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Natalie Mikhina
@tasha.wayfarer
Photographer based in Russia
Photography and travel have always been a part of my life. What used to just arouse interest and curiosity has now grown into an irrepressible passion. It helped me understand who I am and what I want to do.
I grew up in a small town near Moscow. I have loved nature since childhood; I liked to spend time outside the city, away from the hustle and bustle and the noise, watching animals or just lying on the grass and looking at the stars. At such moments, I felt truly peaceful and happy, and I still do. And all year long I was looking forward to the summer holidays, when my parents and I could go on another trip. We went to the river and toured with a sailing yacht on weekends, and when my parents had a vacation, we went on a big road trip. We took a tent and everything we needed to prepare food with us and left 1000 kilometers from home. I took it as an adventure and imagined myself as an explorer or discoverer.
"Even on those days when the tent was leaking from the rain or we were bitten by hordes of mosquitoes, I felt like the happiest child - because in the morning a beautiful sunrise awaited us in a pine forest, and in the evening a sunset on the seashore."
On those trips, a film camera would always be with us. My father was fond of photography, so he was our family photographer. When I got older, he taught me how to use it, talked about how it works and explained the basic principles of photography. Very often we walked with him outside the city and took pictures of each other and nature. And then we were eagerly awaiting the development of the photographs to see what happened – we would then select the best ones for the family album.
Later, my mother gave me a digital camera and I started taking pictures myself. A lot. My grandparents, our dog, the city and my friends… And so I became our family photographer. By that time, our car travels were becoming increasingly rare. We began to spend our holidays abroad more often. And if my father was my guide in Russia, my mother showed me other countries.
"I am very grateful to my parents for the fact that from childhood, they taught me to love nature and travel."
They showed me how huge and beautiful our world is and awakened in me a passion that grew stronger every year while I grew taller myself. Though once I finished school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I enjoyed a lot of things: taking pictures, singing, playing the piano and painting. One day I dreamed of becoming a journalist and the next day I wanted to be an archaeologist. But what I did know was that I wanted to be independent and not sit on my parents’ neck. Therefore, I studied during the day and worked in the evening. I soon saved up enough money to buy myself my first DSLR. I really wanted to have one, even though I perceived photography still as a hobby – and not as something that could be a long-term job, so I devoted little time to it.
"Everything changed after a trip to Iceland."
My boyfriend and I decided to get married there and spend our honeymoon. In 2 weeks we traveled the whole island, met a lot of wonderful people and saw stunning landscapes that changed our lives forever. It was there that I realized that I wanted to finally connect my life with photography and travel. Seeing the beauty of this country, I wanted to share this with people so that looking at my photos they would feel the fresh wind blowing from the glacier or the smell of rain and fog. I was longing to capture amazing landscapes and transcribe the emotions that are inextricably connected to these awe inspiring moments with pictures.
With his hard work and perseverance, he inspires me, does not let me give up. We always travel together, complementing each other during those life adventures in many ways. For example, he likes shooting videos more than I do. Therefore, he is taking care of travel videos. Together we carefully prepare for our travels, looking for locations and making routes. Over the past few years, we have visited many countries – Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Italy, Croatia and so on.
We love each country for their uniqueness, however, one of the places that impressed me especially in my travels in Russia is the Caucasus Mountains. I feel a connection with places like this, which is hard to describe. I am surprisingly calm in the mountains. In such places, I rest mentally, I feel peace. The Caucasus has everything that I really love in nature: High, stunningly beautiful mountains, magical forests – as if in a fairy tale, and blue mountain lakes with crystal clear water.
My dream is to climb Mount Elbrus. During our trip to the Caucasus, I filmed Elbrus at night, against the background of the starry sky. It was just amazing to see small lights on its slope, which gradually climbed to the top. I plan to go there next year. And I also dream of going on a big trip around Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. Russia is huge – and there is so much (remote) beauty to explore!
Amazing nature energizes me and gives me strength. Before, I could not even imagine that I would be able to sleep for only two hours. Or hike up a mountain at night with a huge backpack filled with photographic equipment in order to meet the dawn at the top of the peak. It is as if I have an unbeatable energy inside of me, and I am ready to climb the mountains, walk in the rain, knee-deep in snow, or against the cold wind – all in order to take the desired picture. However, while the rain and snow don’t scare me away, climbing the ledges and rocks gives me goosebumps. I am afraid of heights, and I struggle with this fear every time I need to get to a certain place along a cliff or ledge in order to get exactly the shot that I see. Even if the trail is safe and I have insurance, I’m still scared. I really want to overcome this fear, I even went paragliding as a strategy to reduce the fear by facing it – and it helped me a little, I began to feel more confident.
This dream gives me strength and confidence, the desire to develop and not stop there. I am constantly learning, looking for new locations for filming, photographing, and experimenting. Now I work to be able to travel and do what I love. After all, I’m only at the beginning of my journey. I would really like to take part in some projects to meet new people, learn something from them and prove myself. I realized that no matter what technique and experience you have, it’s never too late to start doing what you love. The main factor is the desire to develop and perseverance, and with that you can do anything at any age, at any day.
"We all travel not only to be here and now, but also to get emotions and impressions that will stay with us for life. Photography helps me to preserve such moments, share them with others, be inspired and inspire."
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