“I’m inspired by the feelings – not only mine but also the heroes of my photos,” photographer Anastasia Markeeva (she/her/hers) tells the Phoblographer in an interview. “For example, last year, my friend told me about her impressions of the architecture of one big city. Her story inspired me, and on my next trip to this city, I devoted half a day to shooting certain buildings…” Anastasia is pretty big on calling these creative collaborators heroes, which we don’t hear often. This mindset treats her subjects with a reverence that doesn’t sound the same as when a photographer calls someone their subject, model, or muse. She combines this with a very special method: in-camera multiple exposures using film cameras.
All images by Anastasia Markeeva. Used with permission. For more from her, please visit her Instagram @nastyagornaya and Behance.
The Story of Anastasia Markeeva
Anastasia got into photography thanks to her dad — who has been a passionate photographer since he was young. And crazily enough, Anastasia’s interest started with a simple soap dish. “Dad liked my photos, and a year later, he gave me his Soviet Zenit 122 with the words ‘learning to photograph is best with a manual film camera,’” she tells us. “So I shot on film for two years (first on Zenit, then on automatic Nikon F70 and Canon 300v), and then switched to digital cameras. Now, 10 years later, I’ve returned to film shooting on manual Soviet cameras and work mainly in the multiple exposure technique.” Anastasia isn’t alone in returning to film — for many, it’s a way to slow down the process and not feed a corporate machine.
More importantly here, she’s trying to have control of every single aspect of the image — which many photographers try to outsource to their cameras or machines these days.
Her Heroes of Film
Her inspiration isn’t just from her heroes but also from randomness. She tells us that the smell of flowers, street noise, fog, nice music, how a river flows, refractions of light, etc., can inspire her. These are the things that many photographers don’t necessarily pay attention to or take a keen interest in because we lose our inner child. Anastasia instead tries to keep the idea of human connection to the world in her images.
She uses a newer Zenit 122 with a Helios 44m-6 or a wide-angle Mir-1 lens to show her images. “I usually take photos with daylight and sometimes a portable LED light panel, less often with permanent studio lighting,” she describes to us. “I like to do everything manually – set the aperture and shutter speed, rewind the film roll – in short, completely control all the process from start to finish. It makes me, you know, always stay focused.” Beyond this, she uses a Zenit E and a Kodak Ektar h35.
“…with them I capture important moments for myself, develop vision and just observe everything around me.”
Anastasia Markeeva
With Anastasia starting in film, then going to digital, and returning to film, she’s got some particular thoughts on AI. “The prospect of using AI in creativity is ambiguous – some AI photos can be difficult to distinguish from those created by humans,” she says. However, she finds AI to be a good tool for inspiration and ideas. However, she thinks humanity needs to continue to invest and create using our own creative vision, feelings, and identity.
AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT
The Phoblographer works with human photographers to verify that they’ve actually created their work through shoots. These are done by providing us assets such as BTS captures, screenshots of post-production, extra photos from the shoot, etc. We do this to help our readers realize that this is authentically human work. Here’s what this photographer provided for us.
