Kate Ishora: "For me, photography is visual poetry"
Short profile
Kate Ishora comes from Bryansk, a small town in Russia. The now 36-year-old came into contact with photography as a child. She currently works as a graphic designer and psychologist, focusing on the combination of psychology and photography. On her Instagram account, she shows a growing fan base a cross-section of her work.
In the interview, she explains why she describes herself as a “photo researcher”, how she helped her parents develop photo films in the bathroom as a child and why she says she suffers from imposter syndrome.
4 QUESTIONS TO KATE ISHORA
Hi, I’m Kate and I am a photographer. Actually, for some reason, I like to call myself a photo researcher. For me, a photographer is someone very professional, with expensive equipment and a lot of experience. Maybe it's the imposter syndrome 🤓 but that's just the way it is now. For me, photography is visual poetry. With the help of photography, you can show something that is difficult or impossible to express in words. And first of all, for me, it is about the incredible beauty of the world, which I want to share.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you became a photographer?
Since childhood, I was drawn to everything beautiful, and I liked to express myself through creativity. I drew, tried my hand at interior design, then started graphic design and photography. Photography has always been in my life, my father loved photography and developed film in a dark bathroom. We had a lot of magazines about photography, which I loved to look at. When I graduated from university, I was given a camera. I tried shooting portraits of people but genuinely got into photography about five years ago. It all started with taking pictures of the sky on an old iPhone. It always inspired me and made me excited. (By the way, I still do it, some things never change. 😁) Then I photographed everything around me at home and on the street that I found interesting. That's how I started my Instagram.
Photo: Kate Ishora
Please share something about your images. How do you get inspired? And what inspires you the most? Films, books, or magazines? Or what surrounds you?
I am incredibly inspired by the world around me: nature, streets, objects, and people. I enjoy close-ups the most. I love to notice the little things, the tiny details. How the light falls, how colors, textures, and details that are usually overlooked fit together. For me, that's the magic of photography. There is always something beautiful around us, but we don't always notice it. I love to show the world as I see it. I often find inspiration in other people's photography and craftsmanship, movies, and music as well. There are some cool guys - Son Lux. An inexhaustible source of inspiration for me, I love listening to them while processing photos - pure joy.
Photo: Kate Ishora
The process of photography for me is sometimes akin to meditation because it's just me and my camera. You never know how a walk with a camera will turn out, what diamonds you might find. It's a special thrill to share it with people and see the response. You feel that you're not alone when someone else has the same experience of beauty too.
A special pleasure is photo processing. I like to experiment with color. I try different framing options. Each photo is a kind of experiment. Each one is unique. Most of the time I don't stop until I feel - wow, this is it!
Photo: Kate Ishora
What are your plans for the rest of the day?
Plans for the rest of the day? I have the day off, so I plan to go for a walk, have a coffee, read, and if I have the energy process some photos from the last photo shoot. I photographed my friend and a fellow psychologist. I also plan to finish the second season of Good Omens 🙃.
What else should we know about you?
I am 36 years old, I was born in Bryansk, a small town in Russia. Now I combine work as a graphic designer and psychologist, and in parallel I do photography. I plan to leave design and combine psychology and photography – my two passions.
