The following Montage is by Oleksiy Maksymenko. His unique approach to photography, influenced by his modeling experiences brings a unique look to his photography.

Looks real doesn't it?? It is not a real photo obviously; it is a 3d model Oleksiy designed for a game company. "I work pretty fast, yet, the quality of my work is the most important thing for me. I love low-poly game models as well as high-poly architectural models and vehicles. I never get tired of modeling ..." Oleksiy is a famous 3D Artist, in his own right, but photography rapidly became his second profession. He spends almost all his spare time with his Nikon, shooting whatever strikes his fancy. http://photo.aleksey3d.com

Oleksiy does corporate imagery, photographs buildings, portraits, and reportages. He does many different types of shots, but every shot or photo illustration is exactly what he wants to capture, and what he wants to say. A lot of Oleksiy's images relate on an intellectual level, not just emotionally. The actual composing takes planning and the most detailed work. Some images come together in hours others take days. I told Oleksiy I really enjoyed his conceptual illustrations, for example, "Apples instead of hamburgers" on the left. "I have a problem presenting my illustrations on some sites. They asked for raw photographs instead of design solutions". We have no problem with that, so, please check Oleksiy's "conceptual photo selection" here. Concept Illustrations

"Together we Live and Dream" The biggest part of Oleksiy's portfolio are his photographs of Anastasiya. I was a little bit mystified from the start. Who is this pretty woman? The answer is very simple. The marriage between the photographer and the subject is an old story. In Oleksiy's case "marriage" has a direct meaning. His model Nastya is his wife. Maybe it is the reason why Nastya looks and feels so good in all the shots taken by Oleksiy. She is fascinated with Oleksiy's profession. She is a creative partner, as well as his muse, and editor. If I hadn't asked, we wouldn't have this excellent photograph on the right. I think it is the best shot I have seen of a man and woman together. Adam and Eve have stood the test of time... I wrote back to Oleksiy immediately when I found this photograph in my mail box. Could you please to tell me your STORY? How did you meet and get together?

Here is the answer: " We met when she was in the army, working as an air defense contract worker. I was working as a designer in an advertising center in the Crimea, Evpatoria. She had some business there, and I helped her with it. Pretty soon we got married, she retired from the army and we moved to Kiev to start our long journey to Canada. She got a first class degree as a Hair designer here, and I was teaching her to work on a computer, with photoshop, etc. Once we were looking at some works of great photographers and I decided to try myself in photography. Hopefully, I had an Olympus and was able to try my hand in it. After the first try, there was a lot of buying different equipment, lots of mistakes and successes, but eventually we realized that our photos were getting better and better, and Nastya likes being my model more and more. I know there is room for improvement of the equipment we use and my skills as a photographer, and hers as a model, but we sure we'll come to it very soon. We'd like to start our careers as professionals in it in Canada. " Working together they don't spend a lot of time planning a photo session. They just dive into these scenes, do it, and find their way. More photos of Nastya

It seems like beauty surrounds Oleksiy. Recently he started to work with a new model - little "pink girl" (this is what we call her at FP). By the use of digital magic, Oleksiy photographs Sophia and the background separately and later creatively merges them to form images that will never be "retro". I can imagine this photo being made in the 16th century, the 19th century..., our century; they're timeless and never out of date.

FP: What do you do in your non-photography lives? We love nature and love to travel, even though usually we don't time for this. Someday we are going to see a lot of great places :) FP: The same question for you and Nastya: Do you have a favorite photo and why is it a favorite? There are many great photos and photographers and we just love to see them all, especially fine-art nude photography. This is something we love most of all. And this what we are going to master in the near future. We love the great glamour photos from good magazines, but most sensual art-nudes we saw were works of Russian photographers even though most of them are amateurs. So a photographer shouldn't do only commercial photography. There must be a piece of your soul in each of your works, but you learn it with time... FP: Please check Oleksiy's Artistic Nude Series. FP: Do you have a favorite photos and why is ia a favorite? This is one of our favorite authors: http://www.photosight.ru/ownpage.php?authorid=20409&cat=15 and one of my favorite photos: http://img-2006-06.photosight.ru/05/1469426.jpg But there are a lot more great works all over the world FP: Oleksiy, Nastya, we are watching you evolve with your photography!

CopyRight by FeaturePics.com, 2006