A story about photography and viral content! With Yuri Vantowski (@yuri_vantowski)
A story about photography and viral content
With Yuri Vantowski (@yuri_vantowski)
"Experiencing new cultures and seeing the beauty in this world is what makes me happy."
I’ve been a graphic designer for about five to six years now and started getting serious about photography in 2018. I always wanted to see and experience the world but needed a catalyst to give me a little push.
As a newbie to the photography game, I am always trying to learn from the big names in the business. I constantly search for new tips, tricks and techniques in Photoshop and Lightroom.
I have solid Photoshop knowledge and skills from my design background, so picking out a camera brand and learning how to use a DSLR was my next move. After figuring out my camera and all of its functionality, I wanted to create a name and brand that would be recognizable in the photography community. Since my last name is especially complicated, I decided to create something engaging to be the face of my photography. March 14, 2018 Yuri Vantowski was born!
My first adventure was exploring all of Iceland. While there, I captured a photo that eventually received over 250k likes, was shared across multiple accounts, and built my confidence to believe that there’s a future in photography for me.
"When I was in Northern Iceland, I really wanted to shoot Dettifoss because of its massive scale."
Walking up to the location the snow was waist deep in some spots and became a bit treacherous, but danger doesn’t matter to me when I’m on the hunt for the perfect shot. I love capturing images that look like they could be a drone shot, but truth is I’ll never use or want one.
After the model got in the right spot, I took a couple photos and didn’t think too much about it. I finished my trip and, as I began editing my photos, I almost threw that shot away because it was all blown out and looked pretty terrible. Then I realized if I zoomed in really tight to the waterfall, this incredible composition appeared and all I had to do was shift the model over to create the dramatic effect.
I posted the image on my Instagram about a month after my trip and the buzz started to grow instantly. Numerous accounts were sharing it with hundreds of followers which quickly grew to millions. It wasn’t t until I submitted the image to NatGeoYourShot when it really blew up.
People went crazy for it! I gained thousands of followers from that photo alone which was wild and then I received requests daily for prints and permission to be used on people’s pages. I didn’t expect a blown-out photo would end up being my most popular shot.
"Gaining more followers was great, but not the reason why I got into photography. I love exploring new places. And month after month I traveled near and far to find amazing landscapes to capture."
Through the people I met, I learned so many new infield techniques as well as post processing tips to push my photos to the next level. I love editing new landscapes to match my feelings of the instant I click the shutter. I love to bring an awe factor to my audience as best as I can and finding unique places to visit does that. Currently, I am growing the Yuri brand with more travel and working on creating new experiences for people to get inspired and pursue their own passion for photography.
