“Hands, please — like this. Legs — like this, please. Smile!”. Then — the click of the camera shutter. Then — a request to the client to change pose or move to another location. In the “Romashka” photo studio — a working day.
In one of the rooms, real and artificial plants rest, waiting for their time, elements of set dressing for shoots in other seasons. Now — it’s time for winter decor. Two rooms are arranged as locations for Christmas–New Year photo sessions. One is in light tones, the other in calm, muted, homely tones. Clients choose the location depending on the mood they want the photos to have.
Here — the joy of co-creation between photographer Oleksandra Ustinova and her clients. And beyond the walls — Kherson everyday life — shelling, drone attacks… Such a life teaches you to value time and not to miss opportunities, including the opportunity to live brightly and meaningfully.
“If not now, when?”, says Kherson resident Svitlana Rud — a client of the photo studio who came for a New Year’s photo session.
“I dreamed of my own studio, but…”
Oleksandra Ustinova is a photographer with 15 years of experience. At first she worked in various genres of photography, but later chose a specialization — still-life/product photography — food photography, that is, photographing food for advertising.
Oleksandra became the owner of the studio only six months ago. Previously she simply collaborated with “Romashka” as a photographer.
“During the occupation of Kherson,” she recounts, “the former owner of the photo studio left the country. And I, since I decided to stay in the city, offered that I would work in the studio and administer its operation. Besides, Kherson residents who know me as a photographer were asking whether there was a working photo studio in the city.”
The then-owner agreed to cooperate. But over time there was an increasing need to repair things, refresh the decor, and replace equipment. Only someone who is in Kherson can do this. The women talked, reached certain agreements, and six months ago Oleksandra became the owner of the photo studio.
The photographer says her work is also for the soul: “The soul longs for celebration, the soul longs for creativity. And people want something beautiful. Despite all the adverse circumstances, people in Kherson get married, have children, and other events take place. For example, people came and said: ‘Our child graduated from kindergarten this year. There was, of course, no graduation ceremony, but we want to leave something as a memento of this event.’ They brought a festively dressed child, and we did a photo session. And there were many such children.”
The war forced her to change her creative role. Previously the clients were local food producers and catering establishments. But starting in 2022, when many photographers left the city, people began asking her to do things outside her specialization. And there were no longer orders in her specialization.
“When I started working,” Oleksandra Ustinova says, “I dreamed of my own photo studio, but over time I realized that a studio is a big hassle, large expenses and very little profit. But what can you do, I’m a creative girl: I won’t buy another dress for myself, but I’ll buy some branch for the decor here. Well, that’s it! As it is!”
The Kherson resident speaks with a smile about the vicissitudes of her life as a studio owner. She says that, despite everything, she remains optimistic and thinks about development. For example, she plans to install a cyclorama in the studio — a special structure with a smooth, rounded transition between the floor and the wall. This creates the effect of a seamless background and allows for even lighting.
What hinders and what helps
We also talk about problems. Oleksandra admits that working in Kherson is especially difficult. Indeed, right now the situation for photographers across the country, especially for studio photographers, is very unfavorable because of the war and the problems it has caused, primarily economic. In Kherson there is also the specificity of being a frontline territory.
“Every day,” the photographer says, “when planning something you think about whether there will be electricity, whether shelling will interfere. By the way, once a ballistic missile hit very close by, and it was unknown whether the studio could continue to operate.”
And the economic problems in Kherson are more serious than in Ukraine overall. In peacetime, sessions sometimes had to be canceled due to some sudden change in clients’ circumstances or illness. And Kherson residents sometimes report that after another shelling they were forced to leave the city.
“As for earnings,” Oleksandra says, “it varies. For example, last summer the studio’s revenue was only 2,500 hryvnias for three months. And you have to pay rent for the premises, and utilities, which cost as they do across Ukraine, and taxes must be paid. Expenses are rising, and there is no stability. But I have not raised prices for services since 2022, as have all Kherson photographers. I am waiting for better times.”
The photographer notes that it is also difficult for her potential clients — city residents: “People in Kherson have to fit many things into a very short period of time because, due to the situation in the city, the working day here is short. And they also need to get to the store and do other errands. So it is very difficult for a person to find time to prepare for a photo session and come to the studio.”
Kherson resident Svitlana Rud found the time for this. The woman came to have an individual photo session in a New Year’s setting. She says this is by no means her first visit here.
“Such shoots,” Svitlana notes, “help to distract and lift the mood. The situation in the city and in the country is such now: we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. So I believe this is timely. We’ve already done family photo sessions here, came with children. If not now, when? I print the photos myself, I have that capability, I even make them on canvas.”
The woman says that Kherson residents perceive the opening of new establishments in the city that allow them to distract from the difficult frontline realities in a special way: “Cafes, photo studios, other establishments help at least a little to take your mind off things, at least briefly not think about what is happening. And we actively prepare for the holidays because there are children, and a celebration needs to be made for them.”
Svitlana does not hide that recently the situation in Kherson has worsened, shelling and drone attacks have become more intense and more dangerous. Fear and anxiety have increased. But she says that neither she nor her family plan to leave for now. They hope to witness a Ukrainian victory in the city.
The winter holidays are a time when the “Romashka” photo studio works especially intensively. There are clients who want services on an “All inclusive” basis.
“Back in November,” says Oleksandra Ustinova, “girls who ordered a New Year’s photo session wrote to me and asked that the studio fully take over the preparation. That there would be a dress rental, that hair and makeup could be done here. I’m preparing for that now.”
They found a dress rental and a makeup artist in Kherson. The hairdresser will come from Mykolaiv, where she is temporarily living, and she herself is from Kherson.
But the photographer rarely works with assistants, usually she works alone: both shooting and setting up the decor and lighting.
She also has to solve a lot of other problems. In particular, those created by the war and Kherson’s frontline status. Because of the latter, there is a very limited selection of decorative items in the city, as most shops with such assortments are not operating. Therefore many items for updating locations have to be bought in Mykolaiv, which is an additional expense and hassle.
A serious problem is acquiring specific goods needed by photographers, in particular batteries for photo equipment and lighting apparatus. Their supply to Ukraine has greatly decreased recently, and the risk of buying low-quality products has increased.
But despite the problems, Oleksandra Ustinova wants to develop her photo studio. She says every small and medium business that is currently operating in Kherson is a sign that the city is alive and hopes for the better. And also, the photographer says, the presence of establishments in the city that make people’s lives rich and interesting gives reason for the townspeople whom the war forced to leave to return.