Where are you based?

I live in West Sonoma County in the town of Monte Rio above the Russian River. It takes me 25 minutes to ride my bike to Goat Rock Beach south of Jenner and 1.5 hours to drive to the Golden Gate Bridge.

How many events do you shoot each year?

I set a limit of 20 weddings per year to allow me time to focus on each wedding. It also keeps me from falling into a repetitive formula and instead, maintains a fresh approach to each event I photograph.

How did you get started with weddings?

My wife Inna and our daughter Alexandra and I flew from Moscow to attend my brother’s wedding at Laguna Beach. I offered to be his photographer.

My love for my brother was a big factor in making the pictures and they turned out to be a beautiful body of work. When a few of his friends saw the pictures online, I started getting calls and that's when I started covering weddings in addition to my documentary and editorial photography.

What is your typical turnaround of images?

You will receive an online gallery of sneak peek images 1-2 days after your wedding and the full set within 4 weeks.

How many images will we get?

Depending on the size and duration of the wedding, between 600-1000 custom edited images, all full-resolution and ready to print.

What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?

My training as a photographer started with Professor Norman Locks at UC Santa Cruz. He encouraged me to follow my instincts but also to study the work of the masters like Josef Koudelka, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, August Sander, Robert Frank. All these great artists influenced my candid street photography, portraits and documentary work.

But my first real work as a professional came when I landed in St. Petersburg, Russia and started pursuing personal projects that were later published in the Washington Post. From there, I pursued my work as a photographer and was hired for assignments by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Baltimore Sun and others.

My experience working for newspapers has taught me to to adapt and respond quickly. With weddings, there is more flexibility to work with people where I will occasionally give directions in the making of great portraits.

What types of customers have you worked with?

I've been very fortunate to work with people who trust me implicitly to make great pictures and are not afraid to show their emotions. People can sometimes have a "camera face", but I encourage people to forget about me throughout the day.

I have maintained contact and developed lasting friendships with many of my former clients. I have captured many moments in their family life like maternity portraits, super-cute baby portraits, or candid shots of their kids when I visit for the whole day.

How do you describe your style?

I draw inspiration from photojournalism, fashion, documentary and landscape photography.

My preference is natural light, but I’m capable of working with strobe lighting if the weather or time of day doesn’t provide the light I need at the moment.

I’ll photograph all the details and unscripted moments of your wedding day, the table settings you agonized over, your uncle reading over his speech, kids doing unpredictable kid things. All of these elements help to tell your unique story.