My dad handed me my first camera the summer after I finished 5th grade and gave me a quick crash course in photography. The timing was perfect—it was the day before I was set to leave on a five-week trip with my grandmother across the Soviet Union (we lived in Siberia). The camera was a simple Soviet film model called the *Smena*, with a fixed 40 or 45mm lens. I shot my first three or four rolls of black-and-white film on that trip, and that’s where my photography journey truly began. My dad was my first teacher, and he already owned some equipment that he patiently showed me how to use.

Back then, I used to turn our bathroom into a makeshift darkroom and would spend 10–12 hours a day printing black-and-white photos. As I grew older and went to college, I had fewer chances to use my home lab—there were hardly any consumer photo services where I lived, so everything had to be DIY or done in a photo club. During those years, I photographed only occasionally.

Twenty years later, long after I had moved to the United States, I bought my first digital camera—a Canon A70—and my passion for photography came rushing back. Digital photography amazed me; suddenly, all the things that were so painstaking in the darkroom could be done easily on a computer. My childhood hobby was revived, and it has only grown stronger since.

I love the entire process of photography—from shooting (where I completely lose track of time) to editing images on my computer, to making prints. I enjoy reading about new techniques, both behind the camera and in post-processing. I love making physical prints, framing them, hanging them in my home, or giving them to friends. The one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to sell some of my work to help pay for the gear I enjoy using. At the end of the day, photography is a labor of love for me—not a business.

Thank you for taking the time to explore my photo stream. I enjoy sharing my photography with others, and I truly appreciate the chance to learn from the many talented photographers on Flickr, as well as from fellow enthusiasts like myself. This hobby continually reminds me to see the world with fresh eyes and to appreciate every bit of its beauty.