Photo Plus - UK (2019-09)

76 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

PHOTOSTORIES

01

NAME: Anatoly Karpov

LOCATION: Wonder Studio,

Moscow, Russia

MISSION: Create beautiful low

key, studio portraits with a fine

art, painterly look

KIT:Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon EF

85mm f/1.2L II USM, Profoto d1

500 air and 1000 air flashes

karpov-art.com/en

PROJECT INFO

Old-school cool

Using custom clothing and props, Anatoly recreates a classical

looking painterly style in a modern digital medium

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starting out in

photography I

experimented

with all sorts

of portraiture including

street, candid reportage

and natural light. I enjoyed

all of it, but I decided to

concentrate on classic

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I prefer to work with studio

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allows more scope for self-

expression, rather than

natural light outdoors. My

lighting setups vary, but I

usually use one large octabox

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light back into the shadows.

My lighting is massively

inspired by the painters

Rembrandt and Caravaggio, as

well as Russia’s Levitsky and

Rokotov. Before I settled on

the idea of historical portraits

I tried a variety of different

styles, but I really believe that

photographers in the present

have a lot to learn from the

artists of the past.

In my work I try to build

the light and shadow

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classic masters, with gentle

sfumato and tender gradients

from light to shadows. For

each model and each mood I

make special light settings:

sometimes more sharp to

outline the strength, other

times softer with a shallower

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bokeh more pronounced and

bring out the fragility and

softness of the model.

Each photo is the result of

a long process of preparation.

Firstly I come up with an idea,

then I use the internet and

artists’ galleries to look for

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costume I use is specially

made for an individual shoot.

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