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“Lighting Can Change Everything” – Photographer Vadym Yatsun Discusses Elevating Imagery With Experimental Lighting
“Lighting Can Change Everything” – Photographer Vadym Yatsun Discusses Elevating Imagery With Experimental Lighting
How accidentally moving to London and a chance encounter with the Trevor Sorbie team accelerated his career.
 Vadym Yatsun |
“I became a photographer by accident; I started my career as a musician. I needed photos for my work but struggled to get a good photographer, so I started doing photography, and then it just took off for me. That was more than 10 years ago now! In Ukraine we didn’t have any photography schools, so I was trying to find information on the internet, and I had to just analyse all the shoots I saw; how the lighting could work, where the lights were placed, how they could be directed – and that’s how I developed a good relationship with lighting.
I’m always prepped, but slight differences on set might change everything quite significantly. This is what I love about the creative process – it starts by working on the presentation, with the mood board, storyboard, all the looks, hairstyles, makeup and so on. Everything is carefully planned and I’m happy with how it changes on a set. The model will bring their own energy, and everything may change, but this is the magic that fascinates me. |
Vadym Yatsun |
| “I became a photographer by accident; I started my career as a musician. I needed photos for my work but struggled to get a good photographer, so I started doing photography, and then it just took off for me. That was more than 10 years ago now! In Ukraine we didn’t have any photography schools, so I was trying to find information on the internet, and I had to just analyse all the shoots I saw; how the lighting could work, where the lights were placed, how they could be directed – and that’s how I developed a good relationship with lighting.
I’m always prepped, but slight differences on set might change everything quite significantly. This is what I love about the creative process – it starts by working on the presentation, with the mood board, storyboard, all the looks, hairstyles, makeup and so on. Everything is carefully planned and I’m happy with how it changes on a set. The model will bring their own energy, and everything may change, but this is the magic that fascinates me. |
Image one, Image two
I like complex stuff. The more complicated it is, the more interesting it becomes. I think lighting is one of the most complicated parts of photography. I’m a control freak and shooting with daylight is something that you cannot control. It just drives me nuts, which is why lighting is a good thing!
“I like challenges, I find this work challenging and that’s what brings something special to my life.”
Since working in the hair industry, there have been lots of learning experiences. I believe that all photographers and people on set should know almost everything about their colleagues and the specifics of their work. As soon as I got into the industry, I started communicating with my colleagues, hairstylists, and make–up artists. I learned everything about their processes – which hairstyle should be the first, what would be the next, all and all the processes working with wigs. Now I love wigs most of all, because they make everything flexible.
Image three, Image four
Getting into the UK hairdressing scene was an interesting development, as I had worked with lots of hair brands and hair magazines in Ukraine. I love hair because it creates shapes – it can save simple looks or fashion shoots! I moved to London two years ago by accident. I wasn’t supposed to move here, but I started looking for different people to collaborate with, to get a job, and any connections, and then the Trevor Sorbie team found me. I followed someone from the team, and then they followed me, which led to being invited to shoot their new collection. And that’s how things started in London!
Image five, Image six
My first career highlight was this cover story for Schon! magazine with Indira Varma. She was in Game of Thrones and this was the first magazine shoot with a big budget, big sets and big brands. It was really lovely to have the trust of quite an important magazine.
This shoot for Paper magazine was quite cool. The last couple of years changed my life completely, and they also changed my approach completely.
My first career highlight was this cover story for Schon! magazine with Indira Varma. She was in Game of Thrones and this was the first magazine shoot with a big budget, big sets and big brands. It was really lovely to have the trust of quite an important magazine.
This shoot for Paper magazine was quite cool. The last couple of years changed my life completely, and they also changed my approach completely.
Image seven
This was another image for Schon! magazine, with hair by Paul Donovan. This was the second shoot and I love collaborating with this magazine because they trust me a lot. It’s something that rarely happens, but they just trust me 100 per cent so I can experiment. We were using layers of colour filters in front of the lens, changing and distorting the image; sometimes my work is not about lighting, it’s about the effect that we can give, about the layers and layers that can be placed in front of the lens. This sometimes brings unexpected results, which is also cool, and it is also part of the challenge because you never know what will happen. It’s a shoot I love, because that was the first experiment with this layering of colour filters and it was then I decided it will be part of my work and have my personal, distinctive, recognisable style.
Image eight
This was an amazing collaboration with one of my favourite make–up artists, Sophia Sinot, she’s worked with a lot of big talents and so that was a collaboration for Elle Ukraine, with hair by Trevor Sorbie’s Tizi Dima. I love this shoot because there was a lot of playing and experimenting with flowers and working with lots of effects, such as reflecting from different surfaces. We had this amazing piece of silver film that was giving a water-like effect with the light reflecting off.
Image nine
This image, with Ross Kwan on hair, we had lots of stuff that the set designer brought, and then he found this piece of rubbish downstairs and it reminded me of the shape of an eye, so he wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and that how it became the shape you see in the background. We placed it behind the model, and it worked perfectly with all the lighting, and changing the gradients, and it was cool.
Lighting is something that always goes with me, it’s something that can change every set – you don’t need anything sophisticated, just the white cove, and lots and lots of lights.
Credits
Image five
Hair: Paul Donovan
Hair assistant: Jessica Kell
Stylist and art direction: Ignacio de Tiedra
Stylist assistant: Enol Garçon
Art direction: Margo Mayor
Make-up: Justine Jenkins
Set designer: Sam Edyn
Set designer assistant: Jeremy Rwakasiisi
Model: Indira Varma
Nails: Mica Hendricks
Photography assistant: Simeon Asenov, Leo Corfu
Image six
Hair: Danilo Giangreco
Photography assistants: Iryl Mugas, Nicola Sclano
Stylist: Adele Cany
Stylist assistant: Cordie Watson
Make-up: India Rawlings
Model: Rahi Chadda
Set design: Sam Edyn
Set design assistant: Jeremy Rwakasiisi
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