Alexander Tkachev


About

I was born in Ukraine in 1949. When I was 12, my parents bought me my first 35 mm film camera.
Since then photography became an important part of my life. I remember we lived in small
Ukrainian village. Our small store did not have films. So I rode my bicycle 10 miles to buy them
in small town. That's how my passion for photography begun.
It happened I chose a medical profession. In 1971 I graduated from Dental School in Ukraine .
Over 30 years I worked as a doctor. But my love for photography never stopped. Many nights
I spent in dark room, manipulating with different techniques, abnormal processing,making
numerous double negatives with changed contrast, sandwiching negatives, etc.
Self-trained photographer I had inspiration looked at photos by Henri Cartier Bresson
I see the photography as medium to to show the world as I see it. Being a doctor one month I
worked in Chernobyl area where catastrophic nuclear disaster occurred. There I realized that
our world is fragile and so are human beings. In one moment the beautiful landscapes become
mortally dangerous. Gorgeous views without people. Only warning signs. I understood: every
moment of our life is unrepeatable and very precious. .I am thankful to photography as a mean that
helps to keep them .
I like the presence people in my images,in landscapes. Sometimes they are unclear,blurred,
silhouetted ,shadowy,ghosty. In-printed(transferred) or not they are evidence of life. For me
landscapes without people or their attributes are dead entourages. They resemble me Chernobyl
lands. .

I prefer to work with black and white images.
Someone said:" I am not a color blind. The world is black and white." I have the same opinion.
Living in Ukraine,I participated in many photo contests, exhibitions.
In 2002 moved to USA.
My works have been published in Silvershotz, B&W, Adore Noir Magazines


Works

Birds 2

Kizhi

Soccer Player

Mikhail

countryside 1

countryside 2

behind the fence

Man from Russian North

Genka

Irka

countryside 3

August

Irina

Window

Steps down

In the net