Life & Work with Nina of Other / Not Applicable

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina.

Hi Nina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been photographing since I was 13 years old, as I saw my surroundings in different way – I always looked for something interesting or beautiful in my everyday life. I live in a city with full of gray concrete buildings that can be very depressing, but my eyes always found something intriguing about them, so I started photographing them with a tablet I had back then. I showed those photos to my family and friends, and I realized I enjoyed the process – of capturing, then editing and then showing it to others, because I wanted others to feel a bit better and find something interesting in their everyday sometimes boring and depressing surroundings. Soon it became my hobby, then a profession. But as social media started needed video content – I had to adapt, but I didn’t have a proper video camera, so I had to make something interesting with my photos, and I started animating them. At first the animations were simple – some lights flickering, street visuals, and this series became successful on social media, so I kept going, learned more, and the animations became more complex and effective. I was able to experiment and express much more through my art. And posting my art has brought some great opportunities to myself to progress as an artist and as a professional photographer and visual artist.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Before I found my art style and way before I was successful on social media, as a photographer I was struggling to get booked, there is lots of competition in this industry, especially when you’re just building your portfolio and don’t have much experience. I often used to work for free to gain some experience and then when I finally got my confidence and got hired for my first paid shootings – it didn’t really go well. It was a bit of my fault, bit of their miscommunication, but failures hit me really hard, because I care about my clients being happy with my results. I didn’t give up, there were some great successes and then failures, but I learned after making the mistakes, however the failures have affected my self-confidence, even though today its all going well – I’m still lacking the confidence. I’m not afraid to speak about the failures and struggles, they’re part of the journey, and if I hadn’t failed before, I might have not learnt as much. It is good to experience such struggles so you’ll never get into such situations again in future.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a photographer and visual artist. I animate the photos that I take. Professionally – I mostly work with musicians and make visualizers for their new music. Sometimes I work with different kind of companies and do interior shootings, cafe and etc. Things that most photographers do – but then I animate those images and that is what makes my style stand out. I’m mostly known for my architecture animation series, where I create surrealistic sceneries with buildings. I am proud of my vision, in general. Because it makes me happy, the workflow gives me fulfilment and even without the camera – I see compositions everywhere, which gives me my daily dose of positive energy. The thing that I make videos, without shooting videos – is what sets me apart from others.

How do you think about happiness?
Any kind of interesting scenery can make me happy, whether i capture it or not. As a photographer my eyes always find intriguing details everywhere I go, so it is very easy for me to find positive energy and happiness in those details. Another thing that makes me happy- I’ve mentioned that I love sharing my art with others so they can see what I see, and anytime someone tells me that I’ve changed their point of view and now they view this gray architecture differently – in a better way – that is what makes me happy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nina.nayko/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ninanayko

Image Credits
Nina Nayko