IGOR KROPOTOV HOW I SEE THINGS
As a professional c i n e m a t o g r a p h e r, I h ave always seen photography as an extension of my craft that allows me to break free from the conventions and limitations imposed by cinema. The freedom of photography is captivating. The demands of headroom and composition restrict and confine the cinematographer; but the photographer, in contrast, has the liberty to act on instinct, to release the shutter based on artistic intuition. The lack of guidelines is an intoxicating freedom and perhaps the most gratifying one. A single still frame can tell as much of a story as ninety thousand feet of projected 35mm film. A still does not need to fit into the context of a film in order to have a beginning and an end. One has the ability and the time to nurture a photograph, to understand it holistically and to see its details instead of having one fly by at 24 frames a second. Looking at photography is much like reading a book; the audience dictates and interprets the context being presented in a subjective way. It enables the
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audience to fill in the gaps on their own, in a creative way, without being forced to observe a whole sequence of events that tell a complete story (as movies do).
it when it is happening and capturing it is where the craft really shines. In those instants of creative transcendence, you are in complete control. While the control in cinematography is calculated, in photography, My interest in photography it is organic and fleeting. Most developed as an extension of the time, when I go out to of my early videography of take photos, I go alone. I let skateboarding and my passions myself be fully conscious of for the culture surrounding this the environment around me. lifestyle. After a short while of When that moment comes, it is filming skateboarding videos, precious and exhilarating, and I began to understand that that is what keeps you going. I was headed for something bigger than simply recording P h o t o g r a p h y, j u s t l i k e skateboarding tricks. Beyond cinematography and cinema, participating in the sport, I is a mixture of arts that have began searching for a way to existed for thousands of years document its underground but are now evolving through a culture and this transformative relatively new medium. I have period of my life. My dad agreed always seen my photographs to lend me his treasured Nikon and my approach as trying camera, on the grounds that I to maximize the interactive eventually give it back. That did aspect of the art. Rather than not happen. I started obsessively directly displaying an otherwise photographing everything lost moment in a photograph, in front of me, the mundane I aim to share the people, and the remarkable, as well as places, and aesthetics that occasionally staging shots that I have experienced in a new I thought might look appealing. way that might provoke and enthrall a viewer. My intention My primary approach has is to open the door for endless always been patience. Looking interpretation of this subjective for a beautiful moment is a form. waste of time, but noticing