One day I stumbled across the pictures of 25 year-old Yahor Urbanovich from Belarus on the editorial feed, who definitely stood out from the crowd with his quirky style. While Unsplash is mostly pure photography, he pushes his creative boundaries with the use of software like Photoshop and Capture One, as well as a Wacom tablet. This allows him to create visuals that would not have been possible in the normal way. What drives him, inspires him and how he interprets his own work, he told me in a few Instagram messages. As of now, his 36 pictures uploaded fall 2021 have collected more than 1.7 million views and 13 thousand downloads.
“I started this more than 5 years ago. As I remember all my friends posted primitive selfies and food. I thought it a little strange and uninteresting: every day the same faces and poses. Then the idea came to publish my photos but in a slightly different way. I had only a simple camera and a great desire to do something”, he says. Right now, he is working as a software engineer. “Photos are just a good time to relax and switch a context”, he adds.
I had only a simple camera and a great desire to do something.
“Some of the ideas come spontaneously, some of them are planned for a long time. I am looking for the necessary artifacts for them or find a better place”, he describes his creation process. He would not want to decide between compositions and montages. “It depends on the idea and difficulties of photography. Just want to highlight, that I’m not using any photo stocks, all elements on the photo made with my camera.“
“Speaking about ideas, I am, of course, inspired by other creators. I remember being inspired by illustrators and their sketches for a while. Also, I think I had a good imagination and some of the ideas came up from nowhere. It’s strange, but my photos sometimes do not mean anything. It’s just a nice picture, but someone can undoubtedly see their meaning and idea.”
It’s strange, but my photos sometimes do not mean anything. It’s just a nice picture.
Since he doesn’t make money from his photographs, he decided to make them available for everyone for free on Unsplash. “Perhaps they can be useful to someone, unusual things are in demand now. Let’s see in time where my photos will appear 😎”
