Category / Personal

by dmitriybabichenko

Geek photographer manifesto

It is 3:30 in the morning as I am sitting down to write this. Sophia (my 1-year-old daughter) woke me up about an hour ago and I cannot seem to fall back asleep. Truth be told, I have been thinking about this for a long time and in my “fastidious project manager” mode made pages of notes and lists regarding this subject.
When we (photographers) first get into photography business, we usually concentrate on building a large client base at all costs. Very few photographers are picky about their clients, or about the projects that they take on. I know this because for years I had been guilty of that: I photographed weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, corporate events, products, families and babies, just to name a few. One day in the fall of 2003, as I was editing 1700 images from a product photoshoot, I realized that “specializing” in so many different things simply meant that I wasn’t particularly good at any of them.

I sat myself down (at a bar, if memory serves right), ordered a shot (or three) of Grey Goose, and asked myself: “Dmitriy, what do you enjoy photographing the most?”

The answer was surprisingly easy – I liked photographing events. So I dropped everything else and stuck with weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. Now, almost 10 years later, I find myself in a similar situation.

Let me explain…

A few days ago I met with a very nice and beautiful couple who was planning a very high-end, high-fashion wedding. I talked to them for almost two hours, trying very hard to convince them to hire me as their wedding photographer. When I got home, I started thinking about the meeting. Here’s what went through my head.

  1. What the hell do I know about fashion? I am a jeans-and-a-t-shirt kind of guy.
  2. I could produce the types of images this couple wanted. After all, I used to photography beauty pageants. However, I shot my last fashion photograph 8 years ago – I did not like shooting fashion then and probably would not like it now.
  3. If I don’t like photographing fashion, I am not going to be excited about photographing this wedding. That’s not fair to the couple.
  4. I am the wrong photographer for this client.
  5. This client is wrong for me.

Brides spend an extraordinary amount of time picking photographers for their weddings, making sure they like the photographer’s style and personality. Photographers should do the same with their clients.

Yes, wedding photography is a business, and businesses need to attract clients and make money. However, at the same time it is our responsibility as photographers to provide the best possible service to brides and grooms, something that would be very difficult to do if we don’t like the couple, the venue, the style or the theme of the wedding.

I thought long and hard about what type of client I would absolutely love to work with. In my infinite nerdiness, I even drew a Venn diagram:)

Venn Diagram - My Ideal Clients | Dmitriy Babichenko PhotographyAnd, just like 10 years ago, the answer was surprisingly simple. I love working with geeks – science geeks, music geeks, photography geeks, tech geeks, comic book geeks; geeks in the best possible sense of that word. To me, the word “geek” = “passion”.  According to the all-knowing Google, the word geek has two definitions:

1. An unfashionable or socially inept person.
2. A person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest: “a computer geek”.

The first definition has never not really applied to my understanding of the word “geek”. The second one fits perfectly. Note the word “devotion” in the second definition. If you look up “devotion” in a thesaurus, you will see synonyms such as “dedication” and “passion”. Which brings me back to my original point – “geek” = “passion”.

A few years ago I met with a bride who had a PhD from MIT; we had the most fascinating conversation about superconductors. Last year I photographed a wedding for a couple where the groom made guitars in his basement as a hobby; he could also play a really awesome rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” on a mandolin. I had the privilege to work with a couple whose combined comic book collection contained over 2000 titles, some of them signed by Stan Lee.

I love working with passionate people, people who don’t take themselves too seriously, who are willing to strike the Superman pose, jump into a pool during an engagement session, or drive a golf cart at night over a rickety bridge. I love photographing people who are so in love with each other that the groom is willing to walk a city block with his eyes closed just to be surprised and awed by the first look at his beautiful bride; where the groom is not ashamed to cry in front of 200 people when his bride enters the sanctuary.

If you are a geek, call me – I cannot wait to meet you and photograph your wedding. Geeks need apply!

by dmitriybabichenko

A Weekend of Revelations

When I was a kid, I spent 4 or 5 summers in a row in a small village near a Ukrainian town of Korosten’.  My grandfather and I would get on a train or a bus from my hometown of Gomel and take a 6-hour trip to his friend’s farm.  Pavel and Galina (my grandfather’s friends) had a small apple orchard and raised goats and rabbits.  To a kid a place like that was a paradise.  I spent my days swimming in the river, hiking, roasting potatoes on a bonfire and goofing off with local village kids.  I never wondered who Pavel and Galina really were and how they know my grandfather.
This past weekend my mom asked me put together a book of old photographs as a present for my grandmother.  As we were going through a pile of old photographs, I came across the photograph below:Pavel and Galina

In the back, my grandfather is on the left and my grandmother is right next to him.  In the front row, the two people sitting down are Pavel and Galina.

As we started talking about people in this photograph, I asked my mom how my grandfather met Pavel and Galina.  As it turned out, like with most of my grandfather’s friends, he met Pavel in Vorkuta GULAG.  Unlike his other friends, Pavel was not an inmate – as it turned out he was a guard at Vorkuta Mine #7 labor camp.  He was one of the good guys and from what my grandmother and my mom told me he saved quite a few lives.

It’s been almost 10 years since Pavel passed away; Galina passed away 2 years ago.  I was absolutely shocked and amazed that I had known these people since childhood and had no idea about their relationship with my grandfather.

