Interview with Fashion photographer Yulia Otroschenko | MONOVISIONS

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

– How and when did you become interested in photography?

I’m into photography since early years and it’s been a long way which started with taking simple sketches of everyday life and continued with grand fashion project of the recent time.
I’ve tried many genres — from family and wedding photography to travel photo. Finally I found myself in fashion photography where my passion for photo and dressing up became the most inspiring combination.

– Is there any artist/photographer who inspired your art?

The noir esthetics, drama, inner conflict in art and people — that is my source of inspiration. Paolo Roversi, Ellen von Unverth, Peter Lindbergh and Steven Meisel are my favourite masters. Films by Wong Kar-Wai, Fellini and Antonioni are sheer esthetic pleasure. Or have you seen Steven Meisel’s photo shoot with Linda Evangelista for Vogue 1990? I can watch it repeatedly.

– Why do you work in black and white rather than colour?

Contemporary fashion photography promotes variety in colour and neither do I stick to black and white only. I think that subconsciously I have always laid emphasis on some photos by making them black and white. This sort of photos gives dramatic vibes, the poetry of black and white is mesmerizing.
Colour photos convey a different impression – the look of your eyes moves restlessly between colour patches so you can easily miss something very significant. Monochrome leaves out the unnecessary information — a colourless picture puts the main idea in the spotlight to be dealt with.

– How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph/series of photographs?

Sometimes it seems to me that inspiration lives a private life of its own. Various and unexpected things may generate this or that photo series. It can be some song playing in a café, a flea-market brooch, meeting a girl with extraordinary eyes or a 5-minute infatuation with a stranger at a crossroads. These tiny things can bring me to making tremendous photo stories. I can spend long hours and days thinking some idea over and over again, whereas another comes in a flash and can be accomplished in a couple of days.
I am a stylist of the majority of my photo shoots which is my greatest pleasure. Outfits and lookbooks have always been my second passion. I don’t tend to work with professional models only. Charisma, eye glance and personality are things that matter a lot to me. You can easily find a stunning beauty (well, almost easily), but I hunt for individualities first. Such girls look especially gorgeous black-and-white, where their beauty is manifest.
Technically I never do anything unreal: I process photos in Adobe Lightroom and retouch them in Adobe Photoshop. Also I am a canon-user and I can’t help it.

– Where is your photography going? What projects would you like to accomplish?

In my work (and life, too) I always keep moving on, challenging something new and scary for me. I try to avoid guessing what life has in store for me and I do my work to the extent I can do it right now. And we’ll see where my love for femme fatales leads me.

Websites:
otroschenko.com
instagram.com/otroschenko