The Man with The Midas Touch

Oleg Oprisco captures real life and beauty in dream-like photography

Ukraine-born photographer Oleg Oprisco declares that his ideas come from real life, but there is no escaping the fairy-tale quality of his fine art photography. His work displays porcelain beauties cloaked in the varying colours of nature, and carries both warmth and coldness simultaneously. Real life, he says, ‘is the perfect source of inspiration for me as there is so much beauty to it.’
One thing that sets him apart as a professional photographer is the modesty of his equipment. At only 23 years old, Oleg already teaches several workshops a year and remarks on the huge price difference between his equipment and that of his students. ‘It’s very funny sitting in front of many photographers with $2000 – $3000 cameras and lenses, and on my table is an old Kiev 6C, which is worth about $50.’
For Oleg, the story the picture tells is much more important to him than the tools used to capture it. ‘Each picture has a unique story,’ he tells us. ‘My models are heroes and I love them for it.’

The Plus: What are your greatest challenges when working on a project?
Oleg Oprisco: I work alone, so I spend lots of time preparing. The most important part of getting ready for the next shoot is finding the right concept and the right characters.

TP: How do you manage your projects?
OO: I have a notebook where I keep a lot of ideas for photography. If everything turns out as I imagined, preparation takes two to three days. It is a question of weather, people or mood. Sometimes the work I put in does not yield the result I wanted. Therefore, the more experience and reflection I depend on for the shoot, the better.

TP: What inspires the concepts in your photography?
OO: Perhaps today on your way to work, when you were observing the world around you, that was the scene to inspire my next photograph. Of course there are my own changes that I add to the reality, such as characters, props, location, and light. I am constantly involved in a search for inspiration and ideas.