The exhibition «Nature — colors, light, form and composition» was held at the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in early September. Its author, publisher, traveler, photographer Dmitry Martynov, shared with us the discoveries he made thanks to photography.
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at the photographs of Dmitry Martynov is that there are absolutely no people in them. But then you begin to understand: they are not needed here. Nature tells its story using weather-beaten and water-washed rocks, bizarre layers of minerals, deceptive shadows on the clouds… To convey this story, Dmitry Martynov traveled around the largest US national parks and even visited the lands owned by the Navajo Indians. His exhibition is like a passionate declaration of love for nature. We asked the author to formulate his feelings in words — despite the complexity of this task.
Psychologies: What is the place of photography in your life?
Dmitry Martynov: Photography has always been a natural part of my life. In my family, my father and uncle were engaged in photography. During my childhood it was still black and white. We took the board, put it on the bath, turned off the light, developed the pictures with the help of a red lamp. Suddenly an image appeared on the paper. For me as a teenager, it was like magic. Then the camera appeared with me. At first I just took it on trips, filmed something interesting. In the 90s, when it became possible to freely leave the country, we traveled a lot around the world with business colleagues. Photos piled up. At some point, I thought that I wanted to share them with someone. My first exhibition was in 2006. It was called «Across countries and continents.» I talked with designers, selected photos for a long time. And this was the impetus for reflection: I began to think about why I was doing this, why. It was an incentive to peer more into the world around us, to look at it more closely.
- Why we don’t like ourselves in the photo
The title of your exhibition is Nature: Color, Light and Form. Why these particular words?
D. M .: This topic came to my mind when I was working with the photo archive. First of all, I wanted to convey the beauty of our world, which is so difficult to capture. And not only in a figurative sense: the human eye simply cannot distinguish some colors. For example, Antelope Canyon has a stunning combination of colors — blue, light blue, bright orange. They only show up in the photo. It’s amazing how nature creates these vibrant colors and lines. It is interesting for me to catch these moments, to try to express some kind of mood. Take, for example, Monument Avenue in Northern Arizona, USA. The place itself has tremendous energy. At sunset, when the sun goes down, it made an amazing impression on our entire group. Some kind of absolute calm, spilled in the atmosphere, ringing air, absolute silence — and colors. For the sake of such moments, it is worth traveling thousands of kilometers.
- Yuri Rost «Group portrait against the backdrop of the world»
What do you think the person who looks at your photos is thinking? What can they reveal to him?
D. M .: I would like him to be imbued with a feeling of how beautiful the world around us is. Saw what I see. When shooting, you discover that nature acts either as a sculptor, or as an abstract painter. Photos of fiery streams in Yellowstone Park are like the birth of life. The open brain of the earth. It looks like the ocean from the book Solaris by Stanislav Lem. Flows are like blood vessels or like a web of fibers. The feeling that this is an organism, the entire surface of which is something alive and even thinking. Other places are like abstract paintings. And some, on the contrary, evoke associations with human figures. I rarely take pictures of people, but you can find your own “portraits” in inanimate nature. For example, the rock ledge in Antelope Canyon looks like a sullen profile. I called him «Bureaucrat». And there is another photo — «Creator». At first glance — the same piece of rock, but the feeling is completely different. The Navajo Indians believed that the rocks in Bryce Canyon were actually the souls of people punished for their evil deeds. The Navajo believed that when these statues turn red at dawn and dusk, the souls experience torment.
How has photography influenced you? What does it mean to you to be a photographer?
D. M .: Probably, a special flair is being developed. Another time I would pass by, but here you already feel the plot, the composition takes shape by itself. You learn to look at the world around you more carefully. It happens that you need to go somewhere, sign up for six months in order to get the right conditions for shooting. But everyday life also brings surprises. Let’s say he woke up in the morning in the country, looked out the window — and there was fog. The lanterns are still burning, their rays breaking through the stratified air, and an amazing picture is obtained. Sometimes you need a camera lens to see it.