Photography has always been a part of my life, and more often than not, I've shot on film for myself. I was once hired as a photographer and was given my first digital camera. While passing through Petrozavodsk with a new camera, Anton and I went for a walk in the forest to take pictures of nature. Something flashed near the cliff and I decided to take a closer look. For the first time in my life, I saw a lizard; it hid in the gap between the rocks, but it was clearly at a dead end. The advantage of my new Sony 707 was macro photography without changing the lens. I gradually got closer to the model, taking one shot with each new step, until she let me take her by the tail and bring the camera close to my body. There was nothing special about it, but I was impressed with the macro detail and continued to shoot mosses, mushrooms, and lichens.

When I returned to Petersburg, I used to take the subway to work as a routine and sometimes bought magazines to stay with interest for 40 minutes, trapped in the corner of the train.

A yellow frame and a bright cover, is it really in Russian? All right, I'm ready to live on the subway now, just hand me the latest National Geographic releases. I remembered watching English episodes at my dad's place and dreaming of living the life of an NG photographer. First, I flipped through everything and looked at each picture before I started reading.

There was a very small section where they printed photos of readers who won the photo contest; I think this issue had the Northern Lights. This is how my first dream came about, and so did the first miracle that changed my outlook on life.

Of course, as you can see from the teaser photo, I sent them my lizard and it won. The day I received the letter from the editors, I realized that there are no barriers in the world, that everything that separates us from our dreams is just one step towards it. The only difference is that it can be a step or a whole journey, but it's important to just start moving in the desired direction and keep going. Everything that was done after that day was based on this experience, and everything I'm doing now has the same basis as it was in February 2004.

The yellow color in Sailing Time has always been a memory of, and love for, National Geographic.

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