Photographer Dina Litovsky

Photographer Dina Litovsky – why we are huge fans of her work

Photographer Dina Litovsky captures the social dynamics of the American culture. Does that sound boring to you? Think twice. This Ukrain lady – who moved to New York when she was a child – explores human interaction with her camera and the results are surprising. Discover her story and eye catching photos below.  

How photographer Dina Litovsky fell in love with her camera

Can you think of reasons why psychology and photography can be a perfect match? Photographer Dina Litovsky can. She graduated from New York University with a Backerlor’s degree in psychology. Since then, she has been fascinated by human interactions and behaviours around her.

Besides her fascination for human behaviors, she also discovered a talent: the ability to capture these behaviors on camera. Therefore, the decided to go for a MFA graduate degree on Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. The rest is history: since her graduation she has shot many series. Think of back stage shoots at several fashion weeks, the yearly animal blessing in New York and going on vacation with the Amish.

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Makeup portraits backstage at @themarcjacobs, for @tmagazine #marcjacobs #nyfw2018

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The influence of Dina’s background on her photos

Photographer Dina Litovsky manages to stay an outsider of the object of her photos. The pictures all seem to capture moments as they are, without any prejudices. Dina Litovsky thinks this has to do with her Ukrainian background. She often feels like being a foreigner in the U.S. However, her background gives her some sense of distance. She views the typical American culture as an outsider.

The role of public and private in her work

Dina Litovsky has always had a deep interest in the difference between public and private. This has slightly changed since she started photographing in 2010, since the selfie soon became a true hit (we are looking at you, Kim K.). The difference between public and private circumstances seems to be vanished, while this is not entirely true. Dina notices that people are often more receptive for being captured on camera and everyone seems to know his or her best angle and how to pose well. According to her, people became more and more self-aware since then.

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More scenes from Dolce & Gabbana couture NYC extravaganza. Portfolio in this week’s @nymag #dolcegabbana #altamoda

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From animal blessing to the holiday of the Amish

This enhanced sense of self-awareness wasn’t the case when Dina Litovsky recently captured the Amish when they got on holiday to Florida. Every winter hundreds of buses arrive at Pinecraft, Sarasota, packed with Amish people, ready to enjoy the sun and to relax. Dina captured them while they played games, sports and when they had family time in their tiny bungalows. The Amish form the ultimate American subculture Dina is interested in.
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Recently Dina had a quite different project: shooting the annual blessing of the animals at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. “It was like seeing Noa’s Ark on a Sunday morning”, Dina said in her New York Times article. As animal owners arrived with animals varying from big turtles to camels and cows, Dina Litovsky began to shoot with her camera. The result? Not your average cute pet picture. Dina rather captures the animals as the center subject of her photos and treated the owners as background material. This led to a surprising series of pictures with yet another American subculture perfectly captured.

 

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A camel is fed before being taken through the Cathedral of St John for the annual animal blessing. For @nytimes #animalblessing

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An owl on the steps of the Cathrdral of St John the Divine after the annual blessing of the animals, for @nytimes #animalblessing

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A cow and a camel were taken through the Cathedral of St John to be blessed for the annual celebration of the feast of St Francis, for @nytimes

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Quite impressive, don’t you think? Just like photographer Dina Litovsky there are many more inspiring women you can learn from. Check out our section dedicated to our female heroes here. Interested in modern art and photography? Check out those sections too!

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