I'm an internationally award-winning photographer (twice FAPA nominee 2023-2024, RPA top 100 in 2023) with huge architectural background, profound art education, dedicated to ongoing learning and professional growth. I live in Greater Boston MA.
My photos are exhibited in museums and galleries in the USA, UK and Russia,
winning international competitions and being published in magazines.
I was born and spent most of my life in Moscow. In 2022, I had to leave my homeland for the USA.
By education and profession, I have been an architect for over 25 years. I am the author of many buildings and spaces constructed throughout Russia. I have been studying art since the age of three.
Photography has been my favorite hobby since my early youth; I bought my first semi-professional camera in 2003. However, I began to seriously study photography only in 2019 when my portfolio won a grant for a learning course of famous documentary photographer Sergey Maximishin. Since then, I have undergone training with various masters and in various photo schools.
And I continue to learn...
My photo project "The modern life of old merchant houses in Kargopol" Part I
REVIEWS
I brought my outfits for the photoshoot and thought it would be as usual. But Mari used many unusual combinations (sparkling or transparent, which is unusual for me, as I am very conscious of my privacy and don't show myself in transparent outfits). Usually, I worry a lot during photoshoots. But here I didn't even think about it, I just went with the flow. It's about trust.
For the first time, I allowed myself to share photos where I am quite open, exposed. I saw grace, beauty, courage in them. I allowed myself not to be shy about admiring myself. I really admired myself, my body, through Mari's vision. I made a video with these photos for my song, which I loved and was proud of, but hadn't shown to anyone for 7 years because I thought it wasn't technically correct enough. And then I decided - wow, I'm so cool, I can share these photos and my song and not be afraid of other people's opinions!
After our shooting with Mari, I began to believe in myself, felt more courage to be who I am instead of conforming to conventional standards. She gave me myself, the opportunity to be true. To be authentic. It made me want to create more, experiment more, not follow all the rules, not use stereotypes, and be free in self-expression. I felt that I have a voice, a right to self-expression.
I am impressed by Mari's dedication; she can go with the flow yet remains disciplined and prepared. She is the first photographer in my life who sketches every frame of the upcoming shoot.
I really appreciate Mari’s generous and loving approach and attitude. She was able to capture the complex love between the family members while focusing on each individual person and highlighting their personality. It definitely made me feel good to see the photos. Mari made us all look beautiful, the photos are edited to feature intimate details. . I felt very comfortable trusting Mari with documenting myself and my children as she takes photos from a place of love and admiration for her subjects. Mari looks for beauty and tenderness without any hint of kitsch or sentimentality; this is extraordinarily difficult to do, especially when photographing children and families, and she is one of the few people I’ve ever seen do it successfully.
Mari sees and understands everything, and is able to convey it. It's a unique talent.
The process of creating a photo story was alive and self-generating. I voiced my goal for this project, and Mari started offering ideas.
I appreciated the photographer's straightforwardness in her artistic vision combined with sensitivity and care towards the model. It was a safe space for collaboration. The photo shoot was meant to be unpredictable due to the presence of snakes. I felt comfortable sharing my vulnerability and fears. Thanks to Mari's attentiveness the process was comfortable and enjoyable. Mari's pre-planned concepts intertwined with moments of improvisation.
A month has passed since the shoot, and now I can confidently say that the state of creative collaboration was one of the most significant outcomes of this project. It became a part of my identity. The realization of this project changed me, and there's even visual evidence of it: after the shoot with the white wig, I changed my hair color to blonde. Projects with Mari undeniably offer freedom in joint creative expression.
The shoot went by very quickly, despite the fact that my mom was very tired (it's not easy being a model), we laughed, my mom changed clothes, changed necklaces and hats. Mari and my mom liked each other so much, they found common ground so easily that we didn't even notice it getting dark.
Friends, I highly recommend Maria, she is an artist who lives a little life with you.
Mari is a very careful, aesthetic, and attentive photographer. I have seen in most cases when she is taking my pictures, but it never felt unpleasant - I liked how she captures moments with her camera without any forced posing. Everything felt very natural. It is even more surprising when seeing the results. These photos are exactly what was inside me, not just that evening but for the entire recent period
I really like how the result turned out. And love how Mari was playing with different lighting and her vision for the photographs.
It was a pleasure to work with her and I'm grateful Mari for making me comfortable throughout the shoot.
I am immensely grateful to the photographer for what she did and saw, and to my grandmother, whom we all had to persuade for a long time and who finally agreed. It was evident that everything was difficult for her. But these were such necessary photos and such a day. Mari is very warm, with an individual approach. She can bring out and persuade even a model who hesitates. I am very glad that it was Mari who did the photoshoot. I'm not sure anyone else could have done it.
I realized that you can beautifully and brightly capture a very elderly and supposedly not photogenic person. Beauty is not only on the inside, but also very much on the outside, and it's visible in the photos.
Going to a photoshoot with Mari, I wanted to have some unusual and unexpected portraits. And as a result, that's exactly what I got. I saw myself through her eyes, and it was something I hadn't seen before. It was like magic. I realized that I can transform or reinterpret myself, and that's pretty cool at my age.
Working with Mari was spectacular! She is not only very encouraging which is helpful and makes everyone more comfortable, but her work is amazing. She is very easygoing and open to suggestions. She reached out before the session in order to plan for the theme and decide on some shots that we were sure we wanted to get! In the session, her expertise was also helpful in creating some wonderful poses in beautiful backgrounds. These extra shots and poses ended up being some of my favorite from the session.
Mari's work on the pictures was also astonishing as she captured the natural beauty of the area in which we photographed as well as the portraits she took. I absolutely loved working with her and would recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer! I only hope I can go back to Boston to work with her again.
Mari knows how to start the process very easily, I was absolutely relaxed, I didn't tense up, I didn't think that I would now have to "be a model" and act, everything was very natural and easy. The conversation smoothly flowed into the beginning of the photo session, then into the experiment area, one experiment smoothly flowed into the next, and so on and so forth. I always felt like a participant in the process, which helped me a lot.
The photos that I've got are wonderful, I like the play with light. I like the fact that with simple things without pathos and staging Mari can make such unusual and magical photos.
