Liza Akymenko

“Photo shoots are the way to feel yourself, to love yourself more”

Intercru: Where are you from? Where do you live and work now?

Liza: I’m from Ukraine, from the eastern part of the country. I moved to Poland and started my studies in Kraków right after I finished school.

Since then I’ve been living here for almost 7 years and I’m really happy about it! Kraków is like a small village in some way: everyone knows everyone and it really helps me in finding new clients through recommendations without doing any promos :)

What is the hardest part about photography?

Photography has been my passion since my childhood and this is why the hardest part about it is to stop! :D

Some photographers here see it only as competition, which makes me a little sad. Creativity is not a competition and I want everyone to think about it in that way.

Competition is good and it makes your brain think in different ways of how to improve your offer, how to do better shots and of course how to expand your knowledge!

How do you continue to make yourself a better photographer?

Works of other photographers inspire me a lot! My favorites are Xenie Zasetskaya, Sergei Sarakhanov, and Djulia Gamova. It is very important to have an oversight of better works- it makes your eyes find more interesting solutions on your own photo shoots.

This is one of the reasons why I started to teach photography. When you want your student to understand, you have to make the complicated things simpler. In some way you learn something too!

I do believe that a photographer is not only the creator of photos, but there is also a psychological approach to your clients, the ability to “sell” your offer, and friendly approach to the clients.

What is your favorite part about the work you do?

Normally I don’t shoot professional models; I do my photo shoots with normal people for whom it might even be a first time experience. I love it and they trust in me because I make people love themselves more, they become more confident during a photo shoot. I teach them how to pose and give them total freedom later, and the final result very often amazes them.

Photo shoots are the way to feel yourself, to love yourself more. Maybe that is why 80% of my clients come back to me a few times in a row- they do love this feeling of confidence, the feeling of being an inspiration to me. This is so cool!