The Incredible Bond Between Animals And People In The Magical Photography Of Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya (40 Pics)

"In my work, I want to show the beauty of animals and their similarity to people. I try to find common features between people and animals so that animals become more respected by people and people will do their best to minimize the harm they do to nature. Moreover, my photoshoots emphasize the beauty of people, even if this beauty does not fit into the existing stereotypes," Dobrovolskaya writes on her website.

Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya told Bored Panda more about her mission as a photographer: "I am inspired by people and animals. The main goal of my work is to show their uniqueness, to emphasize their external and internal beauty and individuality. I try to achieve this mainly by comparing their appearance. For example, I like to photograph people with albinism with white animals, redhead people with animals that have red fur, and so on."

With her aesthetically pleasing photos, she wants to draw people's attention to how much people and animals have in common. And if a person looks like an animal, it means they are a part of nature and can't be judged or characterized as less attractive based on unique features.

"You wouldn't call a fox ugly because of the spots on its face, would you? So why should a girl with vitiligo be considered ugly?" Dobrovolskaya pointed out.

Another point the photographer wants to highlight is the welfare of animals: "If an animal can be so much like a human, then its life, desires, and interests should be valued no less than human ones."

Dobrovolskaya invited us to the behind-the-scenes of her magical photoshoots that can sometimes take much less time than one could imagine.

"Each photoshoot includes three stages: planning, shooting, and editing the best photos. The planning can take from 20 minutes to several months. I have to come up with an idea, choose a model, clothes, location, discuss everything with the owners of animals, my designer, the makeup artist. But sometimes it takes literally 5-10 minutes between the idea of ​​shooting and its implementation. Usually, the duration of a photoshoot does not exceed 20-30 minutes. In exceptional cases, it takes 1-2 hours. Even traveling to the location takes much longer. Many people don't believe it, but my most famous photoshoots took about 15 minutes. All I have to do is place the models, animals, and choose the right photo angles. The only problems that can arise are the weather conditions (the right light is extremely important for good photographs) and the need to wait for the animal to set the right pose.

The final stage is editing, which allows you to bring photos to the desired result. Usually, one photograph takes from 20 minutes to several hours."

We asked the photographer what's the most challenging and the most rewarding about working with animals.

"They fill your life with something very kind and very real. All their actions and emotions are genuine. Before I started taking photos with animals, I had no idea that there could be such a close connection between humans and animals. It is still surprising to me that 'wild' animals (bears, wolves, deer, foxes, tigers, etc.) can experience such strong affection and trust in humans. Many people accuse me of using animals, that animals suffer during photoshoots, and so on. But they don't even know how far they are from the truth. Thanks to my work, I live in a world where absolutely sincere and incredibly touching things are happening. Perhaps if everyone saw what I see through my work, the world would become much more kind."