About Me

Photography as a way
to document reality

Hello!

My name is Mykhailo (also Mike). I'm amateur photographer from Ukraine. I'm almost 40, married to a wonderful woman and together we have a bunch of funny kids. We live in the small town of Pustomyty near the bigger city of Lviv.

Mostly I do landscape photography but I don't refuse to explore new genres and styles. I love to take photos of nature, urban and rural life, interesting architecture and anything else that catches my eye. My experience in photography spans more than 25 years (if it can be measured with time units).

My approach in photography is quite simple: to notice something unusual or beautiful in everyday life and capture it in the photo as accurately as possible. I try to make my photos realistic and natural, preserve their authenticity. When editing, I avoid heavy local adjustments such as masking out random objects in landscapes or skin imperfections in portraits. Also I use masks at a minimum. In general, my rule is: if something should not be in the photo, I must compose the frame accordingly or clean-up the scene manually before pressing the shutter. I don't avoid colors and levels correction, but I try not to go into the realm of fantastics.

Not a photographer?

Ok, I should admit that I’m not a professional photographer — most people know me as a software engineer. But photography has a special place in my life. It was a kind of sacred craft for me long before I became an IT guy.

My photo journey began at school in the early 2000s. After joining a local photography class I convinced my parents to buy me a soviet Zenit film camera. My family wasn’t very wealthy at the time, so I still deeply appreciate that purchase.

The camera was fully manual with only a built-in light meter to assist. There was no auto-focus or aperture priority mode but it was incredibly fun to use. And it had that classy black-and-silver look, very different from the plastic compact cameras popular back then.

Gear addicted

Digital photography slowly crept into my life during university years. I borrowed a friend’s Canon PowerShot A400 several times and later bought my own camera — a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8. It was quite a beast, not a DSLR beast but its zoom reach was impressive.

After graduation and getting my “real job” I stepped onto the slippery path of DSLRs, starting with a Nikon D60. A few years later I upgraded to a Nikon D90 and began experimenting with various manual-focus lenses. Around that time I also bought a mirror-less Fujifilm X-E1 with the Fujifilm XF 18–55mm OIS kit lens. My most recent additions to the gear collection are a full-frame Nikon D750 with several low budget prime and zoom lenses and a tiny Samsung NX1000 with a Samsung 30mm f/2 lens.

Film photography never completely disappeared from my life. When I was too bored of digital cameras I kept on shooting casually on film ones (FED-5c, Nikon FG, Nikon N90s and recently Nikon FM2).

Hopefully, someday I’ll put together a dedicated page with a more detailed description of all this gear and my impression of it.

Neither a cyclist

I have many passions other than cameras and lenses, one of them is active lifestyle (cycling, running, mountain hiking). These activities help me to explore the world around and fuel me with inspiration. I’m also interested in astronomy, sometimes that is reflected in my photos. Other interests include sci-fi movies and books, map development (cheers to OSM community), solo mode video gaming and other random stuff that isn't related to this site (or maybe it is).

So, welcome to my little piece of the Internet. I hope you enjoy it. If you’d like a high-resolution copy of any photo or simply want to say hello, feel free to use the contact form or reach out via social links or email.