Ukrainian photographer Serhii Miroshynk on capturing life under a macro lens

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Inspiration is throughout, or so the adage goes. It’s definitely true of nature photography. The bizarre bluebottle or whiskered dandelion can take on otherworldly qualities when captured by the suitable individual. Serhii Miroshnyk is a kind of individuals. This month, the Ukrainian photographer gained Wiki Loves Earth, a world images contest now in its tenth yr, which acquired over 60,000 entries from 50 international locations. His successful entry, of a frequent tiger beetle resting on high of an acorn, was captured utilizing a macro lens.

Macro images is a wizardry of types, able to making the tiny titanic: a dew drop clinging to a leaf, a caterpillar curled up within the bark, or in Miroshnyk’s case, the glinting exoskeleton of a beetle magnified.

Miroshnyk first picked up a movie digicam when he was at college. Growing up in Kyiv, he was surrounded by creatives. “At that time, my friends were people who drew, wrote poems, learnt to make translations of literary works,” says Miroshnyk. His father – who painted in his youth and performed guitar – helped domesticate his creativity however after graduating from artwork faculty in 1938, Miroshnyk deserted the artwork world altogether for 20 years. He didn’t decide up a digicam once more till he was nearly 40. “At the age of 38, I had this inexplicable, obsessive desire to buy a digital camera and start taking photos again,” Miroshnyk explains. He turned to books by the American photographer, Scott Calby, which introduced him in control with the technicalities of digital images.

It wasn’t till 2014 that Miroshnyk started exploring the probabilities of a macro lens, after assembly fellow Ukrainian photographer Serhii Golubenko. “I was captivated by this genre of photography,” he explains. That captivation grew stronger with time. Today, he names Vyacheslav Mischenko as one among his key influences, one other macro photographer from Ukraine who gained the Discovery of the Year prize on the 2014 International Photography Awards. “Macro photography allows us to see what we cannot see in everyday life, to move into the wonderful world of insects and flowers,” writes Mischenko. “Early in the morning, when I am somewhere between dream and reality, a viewfinder creates a sense of presence in some incredibly beautiful and mysterious world.”

Miroshnyk tends to take his photographs in forests close to the place he lives in Kyiv. Occasionally, he’ll keep in a single day in a faraway dacha, that are seasonal properties in rural idylls that resemble one thing like a cottage out of a fairytale . His successful {photograph} of the beetle was taken within the Kyiv nature reserve – a context that brings with it an acute consciousness of the pure world’s rising fragility.

Miroshnyk’s lengthy profession in nature images has taught him a sturdy sense of endurance, in addition to a sensibility to the whims of the pure world. “I know what time of year and where to find a particular flower or insect,” he says. “Each has its own habitat and time of life.” Wind velocity, humidity, time of the day – these are all components he should think about earlier than setting off together with his digicam.

He enjoys a broad number of topics, not simply the little wonders of this world. Miroshnyk can also be a gifted panorama photographer, having produced spectacular pictures of the Carpathian mountain vary in Central Europe in addition to the golden woodland of his house nation. He hopes to go to Iceland someday, to attach with nature in what he believes to be its purist type. “Iceland is the place where I dream to go to feel the power of huge waterfalls, majestic mountains, the eternal glaciers of pristine nature,” he says. “I want to get in touch with its pristine nature.”

The battle in Ukraine has inevitably had a enormous impression on the lives of artists. “Regardless of whether you are a salesman or a photographer or a cook, if you are a patriot of your country, you will go to defend your homeland,” says Miroshnyk, who volunteered as a soldier in 2022. He was later wounded and suffered a concussion, which took him out of motion fully.

“I know many photographers who are on the frontlines now, defending their country,” Miroshnyk says. Since the start of Russia’s invasion, he provides, images bans have been applied throughout the nation, limiting the inventive scope of photographers. The ban consists of such topics as army personnel, gear, authorities buildings and the websites of missile strikes. Despite the battle, nevertheless, the nation’s arts scene has not come to a full standstill. Photography exhibitions and competitions proceed to happen amid the combating.

“You could say that photography has absorbed me completely,” Miroshnyk says. “I can’t imagine myself without it. I’m always trying to convey peace, calmness, contentment and love for the environment through my photography.” The microscopic perspective, he says, gives a new entry into the pure world. Miroshnyk’s pictures are a a part of that; it’s hardto stroll away from his work with out a new childlike awe on the world round us – not least the tiny wonders that inhabit it.