Fashion photography with Gennadiy Chernomashintsev

Fashion photography with Gennadiy Chernomashintsev

By Arden de Raaij

Ukrainian fashion photographer Gennadiy Chernomashintsev was born in the USSR in 1968 and currently works as an art-director for the Ukrainian magazine DOMINO. His love for photography started at an early age, and he developed a special love for fashion photography, especially in black and white. When his father got him a great Soviet rangefinder,the FED(ФЕД) which was basically a Russian Leica clone, the magic began.

“Technologies change all the time, but these images are eternal and still evoke the same feelings.”

Gennadiy used to work as a film director, mostly for commercial and music videos. Gennadiy: “Then I decided to switch to photography because I was quite bored working with a big crew (and because working in the field of video means waking up early 😉 ). But actually I prefer working without the assistants, the big lightning set-ups and grips.”

Nowadays Gennadiy creates amazing fashion shots, inspired by artists like Hemut Newton, Jean Loup Sieff and Ralph Gibson. “High contrast, grainy images… I like it”.

After a lifetime of doing analogue photography Gennadiy recently converted to digital. His current camera is a Leica MP9 with a 35/1.4 lens. Almost all his previous works were created by the Leica M6. But even working digitally, he tries to spend as little time as possible doing post-processing. “I’m trying to stay close to the analogue process: don’t look at the camera screen, do the same amount of frames as if it was on film. Also, I wait a couple of days before starting post-processing.” Gennadiy explains.

Gennadiy is slightly worried about the current status of nude photography. “…the border between pornography and nude photography is blurred. But for me, nude photography is not about sex, it’s about beauty. I still find nude photography one of the most influential areas of photography.”

Part of the charm of Gennadiy’s pictures is the black and white, which is timeless according to him. “Just take look at photo’s out of the 50’s and 60’s. Technologies change all the time, but these images are eternal and still evoke the same feelings.”

As for aspiring photographers, Gennadiy has some tips for you: “You must know the history of photography and let yourself be inspired by great photographers. You must be your own person first of all. Read good books, watch good movies and listen to good music. And don’t read photography blogs. Never :)”.