Hi, my name is Katya, I'm a freelance documentary and portrait photographer, visual storyteller from St.Petersburg, Russia.

Being a photographer is my connection to the world. Its the chance to be in touch not only with my close people’s lives. But lives that are completely different from my own and my usual environment. It's the ability to tell something new or important to other people about subjects I choose. I love the moment when someone realizes that their story is important to tell. I’m forever grateful for those people who let me into their lives. They taught me the most important lessons, changed me, and helped to grow not only as a photographer, but most importantly as a person.

Web site: www.rezvaya.com
https://www.instagram.com/katya.rezvaya

PHILOSOPHY

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

Positive thinking and kind heart can change a lot. To start with - life direction.

Every day is your chance.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

This is an amazing project to help people make friends all over the world.

Interests

I love learning, smiling, sence of humour, sharing special things,enjoying simple things, dancing argentine tango, a warmth of tea cup in my hands, atmosphere and magic of film photography that is hard to be explained, vinyl records, vintage, things with history, bicycles, being on a road, looking through the window of the train, arts, the feeling when a journey begins, movies, film making, developing an old film and to remember every shot on it, details, rustling book pages, perforation of 35mm film negatives, renovating old furniture, a smile of a stranger that you suddenly catch from the crowd on a rainy day, dogs, and cats too, roof tops, wooden things, small lizards, kindness, warm wind in my hair, feelings, kids, sincerity, changes, bunnies, various crafts, flea markets, stylish outfits, making hand-made things, pencils (I have a huge collection), combining colours, smell of fresh bread, moleskines, paints and brushes, curiusity of discovering new things, creativity, design, argentine tango, to catch moments that are all amazingly unique, to shoot portraits of people that are all amazingly unique same as moments. I love to find new things to love.

As you can see I like a lot of things=) Seemed I could just write "everything"=) Something might be not in the list. I'm always in a search and I'm curious. Curious about life. It's hard for me to get bored.

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: the Boat that rocked, Intouchables, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Interstate 60, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Across the Universe Amelie, Back to the Future, Barfuss,Django Unchained, The Truman Show, Piter FM, the Brothers Bloom, Midnight in Paris, Interstellar, Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, documentaries, some TV shows, for ex. Friends sitcom, etc, etc

Music: 60's, 70's, The Beatles (they are still inspiring and will be! Love them), tango music, Frank Sinatra,Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Star, Queen, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Buddy Holly, The Traveling Wilburys, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, the Killers, the National, Radiohead, Muse, Jay May, the Baseballs, Yann Tiersen etc, etc. The list of my favorite songs will never fit here) I can fall in love with a song and listen to it for days)

Books: inspiring ones. Someday I will make a list of books too=)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of the most amazing things I've ever seen for now happened to me on the way from San-Francisco to Los-Angelos. We were driving along the Pacific Ocean Highway. It was night and it was very foggy. And then I saw the stars. Millions, billions of stars. We stoped. I never ever saw so many stars in my entire life. Because of the fog we couldn't see the Ocean but we could hear it. And it seemed that it is the Ocean on the Stars there in front of us. Fantastically-breathtaking.
We didn't have words and stayed in silence for a looong time.

Teach, Learn, Share

Every new person I meet is a chance to learn something. Seems like I never be tired learning new things.
I can make your portrait, share stories about photography and photography community, break your stereotypes about Russia and Russian people (just in case you have some:), learn you some Russian language, actually so many things. Trying to share back and teach whatever I can.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation, United States