Russian Photographer Captures Unusual Portraits Invoking A Feeling Of Renaissance Portraiture

These Portraits Really Are Unusual!

But, you've really gotta check out this unusual portrait photography and appreciate Alexei's very unique ideas.

Alexei Sovertkov is a visual artist and talented photographer from Moscow, who's taken his inspiration from Dutch and Flemish Renaissance artists like Jan van Eyck, Rogier van Der Weyden and Hans Holbein.

His works are those that have inspiration around voids, vacuums and other areas of uncertainty.

A recent series of his includes a host of unusual portrait photography titled “Temptation of Void” where the models that include both humans and animals pose with fish bowls covering their heads and with their faces illuminated brightly.

The expressions on their faces invoke a feeling of Renaissance Portraiture.

Alexei is pretty obsessed with visual arts and has been working as a photographer and visual artist for more than 10 years that includes working for the British Higher school of art and design in Moscow, various advertising agencies and magazines.

Achievements

He has also participated in contemporary art projects and won awards for photography and photo manipulation.

Alexei also has a list of publications including Practical Photoshop, Business Week, Digital Camera, Pride, etc.

When asked what Alexei had to say about his project, he says,

“Voidness as a quality of consciousness , means simply that one cannot identify them as one's own self or having anything pertaining to one's own self…

 Voidness as a mental state, means a mode of perception in which one neither adds anything to nor takes anything away from what is present, noting simply, “There is this.” 

This mode is achieved through a process of intense concentration, coupled with the insight that notes more and more subtle levels of the presence and absence of disturbance.”

If you are inspired by Alexei’s work and would like to see more of his projects, you can see them on the links below

• Alexei’s projects are here on Behance
• Alexei’s work can also be found here on his Facebook page 
• Alexei’s also has a profile on Instagram 

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Image by Alexei Sovertkov

Further Resources

• Have Nothing To Photograph? Abstract Photography Is Literally Everywhere…by Jason Row
• Alexei’s projects are here on Behance
• Alexei’s work can also be found here on his Facebook page 
• Alexei also has a profile on Instagram 

Further Learning

As with any type of photography – portraiture or otherwise, understanding light is one of the fundamental keys to producing stunning abstract images. This guide suitably titled “Understanding Light” will ensure you can take the skills learned from the pros and insert that into your own workflow.