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BJP (British Journal of Photography)
SHOOTING IMAGES - THE WORK OF SASHA GUSOV, 1987-2000
RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHER Sasha Gusov was first introduced to photography at the age of 13 by his uncle, who was a schools photographer. But it was after he discovered BIP that he became motivated to carve out a career for himself as a photographer. In 1989 he moved to London to pursue his dream, initially supporting himself as a dishwasher and photographic printer. His first major project (images of the Bolshoi Ballet) appeared in BIP in 1993, and from there Gusov was catapulted in to the limelight with commissions from English Nationa Ballet, The Daily Telegraph and The Times.
His success has not been without struggle, which is retold in the words of Andrei Navrozov in the forward to Gusov's book Shooting Images, published by Hurtwood Press. 'He had no place to live, he was sleeping without bedclothes on a vermin-infested mattress in some flophouse; he are what they gave him at the restaurant where he did the washing up.' Navrozov goes on to describe why Gusov spent his first earnings as a photographer on a Rolex watch: 'All art is plotted on the graph paper of time, and no sooner does a novice raise the paintbrush than the flowers in the vase begin to wilt, the sun begins to go down and the mood of the work is irretrievably altered.'
After reading the humorous and poetic forward to Shooting Images, the reader grasps a sense of Gusov's passion for life and his ability to capture fleeting moments that pass the rest of the world by. The 100 photographs gathered together show a taste of Gusov's work from 1987 to 2001. There are moments of magic in this book, and beauty is a subject that seems to fascinate Gustov. This brings to mind the question: is art beauty, or is beauty art? Browsing through these pages suggests that it is both.
But this ability to observe, not only the elegant but also the absurd and the abstract, typifies Gusov's dexterity through the lens. Turn away from the portraits of performers of stage and screen and linger for a while on pictures taken in India. An elephant parked gracefully next to a row of mopeds in Udaipur shows his eye for humour. Flick further to reveal images that reflect his interest in textures, Light and shadow, evident in his landscapes - Soussesvlei, Namibia 1998 being just one example.
Shooting Images is a fascinating insight in to Gusov's work and his motivation as a photographer. He has created a collection that captures the essence of life, and by the time the final page has been turned the words in the forward fall in to place to reflect how import seizing the moment really is!
* Sasha Gusov's Shooting Images with a forward by Andrei Navrozov, ISBN 0903696401, is published by Hurtwood Press, priced £40.
RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHER Sasha Gusov was first introduced to photography at the age of 13 by his uncle, who was a schools photographer. But it was after he discovered BIP that he became motivated to carve out a career for himself as a photographer. In 1989 he moved to London to pursue his dream, initially supporting himself as a dishwasher and photographic printer. His first major project (images of the Bolshoi Ballet) appeared in BIP in 1993, and from there Gusov was catapulted in to the limelight with commissions from English Nationa Ballet, The Daily Telegraph and The Times.
His success has not been without struggle, which is retold in the words of Andrei Navrozov in the forward to Gusov's book Shooting Images, published by Hurtwood Press. 'He had no place to live, he was sleeping without bedclothes on a vermin-infested mattress in some flophouse; he are what they gave him at the restaurant where he did the washing up.' Navrozov goes on to describe why Gusov spent his first earnings as a photographer on a Rolex watch: 'All art is plotted on the graph paper of time, and no sooner does a novice raise the paintbrush than the flowers in the vase begin to wilt, the sun begins to go down and the mood of the work is irretrievably altered.'
After reading the humorous and poetic forward to Shooting Images, the reader grasps a sense of Gusov's passion for life and his ability to capture fleeting moments that pass the rest of the world by. The 100 photographs gathered together show a taste of Gusov's work from 1987 to 2001. There are moments of magic in this book, and beauty is a subject that seems to fascinate Gustov. This brings to mind the question: is art beauty, or is beauty art? Browsing through these pages suggests that it is both.
But this ability to observe, not only the elegant but also the absurd and the abstract, typifies Gusov's dexterity through the lens. Turn away from the portraits of performers of stage and screen and linger for a while on pictures taken in India. An elephant parked gracefully next to a row of mopeds in Udaipur shows his eye for humour. Flick further to reveal images that reflect his interest in textures, Light and shadow, evident in his landscapes - Soussesvlei, Namibia 1998 being just one example.
Shooting Images is a fascinating insight in to Gusov's work and his motivation as a photographer. He has created a collection that captures the essence of life, and by the time the final page has been turned the words in the forward fall in to place to reflect how import seizing the moment really is!
* Sasha Gusov's Shooting Images with a forward by Andrei Navrozov, ISBN 0903696401, is published by Hurtwood Press, priced £40.
Dawn Sumner /British Journal of Photography/