The Crestock Interview: Nikolay Suslov (NiDerLander)

How long have you been taking photos?
- Something like five years as a professional, working for different magazines, advertising agencies etc. Before that it was just a hobby. My wife Alice is a professional designer, which is an inspiration in itself.

Among other subjects, you seem to have a good way of photographing people, and especially younger ones. How do you make children comfortable when taking their picture?
- This is not so hard when you have your own 1,5 year old son. Just play with the children and take pictures at the same time. They usually can't concentrate on one thing for very long, so you will need to change decorations and objects every 15-20 minutes. Just be flexible and a little childish yourself, don't make the photo session too serious, have fun.

Do you have any secrets tips that you'd like to share with our readers?
- There are no particular big secrets in my work, I just love photography and am glad that I can earn money from it. I am still learning, and I think that there are no limits to improve my skills. I often meet up with other photographers, some of them are friends, and talk about creativity, technical aspects of photography etc.

If your current camera had just a couple of days left to live, what would you be taking pictures of before it left for an optic afterlife?
- Sun flashes or sun eclipses or something else extremely harmful for the camera. After that I would take pictures of a church or a temple to help my camera get to camera heaven.

What would your next camera be then?
- First of all, I have to say that I'm not working alone when photographing, I am doing this together with my wife Alice. She is a photographer too and stock photos have become something of a family business for us. To answer your question; a Canon 1D mark III for me and a Canon 5D for Alice.

What photos would you like to see more of in microstock?
- I can't answer that question because I'm not buying photos, I am only selling them. If any buyer can answer this question for you, please share it with me.

I see that you come from the Russian car producing city of Samara. What would you point out to visitors before they came to see this ancient and important industrial and academic city?
- There is beautiful nature in our region, the river Volga, Zhiguli mountains etc. Samara itself is very dusty, especially during summer. Also, our roads are not in very good condition, so be careful with your car. There is some very old and beautiful architecture (18th-19th century) in the central part of Samara, but there is not very much left, most parts of our city consist of modern buildings. Me and Alice like to spend as much time as possible in the countryside. We spend most of our summer holidays along with our child and friends, camping on a little island in the river Volga. That is nothing short of a superior holiday.

Check out Nikolay's Crestock portfolio

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