They are disheveled, have scratches and wounds – and they are beautiful at the same time: in his works, the renowned photographer Nikita Teryoshin tells of the life of street cats all over the world. He has already photographed the animals in St. Petersburg, then in Atlantic City and in Istanbul. His new band “Backyard Diaries, Volume 2” is about the feral cats on the streets of Bangkok.
The photographer, who was born in Leningrad, Russia (today St. Petersburg) in 1986 and grew up in Dortmund, came across his special subject more or less by accident: during an assignment in his native city some time ago, which was about completely different subjects, he came across a gang of Street cats dozing on a car. “And when the cats woke up, they looked at me so funny,” says Teryoshin in the “Leica Camera Blog”.
Animal photography fascinates Teryoshin, as he explains: because there is a special connection between people and the places they create and the animals that live there. “I think cats are interesting characters. I continued to follow them, even if I often didn’t know where I would end up – neither in which place nor with the project,” the artist recalls the beginnings of his cat project.
Strong flash: photos of cats using advertising photography methods
He takes his pictures in a way that is actually known from fashion and advertising photography: He flashed the cats strongly and thus lifted them out of their mostly dull everyday life. The animals appear more like people or objects that are familiar from fashion or advertising photography. “They look louder, more radical, less kitschy.”
Teryoshin, who has already received a World Press Photo Award, among other things, takes the viewer of his pictures to the ugly corners of the metropolis that cannot be found in any travel guide. His pictures show the suffering of the cats as well as hopeful moments. “For example, there is a feeding bowl that someone put there,” says the artist. So there are people who take care of the animals. “Most of them are older people or those who don’t have much themselves.”
The photo book “Backyard Diaries – Hidden Worlds of Urban Cats, Volume 2, Bangkok” can be ordered via the photographer’s website: https://pupupublishing.bigcartel.com/
Sources: “The Leica CameraBlog“, “Nikita Teryoshin.com“, “purple publishing“