The geometry of winter. Exhibition of Sergey Kichigin

Having become the happy owner of a professional camera, economist and official Sergey Kichigin directed his lens to the beauty of the Russian North and to snow in particular.

He was inspired by the photographer and US scientist Kenneth Liebrecht, the creator of the illustrated guide to snowflakes. Armed with the necessary equipment, Sergey Kichigin also began to shoot unique ice crystals in high resolution.

Snowflakes turned out to be rather capricious models. First they have to be caught on glass, and then transferred to a prepared cold room, where the photo shoot begins. Shooting on the street without any devices, unfortunately, did not provide sufficient sharpness of all crystal faces in the image.

An additional difficulty in the work of the photographer was that the snow suitable for filming in the Vologda Oblast, where the author lives, falls about 3-6 times during the winter. The rest of the time, snow croup or heavily adhering crystals unsuitable for shooting fall from the sky. On rare suitable days, the photographer has to catch up either at the very beginning of the snowfall or at the end - at the edge of the clouds, snowflakes do not often collide and get to the ground whole. Temperature and humidity are also important for the filming process: the most beautiful and durable crystals appear at a temperature of the order of minus 15 degrees.

The photographer continued to face challenges not only in the process of catching snowflakes, but also when working in the "studio". Any source of constant light is the heat that destroys crystals, so Sergey had to come up with a complex protection system for the “models”.

Having overcome all technical difficulties, for several years the Vologda photographer Sergey Kichigin created one of the largest collections of snowflake photographs in the world. He held three solo exhibitions, and his works participated and won in many Russian and international competitions (National Geographic, Michael The Maven Photography Contest, Nikon Small World (USA), The Photographic Angle (Great Britain) and others).

Sergey Kichin’s photographs are now stored in many private collections in Russia and abroad; they are purchased for advertising campaigns by companies from all over the world.

The exhibition at the Erarta Museum will present not only selected images, but also bewitching video tapes, allowing you to see the mystery of the formation of ice crystals.