Who knows what else I find out in the next few days…

by dmitriybabichenko

Gherman

Gherman | Grandfather, GULAG Project
This man’s name was Gherman.  He used to visit my grandfather a few times a year, and I always looked forward to his visits.  He had encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much everything; he spoke German, French, English and Yiddish; best of all, he was as obsessed with photography as I was.  Years later, after I immigrated to the United States, I found out that Gherman spent 15 years in GULAG.  He met my grandfather in 1947 at Mine 7 in Vorkuta where my grandfather saved his life when Gherman’s right arm was torn off by heavy machinery.

When I began to research my grandfather’s life, I found out that Gherman immigrated to Israel shortly after I moved to the United States.  I called him and we talked for almost 4 hours.  He told me about GULAG camps and about my grandfather.  He sent me a 35-page handwritten letter with first hands accounts of his life in Soviet labor camps.

Yesterday I found out from my grandmother that Gherman passed away a few weeks ago.  He was the last of my grandfather’s friends who were in prison camps with him.  When I heard the news, I cried.  Rest in peace…

by dmitriybabichenko

Family Trip to Ireland – 6 days in 6 minutes

This has been an absolutely insane year and we really needed to get out of Pittsburgh for a few days, change the scenery and do something fun.  We usually take one big trip (usually abroad) every year; this year we picked Ireland by pretty much pointing blindly at the map of Europe.  We were a bit concerned about traveling that far with two small children – Daniella is 3.5 years old and Sophia is only 11 months old.  We weren’t too worried about Daniella – she is a seasoned traveler.  She’s traveled to 4 countries outside of the US and has been on at least 20 flights.  Sophia is a travel noob and we weren’t sure how well she would handle the trip.
We had a blast!  The trip was incredible and we managed to see and do way more than we expected, even with two small kids in tow.  Instead of rambling, let me present to you – Ireland: 6 days in 6 minutes.

 

Trip to Ireland, 2012 from Dmitriy Babichenko on Vimeo.

 If you prefer to see individual images, you can see photos from the entire trip on Flickr

 

by dmitriybabichenko

My Family Photoshoot

My wife always makes fun of the fact that I’m like the proverbial shoemaker without shoes – I am a professional photographer who doesn’t have any photos of my own family.  A few weeks ago we finally decided to fix this issue and asked my friend and amazing photographer Jenny Karlsson to photograph our family.  She was incredibly patient with us and the photos are absolutely amazing.  I have been looking at the slideshow at least 5 times a day!
 

Babichenko Family from Jenny Karlsson Photography on Vimeo.

by dmitriybabichenko

Being sick, getting better, finding yourself

Last year did not begin well for me – on January 2nd I ended up in a hospital with a collapsed lung caused by misdiagnosed pneumonia. Over the course of last year I had pneumonia 5 times. The doctors had no clear idea as to what was causing persistent lung infections and after batteries of unpleasant and sometimes painful tests they would always prescribe antibiotics and steroids. Being sick sucks at the best of times, but when you have a small child at home, a full-time job, a business and graduate school… I don’t even have words to describe how much it stinks. In March of 2011 I had a pulmonary function test which showed that my lung capacity was down to 52% – I could barely walk up a flight of stairs without having to sit down and catch my breath. My wife Irina was absolutely amazing through the whole ordeal – she juggled the kids, cooking, cleaning and taking care of me. Sometime in the summer of 2011 I met an amazing Pittsburgh photographer John Craig. We met for coffee to talk about photography. Somewhere along the line John told me about his battle with illness, spending time with family, running marathons and just dealing with health issues on a level that never occurred to me before. My last bout of pneumonia happened in December of 2011. I hate coming up with New Year’s resolutions because more often than not I don’t follow through on them. However, I decided to make an exception for 2012 – inspired by John’s example I set a goal for myself to bike the Great Allegheny Passage. Biking Great Allegheny Passage | Dmitriy Babichenko Photography In January of 2012 I started training for the bike ride – I began riding to work (an 18-mile round-trip commute) first once a week, then twice, and eventually almost every day. I started biking to the grocery store and pretty much everywhere I needed to go (without my kids). It was difficult and painful at first, but eventually I could ride up the insanely steep and windy Commercial Street without throwing up my lungs. Last week I took a few days off of work, grabbed my bike and hopped a train from Pittsburgh to Connelsville. In two days I rode about 120 miles, including getting lost and riding in the wrong direction for 10 miles. I met a lot of wonderful people on the trail – a 75-year-old couple who ride from Pittsburgh to Washington every year, a guy from upstate New York to whom I gave a paperback copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” and a lady from Toronto who gave me a bottle of Gatorade when I ran out of water between Frostburg and Cumberland. Biking Great Allegheny Passage | Dmitriy Babichenko Photography I guess what I’m trying to say is that when you are sick, you tend to concentrate on your disease and forget about the world around you. Getting out of that dark spot in your mind, meeting new people, setting a goal for yourself and actually following through will help you deal with almost anything life throws at you. And most importantly, spend as much time with your family as possible – I missed a lot of moments in my daughter’s life because of work, school, illness and to me that’s far worse than being sick. Biking Great Allegheny Passage | Dmitriy Babichenko Photography More photos from my trip on Flickr.