is mainly during editing stage that I feel deeply fulfilled as an artist. Current possibilities of editing software blur the line between digital and real life brush strokes. Both are done manually and this, alongside other editing components,  is what makes me feel I am putting a personal signature on, not so much a photograph, but an artwork. 

On my workflow

In my work, I thrive on melancholy which somehow, inexplicably, connects us with something deeper inside us. It creates an aesthetic value which transcends its mundane, purely psychological dimension.    In my art, sadness seems to be almost celebrated, as if through a series of rites, nearly religious in their devotion.    It is rarely a raw, direct despair, rather its aftermath, a delicate residue left with the passage of time. As Italo Calvino said, "melancholy is the sadness which has taken on lightness" 

You can read more in my blog

On my inspiration