Irina Oreshina is a professional photographer from Russia.
She participates on exhibitions -recently she participated in the Fashion Exhibition in Moscow- and in 2018 and 2019 she entered the top 35 best photographers of staged photography in the prestigious international competition 35 Photo Awards. Irina is also a member of the Professional Union of Artists of Russia and the creator of "Musrealism" 2021, an ecological photographic exhibition. In 2012 her photo was ranked as number 1 in the Top 10 Best Photos of 2012 PictureSocial, where photographers from all over the world participated. Thanks to her experience as a photographer at the Panorama Publishing House, her works were repeatedly published in magazines and she gained experience working with the stars of Russian television.
Irina's new style is described as fairy-tale photography. However, it took her while to jump into this fairy-tale world. Her involvement in photography started from baby shooting and weddings, or magazine projects. Her 11-year experience eventually led her to a magical world!
“One day I realized that photography did not bring me the proper pleasure, it was just my job. "What will bring me true joy?", I once asked myself and heard my heart that joy lies in the manifestation of one's uniqueness, and not in following the path of other people and creating a classic product. Thus, I came to the conclusion and I began to think over interesting and sometimes fantasy images for children and girls, each time complicating the task for myself and my team, adding more and more accessories and props to our shooting. Then I realized that this product is different from what other artists were doing at that time. It was then that I found myself.”, Irina tells us.
Her favourite subject is still children photography as she believes that “you can hardly find more warm, cordial and sincere smiles anywhere else”. And is it not this happiness that a photographer is supposed to capture? The most touching and natural emotions in family photographs.
I asked her what photography means to her.
“For me, photography is not just an art and the ability to embody bold ideas, it is, first of all, a subtle, transformational and immersive work with the participants of the filming in complex, fantasy and archetypal images.”
She explained that her principle is honesty to the viewer and the model therefore in her filming she uses real scenery, props, and costumes created by professionals for a more realistic immersion in a fairy tale and living the role of each character, rather than making collages in Photoshop. “This is a production that allows the acting of each participant to unfold on the stage or, on the contrary, the removal of all his masks. My job is to strive for uniqueness and challenge the classic view of photography.”
Her journey into photography also led her in eco-photography. She is the creator of an ecological exhibition where photographers create photos of famous paintings based on the ideal of pollution in various human activities. It is worth checking the website (http:// musorealism.ru).
Then we talked about dreams and Irina's other talents.
“Have you encountered theft?
Once it was all the drawings, then I really loved to draw and won competitions .
Everything that I have been creating for so long and pouring in my soul for years has been taken to the city exhibition. And the teacher unfortunately, never returned them to me again; a large volume of works valuable to my heart remained there, for whom it has no value. I stopped believing, stopped drawing.
And I also dreamed of becoming a clothing designer , closing my eyes, dresses and costumes of incredible beauty came to life in front of me, bold images that I had not seen anywhere else, right there I transferred them onto my paper dolls.
I kept all these dresses in a notebook, usual for paper dolls, it was my childhood property, my dreams of the future. Once my close friend, stole it from me, and she never returned it to me again. Then, I wrote poems and essays. I dreamed of publishing my book, and I still have two drafts with stories at home.
I wrote down all my poems in a notebook, at that time they were not strong, but each time I noticed an increasingly interesting syllable and meaning in them. But then again one day my friend stole the notebook. And again there is nothing left ... I forced myself to believe that I couldn’t do anything ... I forced myself to forget all this ... And I again allow myself to reveal these gifts, so deeply buried since childhood”.
Luckily, Irina didn't give up all her dreams and recently her very first samples of mixed media drawings were chosen to illustrate the book of @ zhivie_skazki. And later, one of her photos will be used in the oracle deck of with fairies. We wish Irina all the best with this new endeavour and we hope there will be nothing unfortunate to shadow her joy!
“This is when you completely let go of your thoughts and fears about your drawing talent and just paint, enjoying the moment. I have always dreamed that my photographs would end up on the cover of a book or in a deck of cards, and my drawings would appear. That's how deeply I buried my talents, that only now I remembered about it”.
In response to her recent success and her buried talents I thought that Irina is the most appropriate person to give advice to a wannabe artist. She said that the best we have to do is to start from somewhere. “Remember, in order to awaken the artist in us, we must first prepare ourselves for the role of a bad artist. Allow yourself to be a beginner. By agreeing to be a bad artist, you gain a chance to be an artist in general, and in time, perhaps a very good one. When I say this to my students, I immediately run into a tough defensive reaction: "Do you know how old I will be when I learn how to play the piano / on stage, write decent paintings / plays?" I know. Exactly the same as you will be if you do not learn.”
I think in our modern society with so much competition everyone is intimidate to try something new. You always feel that will come second, if not the last.
“Self-love is the best we can give ourselves! But what happens when we sit on Instagram and watch the stream of beautiful pictures of the successful life of ideal faces and figures for days? Self-rejection, devaluation comes”.
Then Irina shared her thoughts about this new idea of self-love, in a world where real beauty is rare.
“Yesterday on the beach, I realized how much girls do not love themselves. Every second one with huge breasts and no less huge lips, all backs and legs covered with tattoos. Yes, you can say that this is precisely Love for yourself, rewarding yourself with all these "attributes". And I will say - no .. this is a complete rejection of oneself, insecurity and thoughtlessness in pursuit of an ideal. A woman who loves herself, she loves herself and accepts with all her flaws, luminous, attractive, alive, unique! Looking at these girls, I was confused, it seemed to me that you can only distinguish them by the colour of the swimsuit ... and you know, I noticed that men do not look at them too much, mostly they are interested in looking at natural girls. Oh, this fashion ... how much we take upon ourselves, in pursuit of beauty, mutilating our own body! Especially if you read about the impact of all this from a medical point of view . Men, please, be more attentive to the women around, give compliments, warm words, attention, support more often, give way in the subway, hold the doors, and at least on holidays do not skimp on flowers ... this is a very small contribution to every girl to became confident in her beauty and charm without all the other unnecessary cosmetic "mega-improvements".”
I really enjoyed working with Irina and certainly I like her view of the world. A true artist and a gentle soul. To me it was very rewarding to learn more about her and have the pleasure to listen to her advice. Irina Oreshina has an Instagram account with thousands of followers. Yet she is there to give them love, support and warmth. She replied to me immediately when I asked her to collaborate , although this magazine is still on its infancy.
“It is for you [the audience] that we create, we bring our vision of beauty into the world. You are our audience and our support at the same time. You can either make us float on the waves of inspiration, or fall down, breaking our wings”.
I always ask for a closure advice in every interview. And her advice came in response to the pandemic situation we are facing the last -nearly-couple of years. “Creative people always need a break in order to be filled with new strength and inspiration. The pandemic only helped me to listen to myself and take a break, which I have been waiting for for a long time”. So in other words, Stop, listen to your inner voice and create without fear of being a bad artist! That might not lead you to success, but it also might do...
You will find our wonderful guest Irina on her Instagram @oreshinaphoto and her website www.irina-oreshina
Imaginarium Magazine Issue 7 Summer 2021
