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Oleg Ershov
I am an amateur landscape photographer based in Moscow, Russia. Spend all my free time with photo camera in Iceland, Scotland, and US Southwest.
Michéla Griffith
In 2012 I paused by my local river and everything changed. I’ve moved away from what many expect photographs to be: my images deconstruct the literal and reimagine the subjective, reflecting the curiosity that water has inspired in my practice. Water has been my conduit: it has sharpened my vision, given me permission to experiment and continues to introduce me to new ways of seeing.
Joe Cornish
Professional landscape photographer.
It’s easy to think that to be noticed these days, you have to be on social media, but for this issue, we’re happy to prove the exception. We have Guest Editor Joe Cornish to thank for pointing us in the direction of Russian photographer Oleg Ershov. If one or two of Oleg’s photos seem familiar, it may be that you saw them in our subscribers’ 4x4 feature in August. They certainly bear looking at again, as does Oleg’s wider portfolio, and he has provided us with a fascinating insight into his personal development as a photographer.
Would you like to start by telling readers a little about yourself - where you grew up, your education and early interests, and what that led you to do as a career?
I was born in the north of Russia, near the White Sea, in Arkhangelsk, and lived there for 17 years. I devoted all my free time to sports - playing football in the summer and ice hockey in the winter. Then I moved to Moscow to study computers at a technical university.
After graduation, I often changed my place of residence and type of activity. Then the era of capitalism began in the country, and it was necessary to deal with everything, not computers. But the engineering approach to problem-solving acquired during my studies and the mathematical skills I had helped me a lot.
Eventually, in the mid-1990s, I began working for a private company specializing in the import and distribution of food products. Over time, the company became quite large, and I continue to stay there even now.
For 15 years, I was the CEO and did a lot of work every day. And my main desire at that time was to have more vacation days for a photography hobby. Over time, this happened - I already perform more advisory and representative functions and have a lot of free time.
What prompted you to buy your first DSLR in 2007 and what kind of images did you want to make at the time?
At first, I used compact cameras for travel photography. Then I became interested in landscapes and looked through the works of other authors on various photo sites. In 2007 I signed up for a two-week photo tour of the Southwestern USA, but did not succeed right away: the offer was oversubscribed several times. Usually, on the first day after the announcement, the number of applications exceeded the number of seats available, and the organizer chose the "right" participants.