Alexander Boguslavsky is one of the few modern photo artists working in the ambrotype technique. This is a costly and time-consuming process, which became widespread in the second half of the XIX century. Now all over the world, only a half to two hundred enthusiasts are fond of it.
Ambrotypes - volumetric images on glass plates, as close as possible to painting. To create them, long exposures are required: models must remain motionless for 10, 15, 20 seconds. The camera captures not a moment, but a segment of life. With breathing, micromovements of the eyes and skin, and most importantly - with thoughts, emotions, changes in mood. This allows you to see the most interesting things in a person: inconsistency, contradiction, that is, the very “fluidity” that Leo Tolstoy wrote in the novel “Sunday”.


Alexander Boguslavsky came to ambrotype after many experiments with analog and digital photography. He worked in the genres of art and fashion, shot while traveling. Having reached a certain level of professionalism, which allows him to fully control the processes of shooting and printing, Alexander Boguslavsky decided to lower the limit of control. According to him, the “divine mistakes” work best in revealing this or that image. Relight, darkening, emulsion smudges, inevitable with ambrotype, not only add artistry to the image, but often give it a very special meaning.
However, the photographer goes further. He makes prints from glass plates and, together with artist Daria Shanzina, paints black and white reprints. This is how the project “Medea” appeared, in which the heroine of the myth about the Argonauts with the help of additional color is shown by a difference that goes all the way from love to hate.