Biography
Valery Bareta
Three magical letters ART can be found both in my family name and my life. My ART is motivated by the pleasure of photographic creative expression.
I am a free artist-photographer.
My biography doesn’t differ much from those of people from my generation.
I was born in an industrial town of Mariupol (Ukraine). My childhood and youth were spent there.
I studied at a technical institute and after graduating I was recruited into the Soviet army, to Kamchatka. That was my first voyage to the end of the world. Kamchatkan peninsula is very big. Several European countries can be located on its territory. The two unforgettable years of military service in the town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky went by quickly. I was standing a choice. To come back to Ukraine or to begin building my own life, thousands of kilometers away from home, in Kamchatka. I went for the second option. Foe a year I worked as an engineer in a construction company.
However, a desire to discover new things and the romantics of adventures led me into the artists’ circle. During that time I met a lot of interesting people. There are a lot of art people in Kamchatka. The ocean, the mountains, the volcanoes, the geysers have created a world unique in its beauty. And the people who study this world (volcanoelogists, artists, journalists, oceanologists, etc.) have become my friends. Expeditions to the mountains, observations of volcanic eruptions, trekking the Valley of Geysers, traveling to the Kuril Islands, adventures at sea have influenced the making of my character and the choice of career a lot. For a long time I was working as an artist-designer in an art corporation. The love of photography has changed my creative tools. Paintbrushes for a camera. Unfortunately, my Kamchatkan period of art work has been retained in photographic material to a very small extent. My life road has taken me to Estonia, to Tallinn where I live now. I have always liked the Baltics. Estonia is a very beautiful small country. Absolutely unlike Kamchatka. There are no mountains and volcanoes here. However, there is the sea. I have always lived by the sea. The Azov sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Baltics.
I am trying to keep memories of the past and a view on the present day through my inner world.
My artistic philosophy is simple. I look for a possibility to attribute the essence to the form and the other way round. This describes the hidden harmony of my concept to a great extent. I try to express my attitude and feelings, show the mood and emotional colours, see the things initially hidden. Or, on the contrary, from the very first moment that will stop the time and the feeling and if it is possible to influence the photographed object.
I like looking for a black cat in the dark room using the light. The light is as important for me as shadow is. There is no latter without the former.
I like taking pictures of women. Naked and not naked. Many years ago, at the beginning of my artistic career, I was photographing nature a lot. I used to wait for the fog but it was bright sunshine. Or the other way round. It was raining and I was longing for clouds. Woman is like nature. However, with her I can make any “weather” myself. It’s all her character. Besides, I get big pleasure from psychological communication.
I like both classical and innovative ideas. I like metamorphoses as well as allegories. The main thing is creation and justifying the reality in light.
An artistic photographer, where stress is on the first word describes my attitude to what I am doing. The creative idea comes first and then I simply expess it with photographic means. There are lots of means to express ideas, and digital photo is one of them.I work with a variety of genres with great pleasure. I like everything that interests me. Beauty. If that is the word to describe my word, well.. I don’t mind.
Above you can find everything I like the photography for. Photography is my life!
Visit www.valerybareta.com
With sincere respect,
Valery Bareta